0:04

Welcome into the Lounge presented by DraftKings.

0:07

Major breaking news

0:09

for the Ravens. They have reportedly

0:12

secured Derek Henry

0:16

Folks on a two year, reported

0:18

sixteen million dollars deal, according

0:21

to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Huge

0:24

news and I'm sure after the Day

0:26

one losses the Ravens had in free agency,

0:28

this will make fans feel a lot better.

0:30

Yeah, this is exciting.

0:31

I mean, Derek Henry was somebody who I think a lot of Ravens

0:33

fans had circled at the top of their

0:36

wish list going into free agency.

0:38

This has been kind of long rumored

0:40

there to be mutual interest there, going back

0:42

really to the trade deadline, where there were multiple

0:44

reports that the Ravens tried to trade for Derrick

0:46

Henry at that time. It comes a

0:48

little bit later than that, but ultimately Henry

0:51

is going to be here wearing purple and black, and it's

0:53

just just a great

0:55

addition to this team. I just think

0:57

that it is such an exciting move.

1:00

And you get a guy who Ravens fans no

1:02

first hand how dangerous he is, and

1:05

I think he is going to be an absolute differencepaker

1:07

for this offense.

1:08

I mean This guy's been the best

1:10

runner in the NFL running back in the NFL

1:13

for since he came in the league, since

1:15

twenty sixteen. Really since twenty eighteen he

1:17

became the.

1:18

Little slow starting, but then from twenty eighteen

1:20

has been rolling downhill ever since.

1:22

That's when he became the team starter.

1:23

Yep, right, So no running back in the NFL

1:26

has more rushing yards than Derrick Henry

1:28

since he came in the league twenty sixteen. Nobody,

1:31

yeah, well, quarterbacks included,

1:33

has more rushing yards than Derrick Henry. He

1:35

has nine and

1:37

two yards over that span, and it's not even

1:40

close. Ze Kelly is second with like eighty nine

1:42

hundred. Yeah right, so he's got my six hundred

1:44

yards.

1:44

Right.

1:45

Since since he became the team starter in

1:47

twenty eighteen, nobody has more rushing

1:49

yards per game than Derrick Henry

1:52

ninety four.

1:54

This guy is a monster.

1:56

He's a monster. That's just what he is.

1:58

Yeah right.

1:59

And so to pair him

2:01

with Lamar Jackson, this

2:03

is the stuff of nightmares. You

2:06

know, you want to talk about the Boogeyman and monsters

2:08

and what your what kids should be afraid of, what defenders

2:10

are going to be afraid of?

2:11

Sleep at night. It's this pairing of Lamar

2:13

Jackson and Derrick Henry.

2:14

Yeah.

2:15

I remember when I went to the Pro Bowl

2:17

in twenty nineteen, and

2:19

a lot of times people will ask me, like, what's

2:22

so and so. Look like, up close of

2:24

everybody that I've ever been around in

2:26

the NFL, Dereck Henry might be at the

2:28

top of the list of the guys who you see

2:30

in person, and you're like, he's

2:33

a freak.

2:33

He's a freak.

2:34

He's bigger than you even expect him to be, Like,

2:36

you know, he's a big dude, he's hard to tackle, all this stuff. But

2:38

you're like, that's Derek Henry. Like he's with the running backs.

2:40

He looks like he should be over there with the pass rushers, Like he's

2:43

that big of a guy. And then he's got

2:45

that breakaway speed and he's still

2:47

productive. I mean that, that to me is is

2:49

kind of the key piece here. A

2:52

lot of teams a lot and now there's been a lot

2:54

of spending on running backs this year. It's kind of a much different

2:56

story from a year ago, but there's been a lot of spending

2:58

on running backs, and the question with them is

3:01

how do they hold up especially when they get to thirty.

3:03

Okay, Henry is showing those lines are

3:05

slowing down. Last year, the Titans offense really

3:07

had him and not much else, and he still was

3:09

a thousand yard rusher even though everybody

3:11

going up against Tennessee basically said stop

3:14

the run first and foremost. Just stop the run and we're probably

3:17

going to win this game. That was basically every defense

3:19

is game plan going up against Tennessee. And he's still

3:21

put up over one thousand yards because he's that good

3:23

of a player. He's incredibly reliable.

3:25

He's out there every single week. You can give

3:28

him thirty carries if you want to. That's

3:30

not been how the Ravens do business in their backfield.

3:32

But if you need to give him thirty carries, he's

3:34

ready for.

3:35

It, right exactly.

3:36

Look, here's the thing with Derrick Henry, as

3:39

we've outlined here, super productive.

3:42

The question is he just turned thirty

3:44

in January, and the

3:46

general league consensus is thirty

3:49

is kind of the magic number, huh where running

3:51

backs start to kind of break down.

3:53

But there are exceptions to the rule.

3:54

Yeah, and I think that Derrick Henry because

3:57

of the you know, I called him a

3:59

monster caught him a freak.

4:00

I kind of like alien.

4:03

I'm gonna go with alien one

4:05

because of the alien that Derrick Henry

4:08

is. He is not human. He's

4:10

the exception to this rule. And I

4:12

think that there are a few different factors that I

4:14

want to point to that

4:17

spell that out. One, you just look

4:19

at the stats, the production, even last

4:21

season, the recent production.

4:23

He was second in the league in rushing yards.

4:24

Last year he had a thousand, one hundred

4:27

or one and sixty seven yards

4:29

that was second most behind Christian

4:32

McCaffery. You know that guy, Yeah, right, so recent

4:35

history suggests this. Then you start

4:37

to look at the advanced metrics. Right, you

4:40

look at top speed. He had a max speed

4:42

of twenty one point six to eight miles per hour last

4:44

season in Week eighteen regular season

4:46

finale.

4:47

This guy Week eighteen.

4:48

You don't usually hit your top speed last time we saw

4:50

him on the field, right, that's the second fastest

4:53

speed he's had in the past five years. So like

4:55

the speed is still there, ye, right,

4:57

if he needs to hit that gear, he's still

5:00

that gear.

5:01

Yeah, he proved it, right.

5:02

And then you even look at yards after contacts,

5:04

second most in the league, nine er and thirty power

5:07

is still there. Right, you look at

5:09

running away from defenders, he had the sixth

5:11

best breakaway percentage according to pro

5:14

foleill focus of running back to at least

5:16

fifty attempts still breaking away from guys.

5:19

So you look at it.

5:19

From a power from a speed

5:22

standpoint, all this stuff even

5:25

durability, like guy plays every

5:27

game. There's no reason to believe

5:29

you can just have this this notion in your

5:31

mind that Ah thirty gonna break

5:33

them down. Well, you know, it's it's good to have

5:35

evidence, and there's no evidence that

5:37

a breakdown is coming. And even

5:40

more so, I think that he's going to be even

5:42

more effective in a Ravens offense with Lamar

5:45

Jackson and with the scheme that the Ravens have.

5:47

Yeah, totally, I think that this

5:49

is the Ravens want to be able to run the ball. And I think

5:51

that you look at this this

5:54

offense and you know, I talked to John

5:56

Harball about it at the combine and he talked about

5:58

basically wanting to have this a running back

6:00

that could be a could make guys miss

6:02

and could break tackles in the secondary and basically

6:05

you know, take a take a five

6:07

yard run and make it a twenty yard run or even

6:09

bigger than that. And I think that, like you

6:11

know, Gus Edwards was a really reliable

6:14

running back here throughout his time, he didn't

6:16

have the big play potential that

6:18

a Derrick Henry has.

6:20

And I think that you know, JK.

6:21

Dobbins was somebody who you know, injuries

6:24

kind of totally derailed what he

6:27

was going to be here. So I

6:29

think the Ravens have really been looking for, like

6:31

this absolutely dynamic running

6:34

back. That's exactly what Derrick Henry is.

6:36

And I think that he elevates this offense.

6:38

Like you look at the offense from last year

6:40

for the Ravens, there weren't many weaknesses. I

6:42

mean, it was it was, it was a great

6:44

offense, it was Lamar Jackson was the MVP.

6:47

But I think that once they went into playoffs,

6:49

I think they would have loved to have a dynamic

6:52

running back who is a game changer. They

6:54

had it with Keaton Mitchell before the injury,

6:57

and now you get it with Derrick Henry going into

6:59

next year.

7:00

Which and I think Keaton Mitchell can be a great compliment

7:02

and Justice Hill could be a great compliment to Derrick

7:04

Henry also, right, And that's kind of the magic

7:06

of this deal. Also, you know, it's

7:08

a two year deal reportedly, and

7:11

so you know, and you're

7:13

committing you're not committing a crazy

7:15

amount of money to it. You still have the

7:17

door open for somebody like a Keith Mitchell to get

7:19

healthy and then emerge within this backfield.

7:22

You still have a place for a Justice

7:24

Hill or even if you want to draft somebody, you could even do

7:27

that. Right, Because this is a two year deal,

7:30

you also look at it financially. So

7:33

Derrick Henry at two years sixteen, that's

7:35

eight per year.

7:37

I know, I do that math for you there, Budy.

7:38

Yeah, well they also, yeah, here's some more math.

7:40

There's potential Adam Schefter reports

7:42

with incentives to get up to twenty right, those two years

7:44

correct, So hopefully he hits that right,

7:47

But let's just look at it at eight per

7:49

year right now, that's the same that

7:51

it costs the Bears to get DeAndre Swift

7:54

and the Titans to get Tony Poller.

7:55

So the Titans just let.

7:57

Derek Henry walk out the door and replace him

7:59

with Tony Poller.

8:01

For the same price. That's what the Titan

8:03

the move the Titans just made. Yeah, and

8:06

Tony Pollard obviously a guy.

8:07

He was a three year deal for Tony Pollar right, three years

8:09

twenty four million, and DeAndre Swifth got three years

8:11

twenty four million. I think generally speaking,

8:14

you looked at them as kind of the tier

8:16

two run free agent running backs this year,

8:18

where Derrek Kennery was obviously in tier one,

8:20

the Ravens got him at the tier two price.

8:22

Yeah, well you look at just how that the

8:24

first wave of free agency during this

8:27

legals hampering period where all these deals are getting

8:29

reported, and the big three it was

8:31

Derrick Henry, it was Saquon Barkley, and it was Josh

8:33

Shakops. Sakwon Barkley went for around

8:35

thirteen a year to Philadelphia.

8:37

Then Josh Jacobs he went for twelve

8:40

to Green Bay on a four year

8:42

deal, right, So then so his was four for

8:45

forty eight, Josh Shacops was So then Ravens

8:47

get Henry a at a

8:49

really good price, and

8:52

you might like he might be the

8:54

best of the bunch. Like that possibility

8:56

over these next two years, this certainly

8:59

exists, Like I'm not going out the possibility that Derek

9:01

Hennry is the best of the bunch and you got him at

9:03

a steep discount from what Chewan

9:06

Barkley went for and for what Josh Jacobs

9:08

went for.

9:08

Right, Yeah, And there's always going to be people

9:10

who argue, don't pay running backs period,

9:13

right, that eight million dollars is too much?

9:15

Is eight million dollars too much running back basically?

9:17

Right?

9:18

The people who say, well, look at Keiton Mitchell.

9:20

He was undrafted rookie and he comes

9:22

in here and he was blowing the doors off everybody. Even Gus

9:24

Edwards spoke a draft exactly or Gus Edwards

9:27

and like, you know, I understand

9:29

that argument. Keithon Mitchell's

9:31

a rarity. Most of the undrafted running backs

9:33

don't come in and do what Keaton Mitchell did. So just

9:36

chalking up and be like, you know what, just go get another Keithon

9:38

Mitchell. It doesn't really work like that, right,

9:41

And sure, yeah, there are

9:43

absolutely running back hits in the

9:45

mid rounds, later rounds. Absolutely

9:48

there are, just like at any other position, right, and

9:51

I get going young and all that stuff,

9:53

But the Ravens are in a win now position.

9:56

They have an MVP quarterback, they

9:58

have you know, targets on the outside for

10:00

him tight end, they have the defense.

10:02

They have all the pieces obviously

10:05

to win a Super Bowl. They were within a whisker

10:07

last year of going to the Super Bowl. It's win

10:09

now mode for the Ravens.

10:11

It's not.

10:11

It's I understand you always want to have an

10:14

eye towards the future, and I think the Ravens certainly

10:16

still do. It's why it's a two year deal and not

10:18

a five year deal or whatever. Right

10:21

but right now the cover

10:23

was kind of bare. I mean, basically, you had Justice

10:25

Hill and Keith Mitchell under contract,

10:27

right.

10:28

Mitchell he had his full strength.

10:29

This year, you had to add somebody.

10:31

And I'm sorry, I'm just not if I were

10:33

the Ravens, I wouldn't be in the Let's

10:36

take a shot at getting a lead running

10:38

back in the middle rounds, or a shot at an undrafted

10:40

rookie like you had a shot

10:42

at getting one of the best running backs in the league. Yeah,

10:44

and plugging you into this offense in this team.

10:47

I'm taking that shot.

10:48

It's great to find value in the in the late rounds

10:50

and it undrafted guys, and it would not surprise me if

10:52

the Ravens try to do that still.

10:53

They still could.

10:54

It's also nice to just get a sure thing. It's

10:57

like, it's nice to take care of that position if you're

10:59

like, you know what, we went and we got a sure thing, and we

11:01

got one of the best running backs in the game, and we're

11:03

gonna just feel really good going into next season

11:05

with a plug and play difference maker

11:07

for this offense. Right.

11:08

The shame of it is, you know, the Ravens thought that

11:10

they were drafting that with JK. Dobbins, and they

11:13

very well, Like if he hadn't been injured,

11:15

I think he would have been that. Yeah, but you

11:17

know what, that's that happened. There's no going back

11:20

in rewriting history.

11:21

JK.

11:21

Dobbins has suffered to major injuries,

11:23

right, and could is there a possibility

11:26

he still comes back? Sure, he's still a free agent. Who

11:28

knows down the road what happens with JK Dobbins, Right,

11:30

But like, and you can't

11:33

say, well, Derrick Henry could get injured

11:35

too.

11:36

Sure, anybody could.

11:37

Anybody could. I'm not playing

11:39

that game like anybody could. But the guy's been super

11:42

durable over his whole career. He's a workout monster.

11:45

Like, go pull up the clips

11:47

on Twitter right now of Derrick Henry

11:49

working out it's ridiculous totally,

11:52

and so like you can

11:54

just play that game on anybody.

11:56

Dereck Henry at least as a resume of high

11:59

level production and high level durability.

12:01

To go back on.

12:02

Yeah, and again he's an alien, so

12:05

we just go back to that point.

12:07

He's impervious.

12:09

Yeah, I think I just

12:11

think on really all levels financially,

12:14

contract length, kind of being patient

12:16

and letting the running back market. I mean, it was

12:19

kind of a game of musical chairs with this running back

12:21

market. This was like the hottest

12:23

position during the first wave of

12:25

free agency, and it seems like every running back has

12:28

basically changed teams in the NFL over the past

12:30

twenty four hours, and so.

12:32

You it honestly is like a dozen

12:34

guys. It's like a third of the league.

12:36

Yeah, but the Ravens going

12:39

back to the reports had interest in Henry and conversations

12:41

with him going back to last year. And

12:44

so now you basically get

12:46

a guy who there was mutual interest

12:48

from the start.

12:49

You get a player at the right price.

12:51

You kind of play the waiting

12:53

game a little bit as some of these big deals

12:55

fly off the board, and then again you might

12:57

get the best of the bunch. And so you

13:00

look at you know, and I even go back

13:02

to what the Ravens were able to do over the weekend with

13:04

the addition of Justin Attabik. What's the benefit of

13:06

getting Justin Mattabik done? Well,

13:09

you get him on a contract. You also free up

13:11

about ten million dollars in salary cap space by

13:13

getting him signed rather

13:15

than having a play on the franchise tag this year. What'd

13:17

you do with that ten million dollars in salary cap space? Oh,

13:19

you went, you got Dereck Henry.

13:20

Right, and you have a little change.

13:22

Yeah, and you got a little change just there. So

13:24

we'll see what Eric Cocsta does with that. Also reported

13:27

Malie Harrison there, yeah, reported change got

13:29

Moly Harrison done as well. Right, So, like

13:32

I just like all of

13:34

that. I like what the Ravens

13:36

have been able to do here at the outset of fur agency.

13:38

The fact of the matter is a lot of teams are scared

13:41

off by a thirty year old running back. You as as much

13:43

carries on his resume as Derrick Henry is he

13:45

does, you know, I mean we talk about he

13:47

leads the league in rushing yards

13:50

since he came into the league. Well,

13:52

since he became the starter. He also leads the league

13:54

in rushing attempts.

13:55

Yeah. Right, and so that's part of the reason.

13:57

Like the dude's carried the rock all

14:00

right again, no signs

14:03

of breakdown there.

14:04

But teams are scared off by a thirty year

14:06

old running back with that many carries on his resume.

14:09

That's just the fact of the matter. That's why you hung out there for

14:11

so long and why teams, other teams

14:13

didn't pay him what some of these younger guys

14:15

like a Saquon and Josh Jacobs

14:17

and some of these other guys got. The Ravens

14:20

are a team that have not been scared off by

14:22

the age number, Like it's

14:24

just the number.

14:25

Kyle van Nei proved that last year. Jadeveon

14:28

Clowney proved that last year.

14:29

When other teams thought that they were too old and they

14:31

were washed as outside linebackers, the Ravens was like,

14:33

you know what we're gonna We're gonna take a shot on these guys,

14:36

and that was a great shot, similar

14:39

to what.

14:39

They're doing with Derrick Henry this year.

14:41

Honestly, I go back to what the Ravens

14:43

did with mark.

14:43

Ingram I mean tons of examples.

14:45

Well, I was saying, that's that position. Heisman Trophy

14:48

winning run Alabama running back. Go back

14:50

to twenty nineteen and Mark Ingram

14:52

came in here, and I still remember

14:54

when when Ingram came in here in his first day he was answering

14:56

all the same questions about running backs over thirty. Then

14:59

he went out there and had a great seat. Was a Pro Bowl that year.

15:01

Ran for over one thousand yards. Pretty

15:03

good signing.

15:03

Oh, I think that Derrick Henry's going to again.

15:06

We have to put reported in all these things because

15:09

it's not official, but I

15:11

expect that he would run over for over a thousand

15:13

yards. Of the Ravens, I would be surprised if he didn't. Lamar

15:15

Jackson's been the Ravens leading rusher every single

15:18

year that he's been the quarterback.

15:19

And Lamar Jackson is not going to stop running. He's

15:22

going to continue to run.

15:23

He's going to be a big part of the Ravens running running

15:25

back solution their their

15:28

puzzle because in part his

15:30

the thread of his legs opens everything else up

15:32

for everybody else. Right, you don't take that away

15:34

from him. He's the best running quarterback in

15:36

NFL history. But I

15:38

want to see what the Ravens look like when Lamar Jackson

15:40

isn't their leading rusher.

15:41

But it's also the scales have started to tip a

15:43

little bit in the other direction where

15:46

he is running less. He ran less

15:48

last year than previous seasons, and I

15:50

think it could continue that way this season.

15:52

And now, Henry, you

15:54

know you have a running back lead the team in rushing rather

15:57

than Lamar. So let's take a quick

15:59

break and when we come back, we'll talk about some of the

16:01

other reported moves during this

16:03

initial wave of free agency. You're

16:05

listening to the Lage podcast. We're coming to you from the Seakeek

16:08

studio. We also want to mention our friends

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16:39

All right, So, in terms of the other side of the coin, here

16:41

the players who are no longer going to be in a Ravens

16:43

uniform. There's been a number of players who

16:45

have left, and the latest

16:48

is Patrick Queen and he signs

16:50

a reported three year contract

16:53

with the Pittsburgh Steelers,

16:55

sign plans sign for forty one million

16:58

dollars. And that

17:00

is not great news. Seeing

17:03

him in seeing him in a Steelers

17:05

uniform is something I did not want to see. You

17:07

know.

17:08

It's the stunner of the day.

17:09

Derrick Henry news is like fantastic,

17:12

But I kind of felt like it was coming all along.

17:15

I mean, how long how many times have I said it,

17:17

it's happening. I felt like that was happening.

17:19

This is the stunner of the day, and

17:22

not in a good way.

17:23

And you know, there were some

17:25

there's some reports that like maybe that's a.

17:28

Pairing that could work, you know, like

17:30

just when, but those get tossed out

17:32

all the time. Oh, this is so best fits

17:35

for so and so. Right, and they're talking about

17:37

the nightmare scenario of Patrick Queen's and the Steelers,

17:39

and when that came out, it was kind of.

17:41

Like, bah, I

17:43

mean maybe, but we'll see, we'll

17:45

see.

17:45

There's there's a little buzz about this, but you kind of

17:48

didn't want to believe it. And now

17:50

seeing this is like, I mean, no

17:54

way, no way that this

17:56

could happen, right, I mean, godly.

17:59

Yeah, I mean I guess I

18:01

am a little bit surprised that he ends up in

18:03

Pittsburgh.

18:05

I'm not maybe quite as shocked.

18:06

I mean, I think he wanted to go to the highest bidder and if if that's

18:08

the best deal. It felt like it

18:11

felt like, I mean, we don't know what the other offers were

18:13

at. I'm gonna guess he didn't take less

18:15

to go to Pittsburgh. I'm going to also guess that I'm going

18:17

to assume that.

18:19

I don't think that there's like to the point

18:21

that I don't think there's any boat. I don't think

18:23

there's part of Patrick Queen that's like, oh, yeah, I want to

18:25

go against the Ravens. They did me dirty, The Ravens

18:27

did not do him dirty.

18:28

Yeah.

18:28

I think that basically he had a great four year

18:31

run here. It felt good about it.

18:33

The Ravens really felt like it

18:35

was like good on all accounts,

18:37

But as we said at the start of

18:39

free agency, it certainly looked like Patrick Queen was

18:41

going elsewhere because the Ravens have already paid their inside

18:43

linebacker. They already gave a massive contract to rokwand

18:46

Smith. It's really hard to do that with

18:48

two guys at that position, and so now

18:50

he goes to the Steelers,

18:52

which is the most surprising. I

18:55

also am a little bit surprised at the

18:57

reported contract of three years, forty

18:59

one million.

19:00

So that comes out so.

19:01

I thought he was probably going to get a little more.

19:03

Yeah, like Roquan got a five year, one hundred

19:05

million, so it's about thirteen mil.

19:07

And I thought that.

19:08

I thought that Patrick Queen would be in that neighborhood

19:10

of you know, the eighteen million

19:13

dollar range, you know, kind.

19:15

Of twenty million.

19:15

Yeah, I thought it would be in that eighteen to eighteen

19:18

to twenty million dollar rage. He was an All Pro player this year.

19:20

I think he's awesome. I think Patrick Queen is a great player.

19:22

Yeah, and I kind of expected him to get that. So he

19:24

gets a little bit less.

19:25

Than I expected.

19:26

Yeah, no, I agree, which

19:28

doesn't help the Ravens from a compensatory pick situation.

19:31

If you're talking what round would that pick come

19:33

in? The Ravens really wanted to see him

19:35

max out that deal as well, and

19:38

they didn't want to see this, and they definitely didn't want to

19:40

see him lay with the Steelers. Yeah, I could say

19:42

those two things confidently. The only thing I can say

19:44

about p Q and how he looks at

19:46

the Ravens ay, I think he loved his time here.

19:49

They gave him a start all that stuff. The Ravens didn't pick

19:51

up his fifth year option.

19:51

They signed a guy to basically replace him and paid another

19:54

dute instead of him. So, like, you

19:56

know, hey handled that like the ultimate

19:58

professional. He wast right about

20:00

it. I'm sure there was some feelings though, I mean

20:02

he said that on this very couch that yeah, that

20:04

of course alictits some feelings, you

20:07

know, but I think that, uh, and he'll

20:09

be looking to prove now as a sealer.

20:11

Gosh, it feels so wrong to even say these words

20:14

that, you know what everybody's kind

20:16

of said. Oh, Patrick Whann was great,

20:18

but maybe it was he really got great

20:20

after Roquan arrived, right, that's what people say,

20:22

like, oh, that how much is PQ

20:25

and how much was Roquan's influence and his

20:28

effect on PQ in making him

20:30

great.

20:30

Well, I'm going to go to the rival and I'm going to show everybody.

20:32

Yeah, Like, I think that once

20:34

that decision is made, once he makes that decision,

20:37

then you use it for motivation. I don't

20:39

think that the motivation to prove those things

20:41

is what Land is.

20:42

No, I don't think he was like going to the Sealers and being

20:44

like, I really want to go to Pittsburgh.

20:46

Yeah.

20:46

I don't think there's some part of him those things.

20:48

I just think, Yeah, but yeah, just well, And the

20:50

funny.

20:50

Thing is that you brought it up before you even started

20:52

this was you know, there

20:55

was stuff about him and Mike tom and Mike tom was

20:57

say to him when he was a rookie that he wasn't a Raven.

20:59

Maybe Mike was trying to convince him to comment. Maybe

21:02

he's tampering like Tomlin was

21:04

saying, you're not a Raven, You're a Steeler.

21:05

Yeah, man, Patrick Queen,

21:07

you share that this year, and like I wasn't

21:10

totally sure the meaning of it, you know, when

21:12

he share that in a press conference this year. But

21:14

I think the point was that, you know, there was that

21:17

Tom Will was parking at him. I mean, he was doing some trash

21:19

talk, right, and yeah, maybe

21:21

that maybe that's what was going on.

21:22

He was saying, you're not a Raven, You're Steeler. I

21:25

do think that.

21:26

I do think similar

21:28

to when we sat down with Matt bk and players

21:30

find different things to get motivated over,

21:32

and so I'm sure that when Patrick Queen

21:34

plays the Ravens for the first time, he's going to be out

21:37

motivated. So you should assigned me players

21:40

players of course motivated by that. So

21:42

I'm sure that's going to be the case of humans

21:44

operate.

21:44

Yeah, Derek Henry is not a human, so we don't know about him,

21:47

but other humans operate

21:49

that way. So good for PQ, like,

21:51

great guy, great player. We've said it a million times,

21:54

really high for him. Hate that he went to Steelers. We're going to

21:56

talk about another guy who went to AFC

21:58

North team that we don't really like that either, but

22:01

hey, best luckiess e for twice a year.

22:03

Actually more than that. I can't even say that.

22:05

I want the Steelers to lose every single week, so I can't

22:07

even say that I hope PQ does

22:09

well individually, but the Steelers lose every single

22:11

one of their games. Yeah, all right, So in terms of the other guys

22:13

who have left PQ at this point,

22:15

is now the seventh Ravens player

22:17

to leave in free agency.

22:20

The others. You got the list here, you want to run

22:22

through it?

22:22

Yeah, the other ones.

22:23

Gus Edwards to the Chargers, Gen Stone to

22:25

the Bengals, who we were just referencing, Devins,

22:28

Ubernate to the Jaguars, John Simpsons the Jets,

22:30

Ronald Darby's to the Jaguars, and del Sean Phillips

22:33

to the Texans.

22:33

Yeah. So, just in terms of Gus Edwards, you

22:36

know, I think with him, like the base, the Ravens basically

22:38

traded up. They Gus Edwards leaves

22:40

and he was a really good player here during his

22:42

his five years, and I think that, like, there's a lot

22:44

to like about Gus Edwards as

22:46

a Raven. I mean, this is an undrafted player who

22:48

was highly productive, really good around the goal line.

22:51

Sorry, great story, Like, I

22:53

love Guss. He was a great player.

22:55

The school bus meme will

22:58

live on forever. Yeah, a special place my

23:00

heart. And Gus was a

23:02

guy who if you needed a yard. He needed

23:04

some tough yards, like you always felt good

23:06

about giving the ball to Gus Edwards. Yeah, and

23:08

he was one of the best in the league to do it,

23:10

honestly. And so just

23:13

a great story, another great guy. Happy

23:15

for Gus that you know his playing and he reunites

23:18

with Greg Roman now Jim Harball

23:20

also, and so it's a great fit for him

23:22

schematically and a place

23:25

where I think he could have a lot of success. The Chargers

23:27

are seemingly they want to build a strong

23:29

running game and Gus Edwards is

23:31

a power runner. That Joe Ortiz, you know,

23:33

who was influential part

23:35

of the reason why he landed in Baltimore is on drafted

23:38

free agent is now the GM, but the Chargers.

23:40

So it's a familiar place for Gus in a good landing

23:42

spot. Any takeaways from you, What are

23:44

your takeaways from the losses

23:46

that the Ravens have had in free agency so far.

23:48

I don't know that there's a big surprise, you know, running back,

23:50

they trade Gus Edwards for Derrick Henry.

23:52

Okay, you know I think that Gino

23:56

Stone we all kind of felt like he was gonna

23:58

be gone because again he raced himself

24:00

out don't love it. Ended up a Cincinnati hate

24:02

that got end it up like NFC

24:05

West their South.

24:06

So the best, the best was Lamar's Lamar's

24:08

tweet, you know, kind of barring

24:10

a quote from uh Barber Teky Barber,

24:13

Yes, thank you, saying you're dead to me,

24:15

which Tiki Barber said about Saquon.

24:17

Yeah.

24:17

See gee Barber meant it seriously. Lamar

24:20

was joking, yeah, saying you're dead

24:22

to me, Gino. I just what I pictured

24:25

in my head was Lamar given Gino the chop, Like

24:27

we go to Cincinnati next year and it's like meet at

24:29

midfield before the game and.

24:30

He gets chopped.

24:30

Yeah, I could see that.

24:32

So, yeah, don't like that because the Bengals

24:35

were a defense that were particularly

24:37

not good against UH in zone

24:39

coverage last year and Gino kind of playing

24:41

center field for them not good.

24:43

Don't like it.

24:44

He's picked off Joe Burrow too. He got Joe Burrow,

24:46

and I hope he don't get Lamar. Yeah,

24:48

and so but happy for him. A

24:50

two year thing, report a fifteen million dollar deal.

24:53

That's a that's a good deal for him. And and honestly,

24:55

when I saw the safety market get flooded

24:57

with free agents. I wasn't so sure he was going to get

24:59

that big a deal, so

25:01

I was happy that he got that number. Yeah.

25:04

Another guy who got a pretty nice deal is John Simpson

25:06

two year, eighteen million dollar reported

25:08

deal with the New York Jets.

25:09

Yeah.

25:10

You know, so the Ravens are.

25:12

We knew that there was probably a

25:14

decent likelihood that they are looking for two new starting

25:16

guards with John Simpson and Kevin Zeitler both on

25:18

the market. At this point, there's been no reports

25:21

of Zeitler signing anywhere, but that

25:23

could again happen at any point.

25:25

So what are you? What are you? What

25:27

are your thoughts on John Simpson getting that deal?

25:30

My thoughts The Ravens are obviously going

25:32

to need another left guard, a new left guard.

25:34

For the three straight

25:37

year at least, all right.

25:38

I mean, you went from Bozeman

25:41

to Ben Powers, and

25:44

then Ben Powers was one year, and

25:47

then you went obviously last year to John

25:49

Simpson, and so it's

25:51

going to be plug and play for another left

25:53

guard. Wouldn't surprise me if that's an internal

25:56

option. I think that

25:58

Andrew Voorhe's is going to have a good shot at that.

26:00

Salah is going to have a pretty good shot at that Ben

26:03

Cleveland perhaps, but it still remains

26:05

to me seen of Kevin Zeitler departs

26:07

that I would expect Ben Cleveland probably more likely at

26:09

right guard than left guard. But

26:12

I think that the Ravens will have some internal

26:15

options. The guard market has

26:17

kind of exploded too. I don't see

26:19

right now there's not a lot of bargains out there.

26:21

It seems like now down the line, you never

26:24

know guys are going to get released. You

26:26

know, we're still early in this whole process

26:28

of building out what the twenty twenty four Ravens

26:30

are going to look like, and so I'm

26:33

certainly not gonna rule out the possibility that Ravens

26:35

find a veteran guard gets cut

26:37

from somebody. Yeah, who knows, and

26:39

so I think that's probably my expectation.

26:42

I think they'll definitely draft a guard

26:44

as well. Boseman

26:46

we just mentioned also got released by the Panthers.

26:48

Could there be a reunion there if the

26:50

Ravens feel like he could play guard again

26:53

and backup center, So there

26:56

will be options there. I'm not freaking

26:58

out about John's Simpson. I think he was a

27:00

good blocker, particularly against the run.

27:02

He could maul.

27:03

He had some big blocks, physical blocks. Great

27:05

guy, love talking to him. I'm not freaking

27:08

out because he left, because the Ravens have a really

27:10

strong track record of finding quality

27:13

guards.

27:13

I don't think they're a team that's going to spend a whole lot of

27:15

money.

27:16

They kind of keep feeding the pipeline,

27:18

develop them with Joe d and

27:20

then plug him in. And so far that strategy

27:23

has worked, and I expect them to stick to that strategy.

27:24

Yeah, it's a second year in a row that they've

27:27

had a left guard go out and get

27:29

a decent contract. Ben Power's got a big time

27:31

contract from Denver two year, already restructured.

27:33

Yeah, and then so

27:35

now.

27:37

John Simpsons, thank you.

27:38

Sorry, John Simpson goes out there and gets a nice

27:40

deal as well.

27:41

Yeah. Look, I just think from a I

27:44

think it's good business. Go back to the twenty

27:46

twenty two season. The Ravens signed John Simpson

27:48

super late in that season, basically

27:50

a stash.

27:51

Yep.

27:52

You know, I'll give you your credit. You were saying at that time that

27:54

he could end up being the starting guard. And at

27:56

that point, you know, when John Simpson joined us on

27:58

the podcast, he was pretty open about the fact

28:00

that he felt like he was

28:02

kind of his head was spinning, like his career was

28:04

kind of across very much at a crossroads.

28:07

I didn't know where this thing was going to go. Ends

28:09

up signing and then getting an opportunity to compete

28:11

for the starting job last year, wins the starting

28:13

job and now gets an eighteen million dollars contra. So

28:16

he gets a nice he gets a really nice deal, really

28:18

happy for him, and then the Ravens will get

28:20

a comp pick back in return.

28:22

Well, right now, the Ravens are over you.

28:24

You can only get a maximum of four compicks

28:26

for free agency losses. You can get additional ones

28:28

for coaching or GM losses for

28:31

for free They're over right now.

28:33

So they fined the Henry.

28:35

Right The Henry signing would knock

28:37

out one of those, but they'd still be at the max.

28:39

Yeah, So like while they're going

28:41

to play the game, the compensatory pick game, and I expect

28:44

them to protect those four picks, like

28:46

they can go out and sign guys too.

28:48

Well, I mean basically the Simpson

28:51

deal is very similar to the Derrick Henry

28:54

deal. The reports of them, so it's like

28:56

you it's

28:58

not necessarily this kind

29:00

of is from a cop pick standpoint. You swapped

29:03

John Sampson for Derrick Henry. I'm good with that

29:05

swap.

29:05

I'm good with that swap too.

29:06

And really we talked about a sign

29:09

in stash for John Simpson last

29:11

year. The Ravens basically draft and stashed

29:13

Andrew Vorhies. Yeah, so it could be another stash

29:15

solution.

29:16

Yeah.

29:16

And then even like you know, we're diving

29:19

deep here into the guard conversation, but like Ben Cleveland,

29:21

like Ben Cleveland, if he steps in

29:23

and ads up becoming a starting guard for the

29:26

team, whether that's at right guard or at

29:28

left.

29:28

Guard, the same situation, fourth year contract

29:30

year, he could go get paid next year.

29:32

You know, as Ben powers

29:34

and as John sais.

29:35

Hopefully he plays well enough that we're talking about the

29:37

same thing with him next year.

29:39

But are the Ravens gonna bring him back or he prised himself

29:41

out? Yeah, that's hope.

29:42

I mean, really the loss so far, you

29:45

know, I'm not sweating about Devin Duvernet.

29:47

I like, I like Dove. It's a

29:49

great fit in douve aal.

29:51

I mean, come on, you know, but he

29:53

really had a very small

29:56

offensive role last year. Here

29:58

was a two time Pro Bowl returner, yeah,

30:00

he was a great returner. Tylan

30:02

Wallace stepped up and won the game in overtime

30:04

against the Rams when he was the returner stepping

30:06

in for an injured Devan Duvernet. And I expected

30:09

Tylan Wallace. I think he's a good returner too, and he

30:11

can step into those shoes. I'm not sweating that from

30:13

an offensive or really special teams perspective.

30:16

And two years for eight and a half million was not as much

30:18

as I expected Vernee to get.

30:20

Good for him the.

30:21

One that I think Gino

30:24

And then I'm also I don't

30:26

love losing Ronald Darby's why That's

30:28

where two years max ten million

30:31

is the reported deal for him

30:33

to go to the Jags. And

30:36

you know, now maybe the Ravens feel

30:38

like, hey we found Ronald Darby in whatever

30:40

August last year. There

30:43

will be another guy like that. But

30:45

Ronald Darby stepped in and played pretty darn.

30:47

Well and rights in certain

30:49

games.

30:50

Yeah, and you know the Ravens.

30:52

The difficult part at cornerback for the Ravens is they

30:54

have Jalen Arma Davis and Pepe Williams, who are two guys

30:56

they really like a lot fourth round picks going

30:58

into their third year, but you just haven't gotten big sample

31:00

size from him. So it's like difficult to know

31:02

how much you can lean on them a because

31:04

you just haven't seen them play a whole a ton

31:07

other than in practice, at

31:09

least at corner, and just they've been so

31:11

nicked up right that you have to really have trust

31:14

that they'll stay healthy. And

31:16

so I think that they do need

31:18

more corner depth. They're going to draft

31:21

a corner for sure, but they're

31:23

going to probably have to go, you know, find

31:25

an affordable one at some point

31:27

here during the off the rest off season as

31:29

well.

31:29

Yeah, I think they'll certainly try to do that. I think

31:32

that in terms of signing

31:34

somebody late in the process, Ronald

31:36

Darby was about as the best case

31:38

scenario as you could have they

31:40

signed, and Van Noy I'm saying

31:42

it's specifically a corner. It's really

31:45

I think it's pretty challenging to find storing.

31:49

Usually guys like that.

31:50

I mean, who was it Kyle Fuller the year before,

31:53

right, and now he got injured Week one, he tore

31:55

his ACL but like he was going to play

31:57

a pretty big role for the Ravens. I don't know how well you gonna

32:00

play, but like they found him and he could

32:02

have been Ronald Derby that the previous year.

32:05

I just think that there's usually like a veteran

32:07

that is out there on the market late

32:09

in the year, and I expect that

32:11

that will be the case again this year. I don't again, I

32:13

don't know who that is, but I expect that

32:15

he'll be there.

32:16

They basically tried it the two guys last year, Ronald

32:18

Darby and Rocky Scene.

32:19

They signed Rock as well.

32:21

Rock was much earlier.

32:22

He was much earlier in the process, but he also was

32:24

not in the first wave of free agency. He was also

32:26

later in the process, and

32:29

so they end up getting rock Assine and

32:31

you know, he got hurt in training camp and just ended up getting

32:33

beaten out by Brandon Stevens and Ronald Derby at

32:35

the end of the day and was kind of the oye man out in

32:38

that group. And so all I'm saying is that I think

32:40

it's I think it's can be more challenging

32:42

to find like Ronald Derby. I thought

32:44

signing him and getting the production that he did out of him

32:47

for a guy coming off with significant injury like

32:49

that was best case scenario. Now he goes out there and

32:51

gets a nice contract.

32:52

Good for him.

32:52

So like, will the Ravens trying to find another guy like

32:55

that? Yes, I think they would have. It's

32:57

challenging. Just like the conversation around finding a late.

33:00

I completely agree. I think that there will be somebody

33:02

there. Does it pan out as well as Ronald Darby? That's

33:04

a high bar, it's a high bar, So I think

33:08

yeah. And safety, I kind

33:10

of put safety in the same group with the loss

33:12

of Genostone. I think that there's as

33:14

we see right now, the safety market is really

33:17

deep. I expect there's gonna be guys

33:19

cut after the draft. There's still probably going

33:21

to be some of these safeties that are on the market right now

33:23

are still going to be lingering on the market in

33:26

over the summer, and so I expect that

33:28

the Ravens can probably get a pretty good right

33:30

player, right price deal with a veteran safety

33:32

at some point who has a

33:34

significant amount of starting experience.

33:36

That's what I expect.

33:37

Yeah, And I just when you have the two starting

33:39

safeties through the Ravens already have Kyle

33:41

Hamilton being one

33:44

of the best safeties in the game already, I

33:46

just feel good about that position. Like it's I

33:48

like Geno a lot, but it's like, look, we have Kyle Hamilton,

33:51

Marcus Williams. Hopefully he can

33:53

stay healthy, but he's an impact player when he's healthy.

33:55

So you know, I think that you just feel good

33:57

about that spot overall.

33:59

Absolutely, Look, today is

34:01

about the king. Get the crown, right,

34:03

buddy, because the King is coming

34:06

to Baltimore, to the Queen City.

34:07

According to Adam Schefter, right, yeah,

34:09

I think.

34:09

He threw that one up. I like that. I

34:12

like the analogy he was trying to go for there.

34:13

Do we check that it wasn't fake, Adam Schefter.

34:16

This is this is one.

34:18

Okay, I didn't get deep. This

34:22

would have been awkward.

34:23

You're safe.

34:24

This would have been awkward anyway. Thank you

34:26

for listening. An exciting day for Ravens

34:28

fans for sure. Uh

34:30

make sure that you're subscribed, leave a rating

34:33

and review, and as always, you

34:35

can read us at the lounge at ravenst NFL

34:37

dot net. Tell us what you predict for

34:39

King Henry this year and what your first

34:42

reaction was when you saw the

34:44

breaking news.

34:45

Thanks for listening. We'll be back with you probably later

34:47

this week.