00:00Eric DaCosta took by far his biggest swing as general manager of the Baltimore Ravens as the
00:05Ravens trade for Max Crosby Friday night. Two first round picks. First time in franchise history
00:11the Ravens have ever traded a first round pick for a player and they trade two for Max Crosby.
00:16So that's bold. Does Eric DaCosta continue to be bold this offseason? I definitely think so.
00:24It wouldn't make any sense to make the big swing for Max Crosby and then just say okay that's it
00:30for
00:30the offseason. We're going to make moves on the margins. No I expect him to continue to be active
00:35in free agency and we're already saw it a little bit. John Simpson coming back to the Ravens on a
00:40three-year 30 million dollar deal. Veteran mean guard. Yeah and look he regressed some last year
00:48and penalties have been an issue for him. He had 11 penalties which was the third most penalized
00:54offensive lineman last year but he played really well for the Jets in 2024 and he was a surprise
01:01for the Ravens in 2023 and I think we saw too often him the Ben Powers like guards leave and
01:09and it bit
01:10him in the butt last uh last year for sure but there's still a lot of work to be done
01:15for for the
01:16Ravens and and we're seeing a lot of guys fly out uh of the flock if you will. Yes. Tyler
01:22Linderbaum
01:23signing the three-year 81 million dollar deal with the Raiders. Draymond Jones heading to the Patriots
01:28on a three-year 39 million dollar deal. Isaiah Likely to the Giants on a three-year contract worth
01:33up to 47 and a half million dollars and Jordan Stout heading to the Giants as well. So there's a
01:41lot
01:41of work to be done for Eric DaCosta and it's also the cap maneuvering at this point because
01:48Max Crosby's got a 30 million dollar cap hit you could restructure it save a ton of money there.
01:54Oh yeah you get down to seven million dollars. Yeah 20 plus million dollars there the Lamar Jackson
01:59contract of it all Marlon Humphrey still waiting for that to happen and then Broderick Washington
02:04as a cap casualty. So it's hard to really tell where they're at cap wise because there's a lot of
02:11dominoes yet to fall but I do expect Eric DaCosta to remain very aggressive and realize this moment of
02:18this wide open AFC. So I say this relatively speaking because I don't think they do things
02:25that some people would think are dumb and crazy things but I do think you have to continue to be
02:29bold because I think that the Max Crosby trade illustrates the limited window they have with
02:36Lamar Jackson. Like realistically you've got three years that you can count on where this Super Bowl
02:42or bust whether Harb's like you know Harb's now in New York so I don't care what he thinks but
02:47he doesn't like hearing Super Bowl or bust but that's where they are when you have a franchise
02:50quarterback and he's an athletic franchise quarterback. So you're thinking three years of
02:54prime at the very least and you got to do what you can to maximize that prime. That's why you
02:59get a
02:59game-wrecking defensive player. I think they've got a lot of work to do on this offensive line now.
03:05Linderbaum out the door. Early in the weekend I thought they had a shot at retaining him but
03:11the money got so crazy I don't fault him for leaving. Like you can't turn down that kind of
03:17that's crazy. He's reset the center market by leaps and bounds so I don't I'm not going to be
03:23critical of that and I don't blame the Ravens for not going that high but man that interior of the
03:30offensive line now is wanting and I like John Simpson. I thought he played good football here
03:34and when you play on a bad football team for two years you might get a little distracted and your
03:41play can suffer. Now granted Max Crosby play doesn't seem to suffer but guys are human. I'm
03:45willing to give him a shot in Baltimore on a good football team see what that looks like but there's
03:50a lot of work to be done. They need a punter now. They need to fit as I said the
03:56interior of the
03:56offensive line. I don't know what they're doing at wide receiver by beyond Zay Flowers. Their tight end
04:02room is Mark Andrews who's regressing and nothing else. I expect to see Charlie Kohler sign somewhere
04:08else before we leave air today. So there's a lot of work to be done. Everything is on a budget
04:14because
04:15you have a cap but I do expect them to be more bold than we used we're usually seeing them.
04:20Well I think
04:21you mentioned the window and Eric DaCosta he brings that up a lot and and how you don't want to
04:27make
04:28crazy bold moves or restructure a ton of contracts every single year like the Saints and and the Saints
04:35keep restructuring Chase Young which is like I it's ludicrous but there can be that happy medium.
04:43I'm not expecting Eric DaCosta to pull off a Max Crosby type trade every single year but to do it
04:50for
04:50the first time in his tenure as as a GM giving up some premium draft capital now felt like a
04:56prudent move.
04:57And heck even with bringing in Max Crosby Ken I still would like to see another pass rusher. Like
05:03don't just stop there. Don't just assume that Mike Green is going to take this huge step in year two.
05:10We hope it happens but we don't know. Here's what we've seen. We saw with the Eagles a couple years
05:15ago and to an extent we saw with Seattle last year. It doesn't suck to have too many guys coming
05:19after the quarterback. No not at all. Like you you can definitely and look it's worth a conversation
05:26too even though Max Crosby he is a total dog but he's going to be 29 years old. Maybe you
05:31don't want
05:32him playing every single snap at this stage. Good luck getting him off the field. It's going to be
05:36tough getting him off the field but maybe you're trying to preserve him. This is a guy that hasn't
05:40played a ton of uh long seasons into the playoffs. The Raiders only made it in 2021 and they went
05:46one and
05:46done uh against Cincinnati. But no Ken like when you make a move of this magnitude that sets the
05:55tone for the offseason. I I think that's a big reason why we lamented the Corbin Burns of it all
06:02for for Mike Elias where you make that big move but you didn't do nothing else. Exactly. Yeah like I
06:07I don't think Eric DaCosta is going to make that mistake. Now let me be clear once you trade your
06:14first round pick this year and next. I think that trading picks for sure I'm with you probably
06:20out the window like there there was some buzz about them making a minor trade for I think a
06:25Bears interior pass rusher. I think that you're not trading another pick uh now that you make the
06:30Max Crosby deal like that supersedes everything. That said I think trades at the deadline perhaps or a
06:38trade for a pick next year like a midday like and there's player picks like I'm still convinced
06:43for shop Bateman's not here when the dust settles. Well I'm so more I'm more so talking about
06:48free agency. That's what I'm saying. This is the year where you spend. Yeah. Yeah where last year it
06:54was DeAndre Hopkins it was Cooper Rush it was it was moves on the margins where I expect him to
07:00bring
07:01in multiple starters. Somebody said this to me over the weekend I can't remember who it is uh because I
07:07talked to so many people but they said got a lot of friends. Yeah I do uh uh in hindsight
07:12should
07:13Tyler Loop he should never have to pay for a beer again. I saw that on Twitter. Because he missed
07:19that
07:20field goal which they missed the playoffs and then they had to be bold and now Max Crosby's here so
07:24he said all this in motion so therefore ergo we should never have to buy. Well I I get that
07:29joke
07:30but I also think Steve Bishotti said when Jerry asked him the question Jeremy Coleman uh if the
07:38Tyler Loop would have made that kick would John Harbaugh still be here he said another week I think
07:42they would have made the playoffs the fact that they missed the playoffs I think puts added pressure
07:47on everybody. Oh absolutely like Ken that was the biggest disappointment of the season in franchise
07:54history in 2025 it's not even close when you were the Super Bowl favorite heading into the year
08:02and you finished with a losing record you're getting embarrassed at home in primetime games you are
08:10getting bullied like you're having a game like the Texans where you're just getting the you know what
08:17beat out of you for four quarters and I don't care about all of the injuries like that type of
08:23season
08:25causes everyone to have to look into the mirror how can we be better how can we do things differently
08:31so that that doesn't happen again
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