Flagg the Wanderer
Mourning Algernon
I'm not amazed by that contract or the team that offered it. A little higher than I'd thought - I would have guessed at maybe 2/3 of that amount guaranteed - but the total and incentives make sense. It makes sense for a team in at least one specific situation:
1) competitive team with a number of areas of strength, and few glaring weaknesses but a longshot for a superbowl
2) would be disproportionately helped by an explosive weapon: a strong running game, relies on creating confusion and breakdowns on opposing defenses
3) a team that is overly reliant on a single offensive weapon, which means greater relative benefit from forcing defenses to split their focus
4) an offense that plays off schedule disproportionately benefits from targets with more instinct, athleticism, and cockiness/attitude vs pure discipline
5) an offense with a QB who desperately needs a safety valve who can match his "alpha-ness," that he will trust and believe in
6) an offense that doesn't have a large number of promising wide receivers who OBJ would steal touches from, risking stunting their development
Ravens match all of this. They lost 6 games plus their playoff game by one score. They scored 20 or fewer 10 times - including their last 6 and 7 of their last 8 - plus their playoff game. It's a one-year deal, there are zero explosive offensive weapons on the market, and few in the draft.
If anything, I'm surprised the Ravens didn't hold out for a team option to trigger another year or two. If OBJ and Lamar Bond, and he becomes a binky, he's going to hold them for ransom.
Realistically, there's not a lot out there that's going to change their team to spend their cap on right now anyway. They didn't sacrifice the future, and if he's 90% of the way back, they went from "fringe long shot" to "in the conversation."
