Ravens free agency

[ccbird]

Jamison AFC North Blog I guess through Carroll County Times as well.

Double or nothing on the beer you owe me that he never visits Baltimore.

[Sports Guy]

Grubbs basically got the same as Yanda...Obviously Ravens wanted Grubbs for less money.

I think Grubbs is better than Yanda but Yanda can play RT and let's face it, he was signed first.

If you can get Mathis for something like 4 or 5 years at 20-28M, with 6-8M guaranteed, its probably a better allocation of funds.

Just as it was smarter for the Saints to sign Grubbs and let Nicks walk. Not much of a difference there and Grubbs got a lot less money.

[flashjordnk]

I actually legitimately think that Mathis is a better LG, and further would be a better fit into the Ravens' blocking scheme, regardless of what the contract numbers bear out to be. That's just my opinion from watching both of them play. It's not that I don't think that Grubbs is a great player. It's that I think that Mathis is awfully good.

Pretty ringing endorsement of Mathis. I've always been impressed with Grubbs. And was generally unimpressed with what I saw from the Eagles line in general the last few years.

The fact that Mathis has been on his 5th team in 7 years, and wasn't even guaranteed a starting spot in Philly last year goes to show how hard it is to really evaluate difference in OL play.

[flashjordnk]

Double or nothing on the beer you owe me that he never visits Baltimore.

Haha, yeah...stupid over/under bet in the Denver game That was it right?

[J.D.]

Pretty ringing endorsement of Mathis. I've always been impressed with Grubbs. And was generally unimpressed with what I saw from the Eagles line in general the last few years.

The fact that Mathis has been on his 5th team in 7 years, and wasn't even guaranteed a starting spot in Philly last year goes to show how hard it is to really evaluate difference in OL play.

Absolutely. Grubbs was the difference on our line last year. The Eagles line was awful for 6 or so games last year, but started to put it together and finished strongly. They had a lot of injuries last year as well.

Don't know if you read ProFootballFocus.com (a site that tries to use advanced stats to break down the game) at all, but those guys are also crazy high on Mathis. Here was the blurb they wrote about him while picking him their all-pro LG for last season:

One of the biggest free agent bargains in recent memory, Mathis had a run blocking grade three times better than that of any other player at his position. About as impressive a guard as you’re likely to see, Mathis rarely makes mistakes and does the little things so well he’s a pleasure to watch. He had to be so good to beat out another fine year from Nicks.

[flashjordnk]

Yeah...I read it. I'm not the world's biggest fan. And still have some issues with offensive line measures because it's so hard to match them any kind of statistic or measurement.

Why the heck was Mathis signed to the league minimum last year? And we should note he's 30 now. I just think it goes to the point that OL are hard to measure since he was a league minimum veteran last year. The Eagles couldn't retain him. And some guy on Yahoo! says Mathis could get a Grubbs like contract.

It will take much more than that for any team to gain Mathis' game. Playing under a vet-minimum salary benefit contract in 2011, he outplayed that deal to a crazy degree, and could very well receive a contract in the same range as Grubbs'. The only question is whether teams see Mathis as a one-year wonder, and are concerned about his age.

I mentioned the Winston quote that said he wanted to win now. I think Mathis is the guy that we might be able to get away with underpaying for a longer contract with potentially more guaranteed in a signing bonus.

I could see a 4 year, 8 mill guaranteed deal for 18 over the duration being a good solution. I'd only want to see a 5 year contract if the bonus money is more to spread down the signing bonus.

Just doesn't seem like THAT many teams are in on Mathis that we need to wow him with dollars considering he's coming off league minimum.

[ccbird]

Haha, yeah...stupid over/under bet in the Denver game That was it right?

Yes, you only missed by 2 TDs though.

[flashjordnk]

Yes, you only missed by 2 TDs though.

Haha, I'll claim if Ryan Clark played it might have only been by one . I'll get you at some point for sure though. I'm actually driving through CC tonight, on the way to AC and stopping in at my parents place in Elkton. Nothing like Cecil County!

[ccbird]

If Mathis is going to get anything close to Grubbs money than I don;t want him. That said, he seems like the kind of guy we need to be going after. We obviously have to spend wisely and spread the money around at different positions. Mathis, despite his age, still has upside in that if last year was for real your going to get a very good LG at presumably a team friendly cost.

[ccbird]

Haha, I'll claim if Ryan Clark played it might have only been by one . I'll get you at some point for sure though. I'm actually driving through CC tonight, on the way to AC and stopping in at my parents place in Elkton. Nothing like Cecil County!

It was the Pats/ Broncos game. Line was 23. You graduate from EHS?? What year did you graduate??

[flashjordnk]

If Mathis is going to get anything close to Grubbs money than I don;t want him. That said, he seems like the kind of guy we need to be going after. We obviously have to spend wisely and spread the money around at different positions. Mathis, despite his age, still has upside in that if last year was for real your going to get a very good LG at presumably a team friendly cost.

He very clearly is not getting Grubbs money. That guy is dumb and I reference him as some guy on yahoo for a reason. Bottom line is I agree Mathis could be a very good LG and could be had for a very premium price based on the upside of his performance.

I'm still really really really curious how the heck this guy was on the vet minimum last year. He's obviously got something in his history to indicate he won't get Grubbs money. I don't have the time to dig around right now. But if he was overly talented he would have at least been a) promised a starting job last year and b) got more than the minimum.

And yeah EHS...2002.

[ccbird]

He very clearly is not getting Grubbs money. That guy is dumb and I reference him as some guy on yahoo for a reason. Bottom line is I agree Mathis could be a very good LG and could be had for a very premium price based on the upside of his performance.

I'm still really really really curious how the heck this guy was on the vet minimum last year. He's obviously got something in his history to indicate he won't get Grubbs money. I don't have the time to dig around right now. But if he was overly talented he would have at least been a) promised a starting job last year and b) got more than the minimum.

And yeah EHS...2002.

LuckyJim is an EHS alum. Somewhere around '92. I guess once every 10 years or so they graduate someone with some brains.

[MurphDogg]

This is such a comical post to me. I'd personally say Yanda is better than Grubbs. He got 5/32. So if it's more than his value it's probably not by much. But generally the free market seems to indicate Grubbs is better than Mathis by virtue of the fact that....well he's already signed, the market's really indicated Nicks/Grubbs were the best two. And there seems to be plenty of evidence to back that up.

Did you watch the Ravens at all last year. Grubbs made the line noticeably better, I guess Mathis might be good, but let's not demean Grubbs or underrate the guy. He was probably the best lineman at his position of all the Ravens lineman this last year. And if Mathis is really better than Grubbs, he'll get a 5/32 kind of deal, and that's one I'm guessing the Ravens can't afford that either.

Or maybe all the NFL teams who you know, hire and pay people to make these decisions, know a bit more than you about how good Grubbs/Mathis really are.

This is unnecessarily confrontational, it is certainly possible that the free market could be wrong. It has happened before, both in football and in the economy. The idea that we know everything about football in order to properly rank players (especially offense lineman) correctly one hundred percent of the time is foolish. The market gets it wrong constantly, this is why not all Pro Bowl players were first round picks.

[paulcoates]

Saints signed OG Ben Grubbs, formerly of the Ravens, to a five-year, $36 million deal.
The deal includes a $10 million signing bonus, and $16 million "fully guaranteed." Grubbs provides the Saints a soft landing after they lost LG Carl Nicks to the Bucs, but at a surprisingly steep cost. Grubbs landed just $11.5 million less total money, and will average roughly $2 million less per season. Grubbs graded out as Pro Football Focus' sixth-best left guard in 2011, but Nicks was significantly better in both run and pass blocking. Nicks is also more than a year younger. The Ravens will likely now focus on signing free agent Evan Mathis to replace Grubbs.

[Hooded Viper]

My brother just called me and said that 105.7 is teasing a Ravens signing. Anyone else get the details? If true it has to be Mathis, right?