 I always talk about how timing is everything. Now, yesterday morning, we were working on that Devon Duvenay to running back video and how Raven should really use him as X-Factor, use him out of the backfield, at the scat back and all that good stuff. So then we finished making the video and then a couple hours later, Ravens, they released Slavey on bail and I was thinking, ooh, this is kind of awkward. But anyway, it is what it is. Team Keep It Clean. So the Ravens, they've been having some busy days over the past couple of days. Of course, yesterday they released Slavey on bail. It's been said that they wanna bring him back to the practice squad. We'll see what happens with that. But they did bring somebody else on to the practice squad. They signed defensive lineman, nose tackle, defensive tackle, whatever you wanna call it, Isaiah Mack. Now, Isaiah Mack is somebody who doesn't have really much experience in the NFL. He's been on several teams, but really hasn't played too much. He started off with the Tennessee Titans back in 2019. He's also been with the Patriots. He's been with the Broncos and he's also been with the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, I mean, when you look at the teams that he's been with, he knows what good defense is like. So that's a plus right there. Now, just looking at his stature. Six foot one, 299 pounds. So, he's a big boy. I gotta be careful. I gotta stop eating so much. I don't wanna catch up to him. But anyway, with Isaiah Mack, more of the why. Let's talk about the why the Ravens signed Isaiah Mack. Well, of course, as you all know, like we saw in the Dolphins game, the Ravens did not have Brandon Williams. Brandon Williams missed that game due to injury and it's been a topic of conversation recently with Brandon Williams. I even just was talking to somebody on Twitter about it a few minutes ago because they asked the question, oh man, do you think that Brandon Williams is gonna be back next year? And it's crazy because with Brandon Williams, he's always the topic of conversation like every single year when it comes to guys who a lot of Ravens fans just think won't be back next year. But this year, I think for certain that I think he's going. I think the Ravens, they really gonna be revamping and retooling this defensive line because they are older. They're all older guys. You got Kaleas Campbell who's been talking about retirement. So again, when you start having that conversation, usually that's the end of the road. You got Brandon Williams with a huge cap hit and then I know a lot of people say, oh, his play's been declining this year. But it's tough for a defensive tackle because you're not getting all these sexy stats. Your job is to eat up blockers, take on offensive linemen. That's what you do. And it's hard, I'm not sure if there's really a stat that, oh, I'm sure they got stats for everything. But it'd be hard to find a stat that really tells his story. But anyway, with his huge cap hit and him being in the last year of his deal and him, the biggest thing to me is that the Ravens always bring him off the field on passing downs. So if you got somebody that you're paying all of this money to, but they only play a certain amount of snaps for you, then that lets me know right there that it's probably, they're probably gonna be going in a different direction. It's just in my opinion, in my opinion. And I really do believe, and we've said this before, that I think the Ravens, they just really wanna get more athletic on a defensive line. And that they're gonna want guys that can do both, not just stuff to run, but that can rush the pass as well. Because if you can create interior pressure, that's better than even creating exterior pressure. That's better than getting guys on the edge and on the outside that can create pressure. Because if it's coming straight up the middle at a quarterback, oh boy, it's so much harder to get away from that. So I do think they'll go in a different direction. Cause Brandon Williams, again, the high salary cap hit, the injuries he in there, it ain't like he's been injury prone, but he certainly has had his little fair share of injuries. But the biggest thing for me is the cap hit. And the fact that he doesn't play all three downs. Unless the third down is like on a goal line or something, Brandon Williams, he ain't playing it. Third and long, like I said, passing downs, all right, 98, come here, big baby, let's go. So you come jogging off the field. But again, that's his role. That's his role. So can't knock him for just doing what his role is. But shout out to Brandon Williams. Super great teammate, always high energy, always got people laughing and stuff. He's like a sort of a defensive Mark Ingram. I know that name kind of hurts a lot of Ravens fans' hearts, especially when you see what he's been doing with the Saints recently. But anyway, shout out to him. Another name that comes to mind when with this signing of Isaiah Mack to the practice squad is Derek Wolf. Now, Derek Wolf, hardball set it a couple of days ago that he is officially done. That's a wrap. Derek Wolf will not be playing this season at all. And y'all, I told y'all before, like with Derek Wolf, I just thought anything. When he first went down with his back injury and then it just kept lingering. And it was like one of those things where, you know, the Ravens, they thought that they could get him back. They thought he could come back any day now. And they were just waiting because initially, they didn't put him on in your reserve initially. And then the Ravens was like, all right, you know what? Don't mind I are. Don't mind I are. All right, he'll miss the next three games. But after that, we can get him back. So then when they designated him to return, it's like, okay, we getting Derek Wolf back. But then when the auto reports came out, they said he wasn't even looking close to healthy. He wasn't looking good. And then he got, he was just still hurting. It was like, okay. So I said, hey, if we get anything out of Derek Wolf this year, it's a bonus. It's a bonus. And Ravens, they have to plan for life without Derek Wolf. So that's another one who, I could see him being cut too after this year. Not now obviously, but after this year, I could see Ravens moving on there too. Now that will be very drastic though. Cause when you think about it, like if Ravens moved on from, well, Kaleas Campbell moved on from Ravens, but either way, if the Ravens didn't have Kaleas Campbell, they didn't have Brandon Williams and they ended up cutting Derek Wolf, that would be a huge shift, a huge change in the defensive line because those are your veterans and those are your guys that been manning the middle for the past couple of years. So that would be huge and that would be risky. But hey, you got to take those risks sometimes because you want to get the most bang for your buck and Kaleas Campbell, he's certainly, he's been great for the Ravens. He has been phenomenal for the Ravens. Love him. Love them when he was in Jacksonville. He was a beast when he was with the Cardinals. A lot of times forget that he was with the Cardinals. But with the Ravens, he has been killing it too. So shout out to Kaleas Campbell. But it's, and a lot of Ravens fans have been on the same page too when they think about the draft. When you think about the draft, it's like, all Ravens fans pretty much say the same thing. Defensive line, offensive line. Defensive line, offensive line. Because those are where the Ravens are weak at. And well, not necessarily weak, but they were on offensive. But at the defensive line, they just, they need more in an offensive line. You know, they need a lot more. But my sentiments for Derek Wolf this year, it's the same thing with Ronnie Stanley and Jawan James next year. It's the same thing. I feel the same exact way. With Ronnie Stanley, anything you get out of Ronnie Stanley, and I know he had a surgery already, but still, anything, in my opinion, anything that you get from Ronnie Stanley even next year should be considered a bonus. It should be because to have operated on the same ankle three times and your offensive linemen, oh boy, that's scary. That's scary. That's really, really scary. So I feel like Ravens just have to, they have to plan for life without Ronnie Stanley, in my opinion. And you have to have a great backup plan. And just, I feel like they gotta go into next season, just imagining that Ronnie Stanley is not there. And if you do get him back, if and when you do get him back, again, it's a bonus. The same way with Jawan James. Now I know with him, he's a lot closer to returning to than Ronnie Stanley is. And with Jawan James, again, Hardball said a couple of weeks ago, yeah, he's running, he could possibly even come back this year. Now I don't expect him to come back this year though. I do not think that he'll come back this year though. I don't expect it, don't think it, don't see it happening. If he does, cool, nice bonus, but you can't count or rely on that. So if you have players that you can't count or rely on for the future, then you gotta plan for life without him. And like I said, if you get him back, cool. If you don't, then hey, great. You already had a plan in place. And I just feel like with Ravens this year, this season, they did a lot of planning this year. They did a lot of planning this year, but where they fell a bit short was with the offensive line. It's a tad bit short was with the offensive line. Now I'm sure they expected greater things for Terry Phillips. They did get being Cleveland, so that was cool. But more so at the tackle position. They did get Alejandro Villanueva. They got him late in the off-season, but it was early enough to where he was able to be a training camp and all that. Ronnie Stanley, they traded away Orlando Brown Jr. I know I would have rather them had kept Orlando Brown Jr. and just let them play out the last year his deal. That's what I always wanted to happen, but Adolfi away has been great, so that's nice. But I still wanted them to keep Orlando Brown Jr. And then I just wanted it to be where they do like a tag and trade. But again, understand the business. And you know like Orlando Brown Jr. his value at that point, it was at an all time high because he played both right tackle and left tackle. He was on his super run heavy team, which that did. It made him look a lot better. That was to his advantage being on his run heavy team because he went over there to the Chiefs and it's been a little bit shaky. He ain't been bad bad, but it's definitely been shaky. It's definitely been shaky. So if he had, I don't think if he had been playing the way that he's been playing with the Chiefs, again, completely different system, but had he been playing with the Ravens like he's playing with the Chiefs now, his value would not have been as high at that time. It wouldn't have been as high. It still would have been high, but the fact that they got the 31st pick and now they did give up a lot too now. Like the fact that they had to, even with that, see, think about that too. To get to, or to move Orlando Brown Jr., they got the 31st pick in the first round. So they got a first round pick, but it was a late first round pick, but then at the same time, you had to give up the player and you had to give up a second round pick and then a bunch of change. So you had to give up a bunch of stuff just to get that first round pick at the bottom of the round. So that lets us know like, nobody was really biting on that like that. And if that's the best that they got, and especially you trade them to a team that has been beating you and has been dogging you and whatnot, and that's the best you could do. That says a lot about how the NFL felt about him as a player. So it was just, I know I understand the business side and the risk side, like, oh, if we would have held on to Orlando Brown Jr., we don't know if that value would have still went up. It could have went on the decline. Who knows, we'll never know. But still, even with all that being said, I still would have rather they kept him because it was a nice insurance policy. It was nice having him on the right side and then having Ronnie Stanley on the left side. And then just in case Ronnie Stanley, if he went down, okay, Orlando Brown, you go back to the left side. I'm a left tackle. Yes, you're a left tackle. But I'm happy for him. I'm glad he's getting to do what he said he wanted to do. So shout out to Orlando Brown Jr. But this move, we're back to Isaiah Mack and back to the defensive line. It's also for depth because we talked about Brandon Williams being out of injury. We talked about Derek Wolf. Now he's gone. Excuse me. You're a defensive lineman. You got Kalaeus Campbell, of course. And of course, Brandon Williams when he comes back. But you got Broderick Washington. You got Justin, Madda BK. And you got Jelly. You got Justin Ellis. And man, there was a play, I think, was it in the Dolphins game? It was either in the Dolphins game or the Vikings game where I just, cause these are big guys. You know, NFL players are big enough but defensive linemen, these dudes are huge. And there was a play. I forgot which game it was, but y'all let me know if you remember. But Justin Ellis, he was like, he was chasing somebody. He was like out in the open field. And I was like, okay, Jelly, go ahead. Man, that's all that number 71 run. I said, all right, go ahead, man. But anyway, this move gives the Ravens a depth. And you can never have enough depth as we all know. Woo, this season, wow. Ravens depth has been tested to the max. Like to the max. We can't take any more injuries, man. We don't need any more. It's been so bad, man. Crazy. And to so many significant players too. But anyway, this has usually been a position where the Ravens do pretty good at drafting and developing. You think about, obviously guys like Brandon Williams. You think about guys like Michael Pierce and shout out to him being with the Vikes. Easy to think about over the years, guys like Arthur Jones who went on, got that big contract from the Colts and I'm not sure what happened after that. Really not sure. But you think about guys like Justin Matabique. Now recently too, you think about guys like Broderick Washington, still a question mark on him. And even with Matabique, he's still looking to take that next step. But I think that, especially next year, I think that he will for sure because I think next year he will definitely get tons more playing time, like tons more playing time. Because like I said, I think this defensive line is getting completely revamped. But then you also think about guys like Dalen Mack. I wonder if Isaiah Mack and Dalen Mack, I wonder if they related. But anyway, you think about guys like Dalen Mack. And it just, I'm not sure why it didn't work out. I'm not sure what happened. But I think Raven's got a thing with cutting their fifth round picks. They got something with that. Cause yeah, I believe they, I'm like 99% sure. Let me just, I just gotta look it up to be for sure. Cause I'm pretty sure he was a fifth round pick for the Ravens. Oh yep, okay, there it goes. 2019 fifth round pick. All right, cool. Just wanted to be sure. So yeah, recently they've been a little up and down but we'll see how it all works out. And again, he's on a practice squad. One of their practice, I know Jeff Zribick was just saying it, that one of their practice squad players, he ran out of call-ups. And I'm trying to think of the name off the top of my head. I can't think of it though. So let me, let me just look up what Jeff said and who that was. Oh, Khalil McKenzie, there we go. Say Khalil McKenzie is out of standard practice squad elevations. So Mack provides some insurance with Brandon Williams and with the shoulder injury and their golf done for the season. So with Khalil McKenzie, with Jeff saying that he's out of standard practice squad elevations. What that means is that when you're on a practice squad you can, it's very tricky. So I'm gonna try to explain as best as I can. But when you're on a practice squad you can get called up to the game day roster twice. After you're called up to the game day roster twice just regular call-ups. Then if they wanna bring you up again to the game day roster, they either have to put you on the active roster on a 53 man roster or they have to release you, hope that you clear waivers. Maybe that, well, maybe what happens to Levy on bail but they gotta release you and hope that you clear waivers and then they can put you back on the practice squad. Now, there's another thing too. If somebody, if a player is out due to COVID then somebody on a practice squad can replace that player on the roster without it counting towards their game day call-ups. So they have two call-ups but if they get called up due to somebody having COVID then that call-up doesn't go toward their two game day call-ups. It is very confusing. And if you don't understand, trust me, don't feel bad. It's very confusing, but that's what it is. It's taken me a couple of years to get the whole thing. Ever since all the COVID stuff and whatnot and the NFL with COVID and operating with COVID and it's just, it's been crazy. But that's what it is. So anyway, team keeping clean, appreciate y'all. I love y'all. Thank you for listening and shout out to Isaiah Mack. And we'll see if he ends up getting promoted because if he does get promoted to the active roster for this next game against the Bears then that would make it sound like Brandon Williams is still out with his injury. So something to keep an eye out on and we'll just see how everything goes down. Love y'all, thank you. And like hopefully Brandon Williams isn't any longer. I'm out.