Quick Work Ravens

I've never liked the practice of most NFL teams waiting until July to start serious contract negotiations with their drafted players. Some of the wait is likely due to the agents waiting to see what sort of contract the players selected before or after their client are getting. The teams likely want to see the same things fall into place. So, there's a little bit of "wait and see" on the part of both parties. This waiting often leads to a frantic last few days before training camp. A holdout does no one any good. The teams and the players want to get to work on time. If everyone agrees that they want come to an agreement, why wait until the last few weeks to do so? It's a mystery. It's even more of a mystery when you consider that the new CBA pretty much dictates many of the parameters of the contracts. Much of the work is done for them yet they still wait. I remember being pretty excited when the Minnesota Vikings came to an agreement with fourth round pick Mewelde Moore only about a week or two after the 2004 NFL Draft. Moore wanted the contract done and the Vikings were happy to oblige. The Baltimore Ravens are really putting that quick contract negotiation to shame. Only one week removed from the 2013 NFL Draft, the Ravens have signed six of their ten selections signed. Amazing. They've signed fullback Kyle Juszczyk, offensive lineman Ricky Wagner, center Ryan Jensen, defensive lineman Kapron Lewis-Moore, receiver Aaron Mellette, and cornerback Marc Anthony. The Ravens still have their top four picks to sign but being this far into the draft signings this soon is amazing. If they work as efficiently to sign safety Matt Elam, linebacker Arthur Brown, defensive tackle Brandon Williams, and linebacker John Simon, they'll be all done and ready for training camp in about a month. I really like the Ravens draft and I really like how they getting their signings done.

As Super Bowl champions, it's pretty obvious that the Ravens are doing a lot of things right. They've really been doing things right for a while. Since the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens, they've drafted well, kept their core players, and generally made wise decisions. I don' remember too many down seasons. I remember some struggles when they were trying to see what they had in quarterback Kyle Boller. He was actually one of their few draft mistakes. Until the Ravens landed Joe Flacco, quarterback, in general, has been the one position that they haven't quite nailed down. They won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer which is pretty remarkable. They found their most stable quarterback play when they obtained Steve McNair at the end of his terrific career. The Baltimore Ravens are simply a smartly run franchise. Certainly a successful one. Much of the credit goes to general manager Ozzie Newsome. He has had one of the most interesting NFL careers. A  Hall of Fame player with the Browns, he was one of the greatest tight ends to ever play the game. After his playing career, he became a quick study on the personnel side of things. His classroom was the incredible football laboratory of Bill Belichick's Cleveland Browns of the early '90s. The number of future coaches and personnel men hired by Belichick is incredible. Newsome learned all that he could and put that knowledge to fantastic use. Unfortunately all the great things that Belechick started in Cleveland ended the day that Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore. Newsome was one of the few that moved with the team. His first draft in Baltimore brought Hall of Famer Jonathan Ogden and future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis. Nice start. Ozzie Newsome and his team were off and running. He's gotten better at what he does and so has the Ravens. They work efficiently and they work quickly in signing their draft choices.