00:00Right now, what we are going to do is talk about the best of the rest in NFL free agency
00:05because a ton of moves have already flying off the board.
00:08You saw that in the legal tampering period and then since free agency officially began on Wednesday, it's always the
00:14case in the NFL, but it leaves you with slim pickings if you're a team like the Ravens looking to
00:19fill out the rest of your roster.
00:20We'll start with this piece here from Bill Barnwell on ESPN, trying to play matchmaker with some of the bigger
00:26names that remain.
00:27In a tight end, we know the Ravens have a need and he's linking former Browns tight end David Njoku,
00:34longtime Browns tight end, to the Ravens.
00:36Says it would be a good fit. Mark Andrews was re-signed to be the move tight end.
00:41The Ravens lost Likely and Kohler over the first week of free agency.
00:45Did sign Durham Smith to help fill in for Kohler and I wouldn't be surprised if GM Eric DaCosta used
00:50a day three pick on a blocking tight end to develop over the next few years.
00:54But Njoku would be taking over for Likely here as the second tight end in Baltimore's offense.
01:00I'm not over the moon about it. It's nothing against Njoku. I think he's a really good tight end.
01:07Just I don't know if that marriage of him and Andrews is the most natural skill set blending wise.
01:14And then price tag. I mean, he's still available, so you can't say that he's got the most leverage in
01:20the world, but I don't know.
01:21I don't know if that would exactly be a bargain for them.
01:24Yeah, and I think there's good tight ends.
01:27The tight ends in the draft, it's fairly deep.
01:30So I think they can get an athletic type guy, you know, one that you're because you need some cheap
01:36labor, too.
01:38So to have a young tight end that can run, you know, and is athletic, that that's what I would
01:44be looking for.
01:45I'm not looking for a blocker. We got that, you know, I need a guy that can get down the
01:51field and, you know, do the things kind of like Likely did, you know.
01:56And are they going to get that in the fifth round? I don't think, you know, you got to be
02:00lucky.
02:01We all have seen the Ravens in their history. When they take a tight end, they like to double dip.
02:06And usually the one they get later is the better one.
02:10The second one is usually that way with Pitta and Ed Dixon.
02:14Pitta was the second pick and then Likely was picked after Kohler.
02:18I think that was, yeah.
02:19Well, and then Andrews was picked after Hurst.
02:22Yeah, Hayden Hurst. There you go.
02:24Third rounder, first rounder.
02:25Exactly. David Njoku's stats, I mean, he took a step back last year, but they had that Fannin kid who
02:30really popped for him.
02:32Never been a thousand yard guy, but you got to be really elite as a tight end to do that.
02:37Capped out at 882. That was in 2023, his lone Pro Bowl year.
02:41Usually good for four to six touchdowns a year.
02:44So again, I mean, it's nothing against him.
02:46He has missed a good chunk of time, though, in these past two seasons.
02:5011 games played in 24, 12 this past year.
02:53So maybe that's a red flag.
02:55Yeah, I'm taking a rookie, you know, is what I'd be.
02:58I'm guessing that's what Eric will be looking to do, too.
03:03I mean, why do you want, what, would you have three tight ends that were 30 years old?
03:09It's risky.
03:10Yeah.
03:11And who are you developing?
03:12That's the thing.
03:13That's why I'm getting a rookie tight end that I'm going to develop them.
03:17And, you know, and like you said, they can get rid of Andrews after next year.
03:21And if the rookie's good, slide them right in.
03:24More from the best of the rest here.
03:26This is also ESPN's ranking of the remaining available unsigned players.
03:30And to give you a picture here of how fast the elite talent flies off the board,
03:35Daniel Falele comes in 20th ranked overall among remaining free agents.
03:39So I don't know if this writer is either clueless or that does speak to the fact that
03:43all the top talent is off the board.
03:46There is a lot of O-linemen featured here.
03:48I mentioned Falele at 20, but Browns, again, the three of their O-linemen.
03:53And Vinny, I know you were way down on their O-line these last couple of years.
03:57Yes.
03:57Probably a big reason why they weren't retained.
03:59But Wyatt Teller is a guard, comes in at 14 here.
04:03Who else?
04:04Got Cam Robinson, their offensive tackles, ranked 10.
04:07Can't move.
04:08And then Batonio, the other guard.
04:10Well, he may un-retire, you know, or, you know, they want him back.
04:16I know that.
04:17Yeah, 12-year pro, call him a savvy technician here, 96.4% pass block win rate in 2025.
04:25Yeah, I know they want him back.
04:27But he'd be 34.
04:28Yeah, because he's talked like he's going to retire.
04:32Other guard option, I've mentioned this earlier in the offseason,
04:35but the Ravens have already reunited with one former guard in John Simpson.
04:39Kevin Zeitler's still available.
04:41What's he, 36?
04:42He'd be 36.
04:4336.
04:43But that's one that you really only have to commit a year.
04:46Oh, that's true.
04:47And it would not be a lot of money at all.
04:50Who did play?
04:51He was with Tennessee last year.
04:53Oof.
04:54Yeah, they got better if season went along.
04:56I think after the Simpson one, that would be less likely to reunite with another guy.
05:02And they are kind of similar in the sense that they're not elite.
05:06They're just kind of floor raisers to get us above the abyssmic status that we had last year.
05:12They're band-aids.
05:12Like, and if it ends up being, you know, ideally, you would have the same setup as when John Simpson
05:18was here in 23,
05:20the last time, where he was the weakest link of the O-line, but he was fine.
05:25He was average.
05:26He was serviceable.
05:28You know, if we could get back to that, where he ends up being the worst of the bunch again
05:31this year,
05:31hey, sign me up for that, that means we fix things as a whole, and that should be the goal.
05:36Yeah, the thing we got to remember about Simpson, too, is that when he was here, he was playing with
05:42a Pro Bowl center.
05:44You know, now center, it's not going to be a Pro Bowl center who you're playing next to.
05:50So how does that affect these two guards?
05:53Because you didn't mind bringing in these guards, you know, playing.
05:57You know, like we always talked about the left guard.
05:59You know, you got a Pro Bowl left tackle, Pro Bowl center.
06:01Makes life a lot easier for that left guard.
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