Cabache's Corner

Hello! And welcome to my corner. Justin Forsett is coming back to Baltimore. On Thursday he signed a 3-year, $9 million deal following a breakout year in which he ran for 1,266 yards and 8 touchdowns at 5.4 yards per carry and earned himself a trip to the pro bowl. By resigning him, we now have a much clearer sense of which direction we could go in the draft, effectively removing any chance of drafting Melvin Gordon or Todd Gurley. It is far more likely now, that in the first round we go after a receiver, tight end or a DB. At this point, I would say that receiver is most likely as the tight end class is very poor, probably not worthy of a first round pick and it's a similar story with DB's. As far as receivers go, I like Jaelen Strong. Of the top tier of receivers, I believe he has the greatest chance of falling to us. I would say Dorial Green-Beckham but during the Ravens Season Review Press Conference  Ozzie Newsome pretty much ruled out drafting a player with signi...

Hello! And welcome to my corner. Free Agency opened yesterday and what an absolutely crazy day. In less than an hour there had already been multiple blockbuster trades and signings reported, unlike anything in recent memory. Prior to free agency, news broke of the Eagles trading LeSean McCoy to the Bills for Kiko Alonso. I believe, given the reasons we have heard since the trade, that both teams won this trade. The Bills get a top 5 running back and get rid of a guy who won't fit their scheme and the Eagles get one of the best young linebackers in the game and get rid of a player costing them a huge amount of cap space who was apparently not on the same page as Chip Kelly. With the cap space freed by shipping McCoy, Trent Cole and Cary Williams, the Eagles have been able to sign Byron Maxwell, Walter Thurmond, Brad Jones and Brandon Graham. In perhaps the biggest deal of the day, the Saints traded All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham and a 4th round pick to Seattle for Pro-Bowl...

Hello! And welcome to my corner. The Franchise Tag deadline has passed and we're on to Free Agency. This year the Ravens have several big names potentially leaving Baltimore; Torrey Smith, Justin Forsett, Pernell McPhee and Owen Daniels, along with a few other big name players on the chopping block to save cap room; Haloti Ngata and Lardarius Webb. This off-season could see some huge changes to this team. Here are the moves I think we should make and players I think are worth keeping an eye on: Torrey Smith First of all, I think Torrey Smith and Owen Daniels should be resigned. Torrey is a huge part of our offense and I don't think there are any receivers in free agency that we can afford. And he's a fan favourite, I'd hate to see Torrey in anything other than purple and black. Furthermore, I think if we lose Torrey we'd have to draft a receiver with our 1st pick, and I don't think we should, that pick should be used on a corner or running back. ...

Hello! And welcome to my corner! The combine is over, 323 guys have shown what they can do in front of legions of scouts and coaches. Some guys disappointed and others wowed, now all they have left are their pro day's to put the final touches on their draft stock. In the last article I picked out some guys to watch, here is how they did: Adrian Amos, Penn St, FS: Adrian ran a 4.56 second 40, a 7.09 second 3-cone drill, a 4.03 second* 20-yard shuttle, an 11.33 second* 60-yard shuttle, jumped 35.5 inches on the vertical and 10'2" on the broad jump. All of these good for the safeties. In drills he looked okay, he looked fluid, as he did on tape but (like a lot of the DB's) his hands weren't fantastic. I think he could still be worth a look if he is there in the 2nd or 3rd round.   Kurtis Drummond, Mich St, FS: Drummond ran a slightly disappointing 4.65 second 40, a 7.09 second 3-cone drill, a 4.33 second 20-yard shuttle and a 12.03 second 60-yard shuttle. ...

Hello! And welcome to my corner. As you all know this week is combine week! The start of the draft process and, most importantly, the first stages of the 2015-2016 Season, I'm already excited! At the end of the last post, I mentioned that I think our biggest needs heading into the off-season are defensive back, receiver and running back. Here are the players I feel Ravens fans should keep an eye on at the combine: Defensive Back Adrian Amos, Penn State, FS: More of a cover guy, good in man coverage, great in zone. Versatile. Not great against run, would not be a box safety (that’s when we use Elam).  Kurtis Drummond, Michigan State, FS: Part of the ‘No Fly Zone’. 4 picks and 11 passes defenced in his final year. Excellent ball skills, fairly poor play at the line of scrimmage. Needs better instincts. Derron Smith, Fresno State, FS: Smaller than average. Can play in center field or at the line of scrimmage. 13 picks in 2 years. Could start right away, very ...

Hello! And welcome to Cabache’s Corner! The 2014-2015 NFL Season is over. 7 months without regular season football is ahead of us, 7 months for us to reminisce yet another great year in the NFL. The Ravens bounced back from a disappointing 2013-2014 season (8-8 record), finishing the season 10-6 and booking themselves a trip back to the playoffs, their 6 th trip in 7 years. They marched into Pittsburgh and beat the AFC North Champs, then lost a gut-wrencher to the eventual Superbowl Champs, the New England Patriots. As the records would suggest, the Ravens improved on a lot of the flaws from last year. On offense the Ravens had 50 more first downs, they converted on 41% of their 3 rd downs compared to 36% last season, 50% of 4 th downs compared to 37.5% last season. They had 920 yards of total offense with most of that improvement coming in the ground game, they ran for 691 more yards at 4.5 yards per carry (1.4 YPC more than last year), they averaged 1.2 yards more per...

Hello! And welcome to Cabache's Corner! What. A. Game. The Patriots are heading back to a snowy Boston with their 4th Vince Lombardi trophy following their 28-24 victory over the Seahawks. It was a hard fought game that went right down to the wire and was won by the team that made just one more great play. Here's how it went down... The first quarter passed very quickly. Neither team got much going apart from one Patriots' drive which resulted in a red zone interception (and an injury to Jeremy Lane), and it finished 0-0.  The second quarter however, is when the game really took off. On the Patriots' first possession they marched 65 yards in just over 4 minutes and capped it off with touchdown pass to Brandon LaFell. The Seahawks tied the game up with just over 2 minutes left in the half. Then, in typical Tom Brady fashion the Patriots went 80 yards in 1 minute 45 seconds and got in the end zone for the second time with a 22-yard touchdown to Gronkowsk...