 Would you be willing to completely scrap the way that the Ravens currently do things in order to keep Lamar Jackson? Would you be willing for them to completely change their philosophy and the way that they really go all out on defense for them to actually do that on offense now and move forward with Lamar? Let's hear from one subscriber and what he had to say about this whole thing. Uh, this first question came from my guy, David, he said, Hey, and Graven, hope all is well with you. Sorry that YouTube is being a pain and hope it all works out soon. Hey, um, yeah, we are one week away from when we can reapply. So hopefully, uh, things go good. So we'll see. I appreciate it though. I can only speak for myself, but I think all the team keep it clean. I wanted to see you for a very long time and see you happy. Hey, I appreciate that, David. Thank you. Just got home from my birthday dinner and was thinking about the Ravens and Lamar Jackson this year is bad. I wish we had given him office since 2018. Hopefully that would have gotten something done. And we would likely be looking at a contract renegotiation rather than a potential loss of the best QB in the league. Well, I mean, they couldn't do it in 2018. Like he was a rookie then he was just on his first contract. Um, so Ravens had, um, that you, you can start negotiating with a first round pick, uh, well, really any round pick after their third year, um, or after that contract expires, uh, cause with the seventh round picks, yeah, seven round picks get four, four years to, I believe. But anyway, um, he said, uh, people don't know that he had to play hero ball to get a poor offensive team to score or even be relevant in the AFC north. He made magic happen with almost no real help. Everyone points to Andrews and says he's one of the best tight ends in the league. That's true. He had to be because the old line wide receivers and injured running backs were not helping without Lamar. We would be more like the Browns than the Ravens in my opinion. Um, I think that a lot of that is true. I can't say he didn't have any help, um, but it just wasn't enough. And it definitely wasn't up to the standards and levels of his counterparts at the quarterback position. Um, the anyway, let's just keep going. Uh, he said, like you always say, uh, the philosophy has to change for the Ravens to be great, not good. Uh, hopefully this will end in a great deal for both the Ravens and Lamar, but I doubt it. Maybe if he plays this year, he'll have a chip on his shoulder and beat the bricks off the competition. I would leverage the entire great defense that we have for a massive upgrade at offense. I love defense. That's why I love the Ravens, but now I want to see them move in the offensive direction or get a premium wide receiver or two. Keep Lamar reworked the running back deals to be more team friendly or get rid of them running backs. In my opinion, are the most replaceable player on offense. Woo, beef up the offensive line and have Lamar play a more spread offense. Hey, that, uh, yeah, the spread offense. Yes. I, um, obviously signing Lamar. Yes. Mm hmm. Getting a premium wide receiver or two. Oh, you know, I love that. I love it. Um, as far as the, the running backs, um, yeah, you don't got to rework their deals. I mean, they already reworked Gus Elwood deal, but you can rework their deal that they both on the final year, their contract, both J K Dobbins and Gus. It was on the final year of contract. Um, and Jack, like with Ravens and their running backs, you, you, you see it, you know it from watching them. You know they can be special. You do. I know y'all know you, if I know, then y'all know for sure. You know they can be special, but the way that the Ravens have done their offense, they don't allow them to be because they don't a stab, they do running back by committee. They've been doing that for the longest. But they do running back by committee and that doesn't allow anybody to really shine like that. They'll have some games where both players are doing good and whatnot. Um, but for somebody to really be that guy, they don't let them. But anyway, another conversation. Um, he said, if we failed and lost every game doing that, I wouldn't feel bad. I mean, I'd be a little salty, but I wouldn't be angry at the organization. We would know that Lamar isn't the quarterback we all think he is and we could move on with confidence that we tried and are only a few small pieces away from a perennial Super Bowl team. See, I like that because that's that's one of the things that me personally has been a frustration with this whole thing. Uh, it's the fact that for three, three or four years, I say three years, I always say three years. Technically, yeah, I know people say, oh, they wasted five years of Lamar rookie deal. No, uh, cause his first year, he didn't start his second year was 2019 and that was the breakout year. That wasn't crazy, but then 2020, 2021 and 2022. That's what I would consider wasted. Um, you talk to people and they be like, oh, well, yeah, Ravens used the most draft capital on wide. I said, yeah, they did. They technically did, but it's quality over quantity quality over quantity. Um, they never got him an established guy. Uh, and whenever you hear a lot of people talk about, oh, the Ravens got him help here that they mentioned they'll talk about Marcus Williams. They'll talk about Marcus Peters recently. They talk about Roquon Smith. And yeah, defense obviously can help the offense, but how about you help the office by getting significant offensive players like you do on defense? Like, but anyway, let's continue. He said, uh, with what we are doing lately, we don't know anything about if Lamar is what we think he is. Oh man, I guess I should have kept reading, but yeah, I agree because we haven't got to see his max potential. We haven't. We haven't. And that's, that's one of the scary and frustrating things about this whole situation. Um, we just have not gotten to see him the max Lamar that he could possibly be. The people still question this and that about him. Now, the injury part, okay, I, I get that part of people question that. So, okay, he missed, he missed time over the last couple of years. I get that part, but as far as the play. When people question his play, people question, can he do this? Can he do that? And it's like, why? How can we even really get the answers to these questions with the lack of quality that he's had? That just anyway, continuing. He said, uh, with what we are doing lately, we don't know anything about if Lamar is what we think he is. We don't know if our line can handle the NFL. We don't know if our running backs are going to be broken down next season. We don't know who our wide receivers are. Uh, we know we have a dog at tight end, a great defense, not all time great, though, and the best kickers in the league. That's not Super Bowl ready. That's, let's keep the Steelers and Browns out of the playoffs ready. Uh, the draft this year seems to be one of the worst drafts ever. We should get rid of as many draft picks as needed to co-pick and be the best team in the league. One that nobody wants to see on their schedule. Hey, no, no, no, come on now. Now that part, getting rid of all the draft picks, you gotta get rid of all. I mean, you only got five, so it ain't really that much to get rid of. Um, but no, uh, the draft just, it's just got to be better and Ravens, depending on what happens next, which we don't know what's going to happen next. Um, the draft is like, like either way, if they keep Lamar, then the draft picks, they, they got to hit on the draft picks a lot better than they have been. Overall, they got to, but if they get rid of Lamar, then that would mean they would have a bunch more draft picks. So you got to hit on those draft picks to make it worth it to have gotten rid of him. So the, the, either way that this thing goes, the draft is very, very important. Uh, he said, with some of the negative aside, I'm glad to see that the organization and Lamar both haven't been leaking information about each other. Telling a couple of days ago, but they still seem to be on cordial terms and might surprise us with something soon. Hopefully, I don't know. They're on cordial terms. I, I, I don't, I don't think so. That's my opinion, but I don't know nothing. But anyway, he said, I may have some purple glasses on, but it seems like they are heading in a more offensive minded approach. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see. Uh, who knows. This could be a year where they told Harvest put up or shut up as head coach. See, a lot of us are thinking that last year. I know I was thinking that last year, but stop playing numbers, games and coach, like, you know, what the offense and defense are supposed to do. If that's the case, we will be dangerous. Let's see, baby. He said, anyway, sorry for the marathon book. God bless you and your family. And like, I hope Lamar isn't. I'm out. And you know, just what I mean, YouTube team, keep it clean. You see my boy, he like, I made it, I made it. Well, that's my home. He ain't that right. Engraving, right. Engraving. What a fun way that was to start a question from sub. I loved it, man. So shout out to my guys. So one question from subs is, as you already know, is a series where you connect any NFL question you want to. And we answered in the video like there's now if you would like to be a part of it. You can send for the team. Keep it clean. Patrons, shout out to all the team. Keep it clean. Patrons got a lot of love for y'all. Appreciate y'all, especially with everything going on right now. But for the pay, if you want to send a message via Patreon, Patreon, I can't even talk right now for the patrons, you send it directly on Patreon, you don't have to send an email or anything like that. You send it directly on Patreon. If everybody else you can send an email to team, keep it clean at gmail.com. Don't send it anywhere else, because we're going to throw it away. It's going to be trash. Only send it to team. Keep it clean at gmail.com. And let's get into some questions from some team. Keep it clean. Patrons, my first one from my guy tank, who's been a patron for two years. I appreciate your tank. He said, what's up in Graven? Hope the famous having a great year. Whenever I hear breaking NFL news, my first thought is I wonder what engraving thinks about this move. That being said, got a quick question with Zeke. Uh oh. OK, you know what? I like I thought about the same. Well, depending on how this goes, I probably thought about the same thing. As soon as it was cut, I was thinking, oh, boy, you know the Ravens, boy, you know, you know the Ravens. But anyway, he said with Zeke just dropping on a free agent market, do you think the Ravens adding him as a primarily third downback would give our already dangerous running game a new level? Much love and have a great day. I would much rather see them go overkill at wide receiver than running back. Right now they got J.K. Dobbins who can be a third downback. They got Gus Edwards, who definitely can be a third downback and they just resigned Justice Hill. Now you sent this yesterday so March 15th at 346 p.m. I think that that was that was right either when Justice Hill got signed or right after because Justice Hill got signed like close to four o'clock. It was before four o'clock. But anyway, I don't think that they would, especially since they just resigned Justice Hill, because it's like how many running backs do you need? And I mean, if Ravens look at running backs like they do tight ends and they say, oh, we need all of them, but no, I just don't think you would be a smart move. Next question came from my guy Nova, who's been a patron for six months. I appreciate you. So he asked some previous questions and he said it's previous questions didn't age well at all. Lol. Anyway, I got two more questions in hopes to mulligan the other two here goes. Number one, so maybe I'm being overly pessimistic or realistic here, but why does the thought of EDC trading Bateman sound like it's going to happen? Bateman went to go complain and Bateman said, oh, hold up, buddy. EDC said what he said about the receivers and Bateman said, hold up, buddy. But anyway, he said a few reasons before you decide I'm crazy. Oh, no, I don't think anybody will think you're crazy for thinking that because yeah, we know the history. But he said since EDC has became GM, you notice any noisy wide receivers always end up a former Raven. Hollywood is the most obvious example, but the Sean Jackson did. I don't hear you. Well, no, he ain't making any noise. Yeah, the Sean Jackson ain't say nothing till like he got cut. Like I mean, we saw the whole Instagram story and then he was officially released like either that same day the next day. But I think they probably had already told him and then he put that because he talked about Tata playing politics in the locker room, something like that. I forgot what he said. But anyway, he said Hollywood is the most obvious example, right. But the Sean Jackson, there's Brian. Then what was there is Brian, though, I thought, uh, then he started talking after he got cut, like with all the practice tapes and stuff. And I think that was after he got released, I think, but I don't remember. But anyway, and even Willie Snead, albeit his was after his Ravens tenor. They all came out on either social media or regular media to criticize the offense. And remember, bait did this very thing. Not about the offense per se, but in response to DC's comments at the injuries, causing misgames in his two seasons with them lack of draft capital. The Ravens have this year and tell me it's not foreseeable that EDC doesn't pull this trigger on a franchise that needs a number to receive a to stretch the field. But then see that he could do that. And I wouldn't put it past him. But that was that the Ravens back even further if they did that. Oh, it was. We'll set them back even further. So hopefully not. But I mean, they pavement got the talk and I think in old May DC gonna make him get the walk in. So we'll see. But anyway, he said, besides all we know, he sees more value in draft fixed in his wide receivers as we have yet to see any of his first round picks get a second contract. Well, I mean, technically, but we can't say that because his first first round was in 2019. So this would be the year that his first first round was eligible to get a second contract. So we we can't say that we haven't seen any of his first round draft picks get second round contracts because this will be the first year that they'll be eligible to do that because it's 19, 20, 21, 22. Oh, no, after excuse me, I take that back. This will be their fifth year. After 19, 20, 21, after 2021, they will be eligible for second contracts after the 20, 21 season. But yeah, to say but he's only had one first round. But then, oh, 20, 20, so there's 20, 20, 20, 21, 20, 22. So I mean, technically, the 20, 20, first round or what that's Patrick Queen, he could he's eligible to talk. But I don't think that's like because it's technically right. But there's only two people that will be eligible. That would have been Hollywood Brown and Patrick Queen. So I don't really think that's a big deal. But anyway, he said I can see Lenderbaum being their first to break this trend if he continues his success, though. Yeah, probably number two. This leads me to my second question. Just exactly who are we? Baltimore has always been known to be an outstanding defense that's well run, but never known for offensive prowess sends a flash in the pan run by a flak old betting on himself and probably the most complete offense we've seen in this organization. Now, our defense needed Roquon to get back to a top defense. And even this, even then, it couldn't hold back since he from beating us twice in a row. Lamar's contract has gone from something short shot to an entire fiasco, exploding how bad things really are in the organization. Harvey's still coaching not to necessarily win a Super Bowl, but to keep his job. EDC is trying to be the next Ozzy Newsom, but doesn't have the draft hits that Ozzy had to solidify his GM status. And this team is being built like it's 1999 all over again instead of adapting to today's game. Now, EDC, the Ozzy Newsom comment. I feel like Ozzy obviously overall. Two Super Bowls, a bunch of Hall of Fame players. Great. Ozzy had his misses to now. Ozzy wasn't perfect. He definitely had. He had some entire draft classes that will be misses. So I know what with Ozzy. I know a lot of people, they talk about the overall success, which you got to give him credit. The Super Bowl, obviously got to give him credit. But I feel like when a lot of people talk about Ozzy Newsom, the drafts, they make it like Ozzy Newsom. He hit on every single pick all the time. He didn't. He didn't. But anyway, he said, the legacy of Ray Lewis, Air Reed and Company made Baltimore a place you want to go to unless you play receive. But now it's become a pinnacle of mediocrity and it's become acceptable. There's no clear vision that we as fans can at least grasp onto, like other clubs, Rams and Bucks are offloading to rebuild after recent Super Bowl victories. Bears and Falcons spend a season cleaning up their finances and now they're ready to improve. Bills and Bengals are contenders and now are moving to go all in. Dolphins and Niners are now contenders and making moves to reach that next level. We don't fit any of these modes. So where else are we heading besides nowhere? Man, when you put it like that, that's kind of sad. Like, oh, man, love to hear your thoughts. And as always, I appreciate all you do. I hope you and the fans stay blessed. Appreciate it, Nova. That was wow. I think so much is up in the air right now because of quarterback situation. And even before then, like Raven, like you mentioned, they've been they've been competitive, but they haven't really been true contenders. So we won't know until this whole quarterback situation is resolved. Even after it's resolved, we still got to see how they move. So so much is just really up in the air right now. Next question came from my guy, Nonic. He said, what if the market is closed? Good evening, freelancer. Hope you and the family are doing well. We're doing good, man. He said it's March 16th, twenty twenty three. And today, let me see. Oh, it's March 16th now. All right. And I have to ask you your thoughts on the unthinkable. What if the market for Lamar Jackson isn't there? Hear me out ever since Lamar was headed to the draft, the goal posts have been moving. Why don't you run the 40th combined? Why not switch to receiver? We as Ravens fans have heard all the comments from rival fans, ex coaches and commentators. He's a running back, not a quarterback. He can't throw accurate passes, see the charges, playoff game. If that loss proves he can't handle the pressure. Defenses know who he's going to be before the Ravens even break the huddle. The Ravens have tailored their office to Sue Lamar, not Greg Roman. I could go on, but you get the idea. On Monday by four one, several teams immediately said not interested. Now teams, I know that desperately needed quarterback have made other moves through free agency signings or trades and draft moves to my knowledge without even a thought about Lamar. I don't think we've ever seen a top five quarterback who was MVP pro baller with one of the best win-loss records in his first 70 games. That can do what Lamar can do and be treated this way. I have no idea what the Ravens offered, but to not have anybody interested is shocking to me. And yes, if that's the case, it will be shocking to a lot of us. We know football NFL is a dirty game. It's a very dirty game. It's a dirty business. But yes, that would be a shock. Even with because I know some people will be like, oh, but the injuries, there will be injury concerns. We've seen quarterbacks of less caliber, less talented, just not as good as Lamar have injuries and still get signed to nice significant deals. But anyway, continuing. He said, has the perception by NFL ownership, sports pundits and coaches that Lamar style of play is unsustainable or that his talents won't work outside of the Ravens organization cost him his rightful shot at the contract. Superman deserves. I'm not talking about a fully guaranteed deal like Watson, but just the next man up type of QB offer. But all I hear is silent. If he sits out in 2023, what will his market be like in 2024? If he sat out in 2023, all of the stuff would just repeat itself. And I don't want to envision him sitting out at all. Well, I could see him sitting out if he just didn't want to play on a tag. But I wouldn't envision him sitting out a whole season. You never know, but I don't think he will sit out a whole season. But if he did, then everything would just pause. It's like you press the pause button for a year on everything because he wouldn't accrue another year of being in the NFL because that would be put on pause if he held out. So everything would be like right where it is right now. Do you think he is losing money and will he ever recover those losses? I don't think he's losing money. He went from making what, a meal of a couple meal per season to making 23 meal last year. Now making on a franchise tag right now. So he'll be making about 32 meal this season. But depending on how things go with this whole office sheet thing, that's why everything is so hard to say because we just don't know. We just don't know. Like if a team signs him to a big office sheet, then he begin a bunch of bread whether it came from the Ravens or came from that other team because something would have to happen then. Because Ravens would either have to match or that team that signed him to the office sheet, they would be signing him to that deal that they signed on office sheet. So it's so much that we just don't know. Sorry for the long question, but stay strong. Freelancing your 30 days will be over soon. Hey, yeah, seven, seven days left. We close. But back to the question. I just think it's I think a lot of it is the alleged C word, the C word that rhymes with optical illusion. It's it's it's scary to think about like, man, how so many people because because owners got the power, they got the power and Lamar is going against the owners. Of course, NFL PA if they involved as well, but they will be going against the owners too. But owners got they got so much power and they can line up together and hold their own hold hands and be like, hey, we ain't letting this happen. We ain't letting this go down. So it's tough because he's like, it's like he's trying to be a trend setter against what the NFL just doesn't want to happen. A big deal like this, somebody with no agent, a big deal like this and a fully guaranteed or just the guarantees just being a lot higher. And it's like not they like now we ain't trying to make that no, man, we don't want that to happen. So it's tough, man. And you also we also talked about that it costs him his rightful shot at the contract that he deserves. I wouldn't say that. I think that's also one of those things that we just really won't know till we know. And we just got to really watch everything plays out every day just waiting, seeing what's going to go down, what's going to happen. And yeah, it's like so hard to answer because we just don't know. Last question on this episode came from my God, Joshua. He said, we need to accept who EDC is. What's up in Graydon? Hope you're there as well. I can only imagine how dumb the Ravens office feels for letting Orlando Brown go in favor of left tackle Ronnie Stanley, who is always injured and rarely available. I think I think with that. I think they just it's just I don't even think that it was necessarily done. I think it's just a timing. I think that's what it was that the timing just sucked. Ronnie Stanley, he got paid. And. Not even a week later, he got put out for the season. That's when T.J. White, like, rolled into his ankle and nothing was the same after that. I mean, he had missed time every year before that. But that, like, that was the injury that really like just killed him. It just really like, oh, man, it messed up everything even worse. But then, yeah, but with him having signed the deal and then not even a week later, being hurt, like, oh, it's like, oh, man, the timing couldn't have been worse. So I don't even think they necessarily regretted, but I just think the timing is just like, oh, it's like a gut punch or a bunch of them. He said, now, one of the best offensive tackles in the league is a bingo. It's probably the same thing they felt when trading Hayden Hurst and Clowney passing Metcalf for Hollywood. This whole debacle with Lamar has been embarrassing and now Huntley is on the market too. I have a question. What exactly is EDC strength as a GM? What is the one thing he does very well? Hmm. And he said trading, drafting, cap management, communication, player satisfaction. As a fan base, we were spoiled by the legendary Aussie and have extremely high expectations, but we need to accept that EDC can't feel his shoes and appreciate him for his strengths. But as I was pondering this, the question came to mind, wait, what is his strength? I want to know because I'm learning how to be content, a characteristic that is blasphemous for us Ravens fans. Wow. Um, what is EDC's strength? Um, I think they do. I mean, minus this whole Lamar thing, I guess minus Hollywood, too. And what I was going to say, they do a pretty good job of keeping their own. Um, but then I thought about Lamar and I thought about Hollywood and then I think about the Orlando Brown Junior. And I know that that was tough because Ronnie Stanley got paid. They weren't going to pay two left tackle, but then I think about Hayden Hurst. And, um, what is EDC's strength? What would EDC's strength be? Could it be getting rid of somebody early rather than later? That's what we could say because that's that what Aussie did. Aussie would usually do it later than early, but he would do it early than later. Um, and I would say in ensuring that for a disgruntled player, somebody who you don't intend on resigning that they get that he gets something rather than nothing most of the time. So I would say that's it because like with Chuck Clark, well, I mean, they had already gave him an extension, but like they just traded him with Hollywood. They weren't going to resign him. They traded him with Hayden Hurst. He wasn't going to get a second contract. Mark Andrews had got that. So they traded him for draft picks all in the Brown Junior. They weren't going to sign him. So they traded him for draft picks. So I will say that. I will say that would be his strength, getting something rather than nothing for a player that you're not, you don't intend on keeping like even with Ben Bredesen with Kair Vedvik. I know there's been more too, but that, yeah, that would be that would be where I would go with that. As far as other strengths, he he's good at sort of. The mind games like like sort of swaying the public and making them think one thing with what he says versus what he's actually trying to get done. Like it reminds me of a couple of years back when he was like, oh, I'm offended. I'm insulted about how y'all speak about and feel about all wide receivers. I'm insulted by that. What are you guys talking about? And then he went out and signed Sammy Wack walkings and draft their show of Bateman and Tyler Wallace, too. So so he's good at hitting the swerve. He's good at having a poker face. So, yeah, those would be those was what I will say his strengths are. Some we got to remember. No GM is perfect. And again, you mentioned Ozzy, Ozzy had his week consists, too. He had his strengths, but he also had his weaknesses, too. But yeah, EDC, big, big off season form. I've been saying it for the longest. This this is the biggest off season for Eric DeCosta in his short tenor as GM. He been with GM since what 2019, I think. And this is his biggest, biggest off season. So we'll see how he delivers on the rest of it. Making rage quit. Exit out the door. Exit out the door. Use his favorite team with up bottom.