| I would imagine the bigwig, creative types at
HBO are glad they didn’t agree to a two-year deal with the Ravens for the "Hard
Knocks" series. Last year the groundbreaking series that documented the
behind-the-scenes aspects of life as the Super Bowl champs during training camp was
superb. It chronicled the team’s camera-loving personalities and how their efforts,
egos, hazing habits, practical jokes and concern for the team all intertwined into the
ultimate training-camp experience. The cameras were everywhere, catching the perfect
Hollywood team in action from the cafeteria to meeting rooms to dorms to practice fields
to Tony Siragusa’s bar in New Jersey. Truly good stuff.
But this year, HBO probably would rather show reruns of "Caddyshack II" than
spend film on the squad the Ravens will put on the field this summer. The two classic
stars of "Hard Knocks," Tony Siragusa and Shannon Sharpe, both future
broadcasters, are gone. The colorful Siragusa basically was nudged into retirement, and
Sharpe, never at a loss for words, was released for salary-cap purposes and is visiting
with the Seahawks, Raiders and Broncos to try to put the finishing touches on his career.
QB Elvis Grbac, brought in via free agency only a year earlier to elevate the
Ravens’ passing game, was cut because the two sides couldn’t come to terms on
renegotiating his one-year-old deal after he threw more interceptions than touchdowns.
DT Sam Adams? Cut. His backup, the promising Lional Dalton? Gone in search of greener
pastures in Denver. DE Rob Burnett? See ya. LB Jamie Sharper and WR Jermaine Lewis? Have
fun in Texas. FS Rod Woodson? It’s been fun. CB Duane Starks? Sorry, their checkbook
is bigger than ours. WR Qadry Ismail? FB Sam Gash? So long. DE Michael McCrary? He figures
to be cut if his contract can’t be restructured before June.
The Ravens are so hampered by their previous spending habits that they currently have
only 35 players under contract and are only about $1 million under the cap. Not a good
sign, considering the draft picks that will eventually need to be signed and the gaping
holes that will need to be filled, or somewhat plugged, if possible.
It will end up being such a brand-new team that Art Modell may have to supply name
tags, even for the veterans. Head coach Brian Billick originally predicted the team would
be able to re-sign about half of its 25 free agents this offseason. He’s since been
forced to reconsider that optimistic statement. Good thing he’s not in the horoscope
business.
"If you don’t recognize as a coach that you're going to go through something
like this, that you can avoid that, then you’re in for a major disappointment,"
Billick said from the NFL owners meeting last week. "We didn’t wake up after the
(second-round playoff loss to) Pittsburgh and go, ‘We're in bad cap shape.’ It
was by design. We re-signed Jamie Sharper, Jermaine Lewis, Rod Woodson and Sam Gash last
year. We wanted to keep that team together to see if we could make another run. We had the
misfortune of (being $26 million over) the cap and getting old at the same time."
And so the Ravens are basically sitting ducks in this free-agent market. They
can’t do anything but watch former key players sign elsewhere. They say they’ll
have money to spend in June, when the contracts of star LBs Ray Lewis and Peter Boulware
should be restructured to clear space, but June could be too late for a team left on the
side of the road by the system and its own greedy miscalculations.
The problems don’t stop there. Billick is left with a quarterback, Chris Redman,
who has thrown three passes in the NFL. Sure, veterans Chris Chandler and Jeff Blake could
be headed to Baltimore, but not until June, and when was the last time anyone got excited
about either one of those two? The Ravens’ top running back, Jamal Lewis, who was a
monster as a rookie, is coming off reconstructive knee surgery. Marvin Lewis, the
defensive coordinator who was the driving force behind the Ravens’ record-setting
defense on the way to the Super Bowl, followed the dollar signs to Washington, where he
became the richest assistant coach ever.
Billick said it hurts when you can’t pursue your own guys and that he realizes the
expectations will still be high despite the slashing of the roster. That’s how the
NFL works these days. Take your shots for a two- or three-year period and then regroup by
way of financial heartbreak and inexperienced players.
"I’m just arrogant enough to think that we'll be pretty good," Billick
said. "How good? We'll find out. How good did New England think they were going to be
last year? We have a track record that says we've been down this road before and we kind
of know what we're doing."
They may, but just don’t look for the HBO cameras to be rolling at the
Ravens’ training camp this summer. It would be kind of embarrassing, you know, with
the name tags and all. |
