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  • 6 months ago
Ed, Jeremy, and Steve Melewski took some time from Monday's BBMS to discuss what the Crosby trade means for the Ravens as they attempt to win their third Super Bowl. Is this the move that gets the Ravens over the hump?
Transcript
00:00The question that we asked is, did the Ravens overpay?
00:02I don't think there's any question that they overpaid,
00:05but is there anything wrong with it if this is a piece that you need?
00:08Ed, let me start with you since you didn't get a chance to talk about it as much.
00:11They've never given up one first-round pick for a veteran player,
00:14and then now they gave up two.
00:16Your thoughts on the move?
00:18Absolutely did not overpay.
00:20Absolutely not.
00:21Look at it this way.
00:23Would you draft Max Crosby with the 14th overall pick this year?
00:26Sure.
00:28And if we hopefully draft 32nd next year, do you really care?
00:32I mean, I still do.
00:33I think it's an overpay, but I don't have a problem with it.
00:36I have no problem with it at all.
00:38I like to say I'm happy with it.
00:39I'm just really, really happy that this was a real ballsy, aggressive move
00:43that you don't see with the Ravens.
00:45We always bitch about, you know, they compile draft picks.
00:47They just stockpile them.
00:50That's great.
00:50That's been their strategy.
00:51It's been successful.
00:53I'm one of Lombardi's since 2012.
00:56And we've got a ton of talent on that team,
00:58but I think this has been the missing piece.
00:59But what is the one thing we have spoken about for the last,
01:02I don't even know how many years, five years now?
01:04We need a pass rusher.
01:05We have no pass rush.
01:06They're getting creative.
01:07You know, they're cobbling together these pass rushes.
01:10And McDonald did a great job of that.
01:11You know, we lead the league in sacks with nobody, essentially.
01:14You know, guys with four and six and three,
01:17and everybody got one.
01:17Now you have a legit, legit, you know, edge rush.
01:22And he's also great against the run.
01:24He gets into the backfield.
01:25He tackles for loss.
01:26The guy is, he's so intense.
01:29And I mentioned Alonzo in the last segment.
01:31The reason I like Crosby so much is the same reason I like Alonzo,
01:35because he brings more to the team than just his obvious physical skills.
01:39This is a guy that will do the same thing, call people out,
01:42show people what it's like.
01:43He never takes a playoff, ever, ever.
01:46And you bring that kind of a, you know, what's the other thing?
01:49Every one of our callers went, we need a dog.
01:50We need a dog.
01:51We need a dog.
01:52Well, you got one now.
01:53Now you got a dog.
01:54You got to get it.
01:55Chirps constantly.
01:56Ask Pat Mahomes what he thinks of Max Crosby.
01:59Seriously.
01:59Yeah.
02:00These are some exciting whites that we've gotten for both of our teams.
02:03So as we talk about Crosby, Steve,
02:06that was one of the things that Steve brought up as soon as we started,
02:09how good he is against the run.
02:11And it's almost like that's, hey, it's a great pass rusher.
02:13Or, yeah, but he doesn't hurt you when he's out there on every down.
02:16He's so good at everything, which is why I think it's a perfect fit, Steve.
02:20Well, this question about did they overpay, maybe they did.
02:23But the price was high.
02:25That was the price to get him.
02:27Other teams wanted this guy.
02:29And reportedly there was at least one other team willing to give up two first-round picks.
02:33So the Ravens, that's the price.
02:36So do you want to win this guy and get this guy or not?
02:40And they had to pay that price.
02:41So the future is now, it's George Allen thinking here, you know, Lamar is, what, 28, 29?
02:48This guy's going to be 29.
02:50Derrick Henry's in his 30s.
02:51They're not getting any younger.
02:53Their window is not big right now.
02:55Maybe they'll make it bigger over the few years.
02:58But the window to win is short.
03:00So they're all in.
03:03Well, Ned, the other really big part of this is if they're trading for Max Crosby,
03:06and that means they've essentially got something done with Lamar because there's no way you're moving forward with this trade
03:13and making this move.
03:14And the thing that I keep bringing up is if you restructure Lamar, you can get him down to $38
03:18million against your cap,
03:19and they have a way to get Max Crosby down to $7 million this year, which then allows you to
03:24go out.
03:24Let's say maybe you want to overpay at this point for Linderbaum, or maybe it's just what the market says
03:28it's worth.
03:28Because, like, to your point about overpaying, from my standard of what first-round picks are worth and everything,
03:35I think there are a lot of people that would say this is an overpay.
03:37But on the flip side of it, from your standpoint, like, they're in this window.
03:42It's a sweet spot where you're trying to get over the top, and for whatever reason, you have it.
03:46Now you bring in a new coach, a new philosophy.
03:48Go get that son of a bitch.
03:49Let him come in and chase everyone down.
03:51Yeah.
03:52How bad do you want this?
03:53Yeah.
03:53Seriously, how badly do you want this?
03:55Nothing worthwhile comes easy.
03:57I mean that.
03:58I hate to be cliches.
03:59Nothing worthwhile comes easy.
04:00This was the guy.
04:01I was talking about him.
04:03I talked about him the same way I talked about Alonzo.
04:05Yeah.
04:05You know, just like, yeah, wistfully.
04:08Yeah.
04:09We never get guys like this.
04:11Well, now we did.
04:12And I love it because it's the same thing that happens all the time, where people look,
04:18and they want, and they want, and they want.
04:19Okay.
04:20All right.
04:21Now you got him.
04:22Oh, but look what we gave up.
04:24Jeez, we gave up too much.
04:26You can't have everything.
04:28It's like money.
04:28You can save it, or you can spend it.
04:30You can't have both.
04:32It's either in the bank, or you're spending it on something.
04:34You're buying a house.
04:35You're buying a car.
04:35It's like, I just, I don't understand this, but I am so excited about this move, if you
04:40can't tell, just because I think this is one thing that will literally put them over
04:46the top.
04:47And I mean that.
04:48I don't just say, you know what I'm saying?
04:49Oh, this is going to be it.
04:50No.
04:50No, this is it.
04:51If this doesn't do it, I'd be shocked, because we haven't had a guy like this, this kind
04:57of leadership, since a guy like Ray Lewis.
04:59I'm not comparing to Ray Lewis.
05:00It's blasphemy in this town.
05:02But I'm saying, somebody that's intense, a leader, a badass, a guy that chirps at the
05:08other team.
05:08But I'm telling you, Mahomes hates him.
05:11Hates him.
05:11The one thing I kept saying about him, too, Ed, that I think you should love, is that
05:15the Raiders told him to stay home the last two weeks, and he's like, I'm healthy enough
05:19to play.
05:19I want to play football.
05:20Yes.
05:21And then, because they sent him home, he got on a damn trampoline and started playing
05:24basketball.
05:25Like, I am healthy.
05:26Let me show everyone.
05:27And I think that's the start of them moving him.
05:29So, let's go out to the phone lines.
05:31Mike's in Baltimore.
05:32He wants to talk about Crosby.
05:32What's up, Mike?
05:34Morning, fellas.
05:35How are you?
05:35Good.
05:36Good.
05:37Let me tell you why, in my made-up mind, we didn't overpay for him.
05:41Because the way I look at it is, EDC wasn't using that 14th pick.
05:46He's trading out of the first round.
05:48He's probably going to get a second and a fifth, whatever he does every year for that
05:53first round.
05:53So, in my mind, we gave up a second, a fifth, and a first.
05:57And even if he doesn't trade out and we traded two firsts, these people in Baltimore are crazy.
06:02And we paid exactly what we should have to get one of the premier pass rushers in the
06:07league who's had the most quarterback pressure since 2019 over anybody.
06:12Thanks.
06:13I appreciate it, man.
06:14Good stuff.
06:15And again, like, this is, when we get to the opinions of people and what they're saying,
06:19I think the numbers guys and the models are going to say that this is an overpay.
06:24The difference is in how you look at it.
06:26And I said on Friday, they've never traded a single first-round pick for a vet player.
06:31I can't see them trading, too.
06:32And when it happened, I went, okay, things might be a little bit different.
06:35And I think that's what makes this exciting.
06:36This is exciting.
06:37This reminds me of, I'm going to relate this to my last career.
06:41You know, certain things, you have to, they have a different value.
06:46And I'm going to say something that sounds ridiculous to a lot of people.
06:49I remember when I blew up the overtime budget in the Baltimore Police Department, but we were
06:53leading the nation in crime decline.
06:56And she'll tell me about this.
06:57She's president of the city council.
06:58We got along well.
06:58She said, you got to do something about this over time.
07:00You can't get, I go, I will.
07:02All right.
07:02Just tell me how much one human life is worth.
07:05Yeah.
07:06What do you say to that?
07:07You can't answer that.
07:08No, because it's not what you said.
07:10You can't put a price tag on it.
07:12I'm not comparing this to life and death, but things it's, it's similar.
07:16How much do you want it?
07:17How badly do you want a championship here?
07:20Another aspect of this is you have this new coach who's a defensive mastermind, but as good
07:26as he is calling defense and running a defense, you got to have the horses.
07:32Absolutely.
07:33He can't take what they last year and make it the best pass rush in the league, but now
07:38give him the first, second or third best pass rusher in the league and a, and a great
07:43safety and a couple of playmakers in the middle and let him be the defensive mastermind that
07:48he is and take these incredible chess pieces and play them the best possible way.
07:54So now you've got a coach who knows how to use it and the ability and the defense can
07:59go from near the bottom of the league to the top that fast.
08:01And how much do you think, how much better does Mike Green get?
08:04Yeah.
08:04Well, that's what I was just getting ready to say.
08:05Pick your poison over who you think the top pass rusher in the league.
08:08I think we would all say Miles Garrett's probably the best.
08:10And then you look at the guys like Max Crosby, DJ Watt.
08:13You can throw all the names out there.
08:15The one thing that you can't really put a price tag on is how much better he's going to make
08:19the players around him.
08:20He's going to get so much attention that it's going to open up things for other players to
08:24sit here and have some, some great games.
08:26So, and Mike Green's the first one you want to look at.
08:28You get a young pass rusher that you think has a ton of talent and you bring in one of
08:32the premier pass rushers in the league.
08:33It's a great person to kind of emulate or at least look at and see how he's doing it and
08:38learn from.
08:38So, and again, I don't want to just keep, we keep talking about his pass rushing ability,
08:42which is obvious.
08:42That's what it's sexy.
08:44He's really good against the run.
08:46This is a guy that gets into the backfield.
08:48He's a lot like what TJ Watt does to the Ravens where he just, he's in the backfield disrupting
08:52everything all the time.
08:53And that's what Max Crosby is.
08:55It's going to be a lot of fun.
08:56We got a bunch of callers, Kai, Marcus, Rashawn.
08:59Rashawn somehow got on Austin TV talking about, you know what?
09:02I don't even know what the hell.
09:03Oh, I'm going to comment on that.
09:04Yeah.
09:04So we got all these guys coming up.
09:06We're going to talk some more Max Crosby that the Ravens overspend.
09:09We want to hear from you.
09:10410-583-1057.
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