Ravens Won’t Tag C.J. Mosley; Linebacker Expected To Become Free Agent

[Shoes]

Some big news out of Baltimore that may create some serious waves in Pittsburgh. To the surprise of many, the Baltimore Ravens will not place the franchise tag on linebacker C.J. Mosley, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

https://steelersdepot.com/2019/03/ravens-wont-tag-c-j-mosley-linebacker-expected-to-become-free-agent/

[DesertSteel]

Also appears Chiefs are releasing Justin Houston. I’d be happy landing either of these guys.

[Fire Goodell]

26 years old coming off a pro bowl season, hmm...

[lt194camaroz]

I hear a lot of people say he's not a "shazier" type of linebacker, well how many of those are out there. A few years ago we made a run at donta Hightower and I think Mosley is more comparable to him imo. Shazier is amazing, not many like him, but I don't think it's a smart idea to base your defense's success off of having a player of tag caliber. Mosely would make this team better, obviously. Will we pay what it takes to get him, I doubt it, but colbert said we didn't do enough to replace shazier, so maybe they'll make a ruin at him if they aren't confident they can draft someone to shore up the ILB position, or maybe they'll draft one and still tru to sign mosley, that option would make me happy, especially if we get a 1 for A.B.

[86WARD]

Id sign this guy. I'd also then make it a priority to do whatever I needed to get a first round pick and turn that #20 into a top-tier veteran CB (Howard, Rhodes, Ramsey). #27 would then be a WR. Of course, some roster movements and restructures would probably have to happen...but I'd have Omar on it as we speak!!

Moseley has some coverage issues so I would feel the need to upgrade the secondary more so than normal if I was signing this guy...CBs and Ss

[Mojouw]

It comes down to how many downs you think Mosley can play at that Pro Bowl level. If it’s only 2, then why pay him big dollars?

I’ve never really seen what Mosley does great. He does a number of things well, but at 10-15 million per year, you better do something besides stuff the run.

Put it this way. When was the last Steelers Ravens game where you finished watching it and were like “Wow. If they just didn’t have Mosley we would’ve won that easy”.

Not trying to be a smart ass, but I don’t think I’ve ever thought that in 5 seasons.

[Hound]

I think Mojouw is spot on with this one.

[st33lersguy]

Honestly though unless they are willing to trade up for Devin white or Devin bush, he probably has the most upside and is most likely to improve the ilb position. He's better than vw and certainly better than bostic or any other ilb on the roster. Only issue is cap room

[steelreserve]

It comes down to how many downs you think Mosley can play at that Pro Bowl level. If it’s only 2, then why pay him big dollars?

I’ve never really seen what Mosley does great. He does a number of things well, but at 10-15 million per year, you better do something besides stuff the run.

Put it this way. When was the last Steelers Ravens game where you finished watching it and were like “Wow. If they just didn’t have Mosley we would’ve won that easy”.

Not trying to be a smart ass, but I don’t think I’ve ever thought that in 5 seasons.

Well, you could say the same thing about Bud Dupree and then some, but we're still paying him.

Would you make that trade, Mosley for Dupree straight up? If the difference is like, a couple million a year, we can find that in the couch.

And THAT is the cost of the option I keep saying there is no way in hell we should be paying.

[Mojouw]

Well, you could say the same thing about Bud Dupree and then some, but we're still paying him.

Would you make that trade, Mosley for Dupree straight up? If the difference is like, a couple million a year, we can find that in the couch.

And THAT is the cost of the option I keep saying there is no way in hell we should be paying.
Point well taken. I would still value a mediocre edge rusher over a good ILB. But if I was in charge of the defense, I wouldn’t be playing ILBs much.

[Born2Steel]

I see Mosely as better than what we have currently. Better than who we are likely to draft. Better than the rest of the FA ILB market. But is he worth what it will take to get him. For those that think Mosely must come off for passing downs all need remember is that was Mosely that intercepted Baker to end our season a couple months ago. I guess come up with ‘your’ relative value for Mosely and hope we can get him for that or less.

[EzraTank]

In my wet dream world, we'd trade AB for a high pick to land Devon White. Then we'd draft Devin Bush at #20 or a top CB (Williams, Baker).

Sign Mosely and suddenly our LB core is amazing and we have a defense that doesn't need our offense to score 30 points to win.

[DesertSteel]

Add quality to our team at a position of weakness and remove a Pro Bowl defender from our arch rival. Nothing wrong with that picture. Those who have a problem with it are overthinking it.

[Fire Goodell]

Add quality to our team at a position of weakness and remove a Pro Bowl defender from our arch rival. Nothing wrong with that picture. Those who have a problem with it are overthinking it.

I agree. But people are comparing Mosley to Shazier which I think is unrealistic, Shazier was one of a kind, you're not going to find players like him except once every 10 years or so unfortunately.

Comparing Mosley to Williams or Fort/Bostic, I see a big upgrade to a weak position of need, IMO. The way I see it, Williams is average, and Fort/Bostic are below average. Fort has the talent to turn the corner, but at this point I'm kind of tired of putting stock into "Talented, but still needs to figure it out" players. I wouldn't be against spending money on a player that we know has the talent, and has figured out how to succeed already. The guy is 26 and not coming off injury, so there's still a lot of tread on the tires.

With that said, I doubt we get him. The price tag will be high and I'm sure he's going to attract interest from a lot of teams, and we usually aren't the high bidder.

[EzraTank]

I agree. But people are comparing Mosley to Shazier which I think is unrealistic, Shazier was one of a kind, you're not going to find players like him except once every 10 years or so unfortunately.

Comparing Mosley to Williams or Fort/Bostic, I see a big upgrade to a weak position of need, IMO. The way I see it, Williams is average, and Fort/Bostic are below average. Fort has the talent to turn the corner, but at this point I'm kind of tired of putting stock into "Talented, but still needs to figure it out" players. I wouldn't be against spending money on a player that we know has the talent, and has figured out how to succeed already. The guy is 26 and not coming off injury, so there's still a lot of tread on the tires.

With that said, I doubt we get him. The price tag will be high and I'm sure he's going to attract interest from a lot of teams, and we usually aren't the high bidder.

Exactly and if you add Mosely then Williams will get better. If we could land one of the top rookie edge rushers and sign Mosely our LB cores are suddenly very good.

[DesertSteel]

I agree. But people are comparing Mosley to Shazier which I think is unrealistic, Shazier was one of a kind, you're not going to find players like him except once every 10 years or so unfortunately.

Even with Shazier, his performance didn't always equal his ability. I mean, he had flaws in his game too.

[FrancoLambert]

Add quality to our team at a position of weakness and remove a Pro Bowl defender from our arch rival. Nothing wrong with that picture. Those who have a problem with it are overthinking it.

:thumbsup:

We’ve been comparing Shazier and Mosley since they entered the NFL and all of a sudden he might not be enough to strengthen our LB group?

You’re right...some are overthinking it.

[Mojouw]

Even with Shazier, his performance didn't always equal his ability. I mean, he had flaws in his game too.


:thumbsup:

We’ve been comparing Shazier and Mosley since they entered the NFL and all of a sudden he might not be enough to strengthen our LB group?

You’re right...some are overthinking it.

It isn't that he wouldn't strengthen the LB group. He would be instantly better than any ILB on the roster. So the franchise tag for LB's was/is $15.4 million dollars and change.

His current team, where he has been an anchor in the middle of their defense, has determined that at $15 million he isn't worth that much of their 18 million in cap space. The Steelers have almost the same cap space. So, the question is not does Mosley make the team better...but does he make it 10-16 million dollars better?

Mosley has 9 sacks and 9 INTs across 5 full seasons as the full time starter. That isn't a great deal of "playmaking" what he does have is a staggering amount of tackles. Mosley is at his best attacking the ball-carrier in the run game. He can do it, but he does not get Pro Bowl votes for his delayed blitzing or his coverages carrying TEs and RBs down the field.

I would argue no, unless they want both Bostic and VW in back-up roles. Mosley is basically a superior version of VW. But he is not a complementary player to VW. That would be Shazier at the high end of the spectrum and LJ Fort at the low end of the spectrum. If they plan on playing 2 ILBs next to each other as much as they did last season, then you need the two players to complement each other not overlap on their skill sets.

For me, that would push my FA dollars towards Hicks (assuming he makes it to the open market) and Kwon Alexander (a big gamble).

Put it another way. VW has played 6 years and around 2600 snaps at ILB in a 3-4 racking up 15 sacks, 2 INTs, and 338 tackles with 32 for lost yardage. Mosley has played 5 years and about 5,000 snaps and recorded 9 sacks, 9 INTs, and 597 tackles with 43 for lost yardage.

So for 50% or less of the potential cap hit of a Mosley, you can get the roughly similar impacting player 2/3 downs. Mosley is in on a lot of tackles but not many are behind the line of scrimmage and he isn't impacting all that much in the passing game. So what is that premium price tag getting you?

[86WARD]

It isn't that he wouldn't strengthen the LB group. He would be instantly better than any ILB on the roster. So the franchise tag for LB's was/is $15.4 million dollars and change.

His current team, where he has been an anchor in the middle of their defense, has determined that at $15 million he isn't worth that much of their 18 million in cap space. The Steelers have almost the same cap space. So, the question is not does Mosley make the team better...but does he make it 10-16 million dollars better?

Mosley has 9 sacks and 9 INTs across 5 full seasons as the full time starter. That isn't a great deal of "playmaking" what he does have is a staggering amount of tackles. Mosley is at his best attacking the ball-carrier in the run game. He can do it, but he does not get Pro Bowl votes for his delayed blitzing or his coverages carrying TEs and RBs down the field.

I would argue no, unless they want both Bostic and VW in back-up roles. Mosley is basically a superior version of VW. But he is not a complementary player to VW. That would be Shazier at the high end of the spectrum and LJ Fort at the low end of the spectrum. If they plan on playing 2 ILBs next to each other as much as they did last season, then you need the two players to complement each other not overlap on their skill sets.

For me, that would push my FA dollars towards Hicks (assuming he makes it to the open market) and Kwon Alexander (a big gamble).

Put it another way. VW has played 6 years and around 2600 snaps at ILB in a 3-4 racking up 15 sacks, 2 INTs, and 338 tackles with 32 for lost yardage. Mosley has played 5 years and about 5,000 snaps and recorded 9 sacks, 9 INTs, and 597 tackles with 43 for lost yardage.

So for 50% or less of the potential cap hit of a Mosley, you can get the roughly similar impacting player 2/3 downs. Mosley is in on a lot of tackles but not many are behind the line of scrimmage and he isn't impacting all that much in the passing game. So what is that premium price tag getting you?

Pending the timing, that difference in interceptions could be worth the money...

[Mojouw]

Pending the timing, that difference in interceptions could be worth the money...

Maybe? I mean you're talking roughly a million bucks per pick.

I get that I am totally biased in this. I've never liked Mosley as a player. I would if this was 1989. But 3 decades later, I just can not wrap my head around paying this dude all the money. Mosley gets solo tackles and a ton of assists with a low % of tackles for loss. That says to me that he is the 1st-2nd guy to hit the back after he crosses the line of scrimmage. On a per snap basis, his pass coverage #'s are nothing special.

If Mosley was the "missing puzzle piece" to an otherwise dominant defense - then sure pay the hell out of him. Overpay. Whatever. Banners fly forever and all that.

But take AB off the offense. Reshuffle secondary, again. Haden is another year older. And I do not see a SB caliber team that is just missing Mosley shutting the door in the run game.

You know who should pay him a crap ton of money? Chargers, New Orleans, or Chiefs. All of those teams are closer than the Steelers are.
Again, I could be waaaaaaay off here. I have never liked Mosley's game compared to his draft status and reputation as an elite defender. But that's just me.

[stillers4me]

More Ravens news:

1103062391225491456

[Shoes]

More Ravens news:

1103062391225491456


Looks like the new GM may be cleaning house

[86WARD]

Maybe? I mean you're talking roughly a million bucks per pick.

I get that I am totally biased in this. I've never liked Mosley as a player. I would if this was 1989. But 3 decades later, I just can not wrap my head around paying this dude all the money. Mosley gets solo tackles and a ton of assists with a low % of tackles for loss. That says to me that he is the 1st-2nd guy to hit the back after he crosses the line of scrimmage. On a per snap basis, his pass coverage #'s are nothing special.

If Mosley was the "missing puzzle piece" to an otherwise dominant defense - then sure pay the hell out of him. Overpay. Whatever. Banners fly forever and all that.

But take AB off the offense. Reshuffle secondary, again. Haden is another year older. And I do not see a SB caliber team that is just missing Mosley shutting the door in the run game.

You know who should pay him a crap ton of money? Chargers, New Orleans, or Chiefs. All of those teams are closer than the Steelers are.
Again, I could be waaaaaaay off here. I have never liked Mosley's game compared to his draft status and reputation as an elite defender. But that's just me.


If they make the playoffs and the Super Bowl...those picks are worth the millions though...I'm just playing devil's advocate here...

- - - Updated - - -


Looks like the new GM may be cleaning house

New GMs want "their guys"...

[teegre]

@mojoUW

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-why-teams-shouldnt-break-the-bank-on-cj-mosley-in-free-agency (https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-why-teams-shouldnt-break-the-bank-on-cj-mosley-in-free-agency)


It’s PFF... so, take it with a grain of salt.

SUMMATION:
Mosley would indeed be an upgrade. But, for that amount of money, it probably makes more sense to sign a CB (or OLB).

[Born2Steel]

Huh! You mean we could have traded AB for CJ Mosely and Eric Weddle?