NO.

I normally kick off ‘No Szn’ throughout the preliminary levels of free company when each Ravens fan desires each star participant in the marketplace. And it’s justifiable fan demand, in fact! The cap isn’t actual, cash doesn’t matter, and all of us dwell in a contemporary period of immediate gratification that’s tethered into our sports activities fandom, and after we don’t get what we wish? We chastise billionaire homeowners and their entrance workplace personnel as if everyone knows finest and it’s our play cash that they’re refusing to spend to win us a hoop, subsequent season and past be damned!

Till subsequent season is upon us, and we run all of it again…

However I digress.

This offseason has  been a bit completely different. It’s actually felt like Ravens followers spent the early levels of free company holding their collective breath and ready for Lamar Jackson to signal his new deal. The LJ signing- coupled with the Odell Beckham Jr addition- appeared to be simply sufficient to relax the preliminary wave of free agent calls for.

Alas, all of us knew it wouldn’t be a complete offseason of complacency, and as we’ve seen up to now week? The voices have intensified and the insistence to signal each participant in the marketplace is as soon as once more rising.

As such, it’s as much as me to squash all hopes and desires for anyone claiming “the Ravens simply have to signal Participant X & Y!” It’s not a reasonably job, however any individual has to deliver all of it again to actuality.

WR DeAndre Hopkins

NOPE.

If you need the straightforward reply right here, it’s that Hop is chasing a bag that the Ravens aren’t going to present him. Should you desire to dip and dive and justify the cash, simply be sure you don’t use “OBJ and Bate missed time” to defend signing Hopkins, who has missed 15 video games within the final two seasons as nicely. We are able to additionally tack on the rumors of being a locker room situation, and the truth that signing him to an identical deal as OBJ (1 yr, 15M assured, voiding a helluva lot within the course of) would nonetheless go away the WR room in 2024 wanting, and the potential uproar by Bate with this signing may additional skinny the room if he goes all Hollywood on the Ravens. Should you really need one other WR? Wait til the deadline. Perhaps. However till then? We good.

RB Dalvin Cook dinner/RB Saquon Barkley

Ew, NO.

I noticed any individual just lately recommend buying and selling away JK Dobbins for Saquon Barkley. Sure, you learn that accurately. They needed to commerce away an inexpensive RB to signal an costly one who additionally missed a season just lately with the identical main ACL damage (and Barkley additionally has a recurring ankle damage pop up nearly yearly)… make it make sense. As for the Cook dinner angle, I genuinely don’t see the logic at all- he didn’t wish to take a pay reduce (allegedly) so the crew parted methods with him. I’d think about he’s in quest of a best-fit-one-year-deal very similar to the aforementioned Deandre Hopkins, and I’ve little interest in booting Gus or JKD for a Cook dinner rental, particularly realizing it’ll value greater than the complete present RB room for Baltimore.

EDGE Danielle Hunter

Y’all are gonna crush me, however this too is a NO. Imagine it or not? It’s attainable to like a participant, however not wish to make a splash and commerce for them! On this case, there’s potential for the Ravens so as to add a prime tier EDGE (he’s in that 10-15 vary for me), however so as to take action, the Ravens would want to do three issues:

1. Ship the Vikes a good 2024 decide or picks (latest hypothesis has the beginning worth at a R2 decide in 2024) to accumulate Hunter.
2. Have a brand new top-of-the-market contract labored out with Hunter forward of the commerce, as he’s made it very clear he won’t play on his present contract.
3. Create ample cap room with one (or two) of the few restructures they’ve left obtainable to them.

I’m gonna be trustworthy… that doesn’t really feel reasonable for the Ravens. I do know rattling nicely any individual is about to say “however Roquan!” however let’s level out the important thing variations: Roquan was a mid-season add, got here in low-cost as hell, and didn’t get prolonged til the offseason which allowed the Ravens to judge the participant match previous to committing massive bucks, whereas additionally giving them a possible excessive compensatory decide had he not resigned. This ain’t that. It’s a NO.

I NO it’s not a Madden-mentality, however I hope y’all NO I nonetheless love you Ravens Flock, NO matter what.

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