First of all....considering you have been covering the Ravens for many years as of now, you realize that the front office traditionally NEVER overpays to re-sign a player about to hit the free agent market. Hartwell, Baxter, Starks, Sharper, Demps...

Thomas is a 30 year old linebacker. To franchise him when we have continuously found impact players to fill spots such as these through the draft and second-stringers...would be breaking a functional, working philosophy.

Now, you can spin this however you want...but the fact is, Pashos is a career back-up who had one solid season. Presumably, if Ogden stays, Terry will take his spot....then switch next season to LT. RT could be addressed in the draft or FA. You know the mantra..."right player, right price..." Not to mention, McNair's prowess in the pcoket made the line look MUCH better than they really were...

Musa Smith has been injured each and every season since he started in the league. To allocate any space to re-signing a player that injury-prone, not to mention his injuries in college....would be short-sighted and almost panic-driven. RB can be addressed in the draft...that is what it is there for. Anderson, coupled with a rookie, has to be better than the poor Fred Astaire impersonation Jamal has been putting on each Sunday for the last 2 seasons.

Mughelli can be had for a marginal contract. I agree in full with the FO on this one...let him test the market, and crawl back when he realizes that FB's are quite honestly readily replaceable...anyone miss Alan Ricard last season? I rest my case.

I know some of the responders in here have disagreed with my criticisms of "Ozzie Ball" and I admit that most of his moves have worked out well in the past. But I really think that we're seeing a changing of the guard in offseason proficency. Suddenly Ozzie is keeping around overpriced over the hill veterans i.e 3/5 of the offensive line and one Twinkle Toes Lewis while guys like AD, Pashos and Ovie aren't being resigned despite their valuable contributions to the team on and off the field. If Ozzie can't muster up a contract for at least the latter two, how is he going to recruit free agents? Raid the retirement homes? I think Bam Morris is out of prison and Wally Williams is still on the waiver wire.

Maybe Ozzie has some grand scheme and everything will work out by Week 1, but I doubt it. From what I've seen so far, he hasn't exactly put himself in the running for "Excecutive of the Year".

You're right...impact players have to come from the draft, and if anyone doesn't like it, too damn bad. This organization knows what its doing. Would you rather rely on free agents and become another Washington Redskins? The keys to getting back to the Superbown lie in a strong draft... year after year. No other team in the NFL has done any better.

The Ravens have cap constrained themseleves and when an Org and GM do this the team long term will suffer. The Ravens don't seem to learn from history as they did the same thing after winning the SB. They hadn't locked up players like P. Holmes but low balled him for yrs and when he left and Jamal got hurt they had no running game. When they let Dilfer go and signed Grbac to a huge contract he took the money and retired after one yr. Shoulda resigned Dilfer, the one Qb that won a Sb for them. Then when Boller looks like the light bulb went on which was helped by having Mason, Clayton and Heap all healthy at the end of the 2005 season where he was posting QB ratings over 100 each wk. The Ravens traded a precious draft pick and way over paid for McNair, who didn't play like a vet in the playoffs throwing INTs at the goal line and surely is on the down side of his career. Why do you wait to cut Lewis and clear $11.8M in cap room after Thomas becomes a FA why not do it a few days sooner before the Feb 22 Franchaise tag day deadline, so that you can Franchise Thomas. The Franchise tag can be removed after you resign or trade a player, if you lose him at least you'd get something in retrun vs nothing for a PRO Bowl player who had 11 sacks last yr. Guys like Flynn, Mulitalo, Vincent are all guys that you have to cut to clear cap room. You could start Ogden, Brown, Chester, Rimpf and Terry and the OL will be better. You must look for OT help in the draft anyhow to groom in anticipation of Ogden retiring. When it comes to resigning my own its Thomas, Lewis and probably the best FB in the league Mughelli other older or lesser players should go now not next yr after you lose your good players in 2006. The loss of Thomas could cause the defense to slip to the point where it can't cover for the offense like it alwasy has. I don't see this offense with McNair and under Billick ever getting any better and 6 pts two FGs in a playoff game vs guys like Manning, Brady, Rivers, Palmer to name a few just will nevr be enough no matter how good the defense plays.

There seems to be the inexplicable trend this year with the Ravens where they are working/willing to keep veterans in decline (Mulitalo, Ray Lewis, Jamal Lewis, Flynn,), yet seem unconcerned about the loss of players in their prime (Thomas) or players with great potential (Pachos, Mughelli). I really don't get it. Mike, if I am missing something, please tell me!

It has been disappointing so far watching great contributors from last year (Thomas, Mughelli and Pashos) leave our organization and at the same time watching other organizations get improvements via free agency. Nonetheless, if we make wise draft picks, like New England did last year drafting Maroney, then we will be fine. It's just a shame that the fans have to go through this after such a great season.