Imagine, if you will, a dominant young Ravens receiver, in this case Brandon Marshall, who has endless physical talent as well as the ability to post All-Pro numbers year after year. Think of how much it would benefit Joe Flacco to have a player with this kind of talent at his side. Think of how much a downfield threat would open up the running game, one that is already ranked top-5 in the league.
Now let’s switch gears and think about what kind of person the Ravens would be getting to go with all this talent. Some would ask, does it really matter what a player does off the field? Others would say they don’t care what he does in his spare time as long as he helps us win games. There is much truth to both of these statements, as unethical and immoral as it may sound. If we didn’t want our team to win, why would we even watch the games? The bottom line is that no matter how you look at it, winning matters.
But despite all the good stuff that will happen on the field, it won’t outweigh the bad stuff that happens off the field. Simply put, Marshall is not a good fit for the Ravens organization. The Ravens front office prides itself on being one that holds itself to a higher standard than most other professional organizations. Owner Steve Bisciotti wants the best for the team and their fans, which is part of the reason why he picked the young and fiery Jim Harbaugh to put the team back in order. That plan worked to near perfection last season as the Ravens were a Flacco interception away from being in the Super Bowl.
So why change things this year? Why bring in a guy who has questionable personal values and has had 13 police incidents since 2004 as well as a pending misdemeanor battery charge? The Ravens simply don’t need this disease of a person to infect a locker room that seems to have it all together. There is enough talent on this team right now to be in playoff contention come January.
Marshall is a hell of a player, don’t get me wrong. This is apparent just by looking at the numbers he has piled up in Denver over the past three seasons — 226 receptions for 2,899 yards and 15 touchdowns. It would be nice to see Marshall in purple and black next season from a football standpoint, but it’s simply not going to happen. The Ravens have too much pride to steep down to a low enough level to acquire such a disgruntled player as Marshall.
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Can't argue with a lot that was said here in this column, however a receiver of Marshall's calibur is certainly worth any risk that he may present. Think about it like this.. Ray Lewis and the core of players we have right now only have a couple of seasons at best to compete at the level that we did this past season. With that being said, there is a very small window to win in the NFL and you need to take any chance you can to put yourself in the position to legitimately compete for a Super Bowl. We all know that the chances to win championships are incredibly tough to come by, and even more difficult to actually capitalize on those opportunities.
I totally understand what you're saying, but I feel like the risk just isn't worth the reward. Plus can we even afford this guy?
Yes he would be expensive, but we can work something out to get this done.. Seriously though at the end of the day I put my faith in Ozzie and I know he will ultimately make the right decision for our team. Of course nobody gets it right all the time, but Ozzie gets it done more than anybody so I think we're good either way. I love Derrick Mason and the other guys have a lot of potential as well, but it would be nice to see a monster out there like a Marshall or Boldin (he's still not happy) to spread the defenses and really open things up for Joe Cool and the running attack. But who am I right? Regardless of what develops on this story, I love our chances next year and the Ravens organization has done an outstanding job building this football team.
You summed it up great by putting your faith in Ozzie. At the end of the day that's all we can do as fans. We're not GMs and Newsome's track record speaks for itself.
Two words for anyone who would question this move… Randy Moss. Did he present a risk to the Patriots by trading for him and signing him to a big deal? Absoultely. Did that risk ultimately end up paying enormous dividends in the end? Ohhh yeah. The guy only broke the NFL single season TD mark right out of the gate. Come on man Brandon Marshall has had some issues for sure, but you sign him to a big deal (and trust me 100 grabs, 1300 yards and a handful of TDs is worth the investment) laden with incentives and conduct stipulations and make our team that much better. We all need to get off our high horses and stop acting like we only choose sweet little angels as personnel. I can tell you with certainty that we have our fair share of thugs in the locker room and we will all still cheer them on come Sunday this fall. Besides, Ray Lewis rules that locker room and Marshall or anyone else for that matter will respect what Ray has done and what he expects his teammates to bring to the table on and off the field. Trust in the system that we have here in Baltimore and let the big dog eat. Bring THE BEAST to Baltimore!