The Dan Cody non factor

[ravensfan86]

The Ravens are faced with some tough decisions after this season ends. With a little less then half the season gone, wouldn't it make sense to get Dan Cody involved with this defense?

I think there are few players in this league like AD but with a huge pay raise staring at him from other more needy defenses and his age, I cant see the Ravens re-signing him. To add to that, the immergance of Bart Scott playing probowl caliber football also adds to the unlikely resigning of AD.

It concerns me that the Ravens would rather suit up tractor (#95) then Cody at the very least he should be in the LB rotation.

I know Cody needs to work on his pass rush moves, but he could certainly be in the rotation to keep the LB's fresh.

Thoughts...

[Gabrosin]

If we let Adalius Thomas go, we're crazy. He's worth the money to keep around. I get that we have a high draft pick behind him, but he's nowhere near the level of versatility of Thomas. I expect we'll make the cap room to sign him to a solid contract. Honestly? If Samari Rolle keeps looking lost in our secondary, I could see us releasing or trading him, or at least asking for a pay cut. We also might save some money on our offensive line; if they're going to play like crap, we can at least pay them nothing to do it. I don't think the dropoff between our veterans and our young players is so severe that it justifies how much we pay guys like Flynn and Vincent. Ogden is probably the only exception at this point (though Mulitalo looked good until the injury).

I also expect that this could be Jamal's last year here. If we can get similar production from Mike Anderson or Musa Smith, there's no reason to pay Jamal big money. If we're going to pay him, he needs to be an elite back again, and he's not right now.

We'll find a way to keep AD.

[ravensfan86]

You could scrape all the o-line's pay together with the exception of Ogden, and still not have enough to pay AD's expected base salary for a season let alone spread over several years. You have a point about Jamal's last stop here. I think the league spoke volumes about Jamal. No one was busting the door down to sign him to big money except us.

That said, I am not sure about either Musa or Anderson carrying the load if Jamal is let go. I think we need to draft our RB of the future on the first day. Doesn't need to be a first round pick, but someone who can carry the load and be physical enough to handle 16 games of pounding. Anderson is getting up in age and Musa has the injury history working against him.

Look I am all for keeping AD around, but with last season and this one he is putting together I can't see us able to compete with the money Peterson got. Plus AD took a discount contract last time and this is his last go around. He won't be so willing this time. He has gained exposure and notice from the league. He is a big part of our defense. But we can't keep all these guys: Reed, CMac, Ray, Suggs, Scott etc. Someone will go after this season. My guess is we will put a reasonable contract offer for him and he will go elsewhere to get top dollar. Who can blame him.

You make a good point about Rolle. I don't think he is healthy. I am ready for the kid from LSU to step up and start in his place. I would bring Rolle in as the nickle. Swap the roles if you will.

[RavenDavey]

Think about this.............How many times do we throw offensive rookies into the mix and they take a beating? Sometimes bringing along a younger player slowly will enhance their development and provide a greater return to the team in the long run.

It is odd to categorize this effect to a defensive player, especially a linebacker, but saving him now will ensure a greater transition as our current LB's get older and start to leave the game. Especially true for the great Hall of Fame bound Ray Lewis whose time is ticking toward his Raven sunset. Dan Cody will get his day and as long as our D is playing "pound your ass" football, let Cody learn and be ready in case of the pre-playoff freak injury that may happen as the season goes on. Hopefully we will not see any major defensive injury as our season progresses and our defense will remain intimidating for years to come!

[WxKevin]

The Ravens may go into "this is our window" mode and do everything to re-sign the key players knowing that they will have to dump players and salary in a couple years like they did in 2003.

[GreenWave52]

I wish we could keep AD, but the big money contract he signs won't be worth it 3 years from now. AD is peaking and I assume Ozzie will give him a fair deal but someone else will over pay and buy AD when his stock is probably at what will be his career high.

That is how you end up in cap jail.

[Raineman]

Funny how a subject about Cody barely contains anything about him (appropriate thread title). Has he even been activated on game days? I was looking forward to the "Dan the Beast" this year, now I'm wondering if we can just cut him and add his $$ to AD's.

Disappointed basically describes my opinion of him at this point.

[darb72]

Remember that we brought Scott and AD along fairly slowly. I know that Cody was a higher pick but he did have the injury.

He's not costing us much against the cap so he'll have at least next year to show us something, though I hope he'll get his chance this year.

[PARavensJeff]

AD & Scott played on special teams, supposedely Cody doesn't. How hard can it be to teach the guy special teams? Or is it he doesn't want to learn or play? I'd be ready to play wherever they wanted to play me if I was him. I'd be chomping at the bit to get my 1st activation as an NFL player. We have 8 players inactive every week. They include Cody (2nd), Chester (2nd), Pittman (3rd), Edwards (2nd), Darling (3rd). 5/8 (62.5%) of our inactives are 1st day draft picks within the past 3 years, & they can't crack the playing field? Meanwhile we have RFA's (Prude) & 2nd day picks (Landry), active & playing every week. I know the Ravens usually get high marks for their drafting, but this inactive % for 1st day picks is sad. Inactives should be your fringe practice squad (Ross, Daniels) & the guys you don't know if you have to IR (Ivy). The story just isn't Cody my friends, the story is deeper into the orginization.

[darb72]

Good point Jeff.

All I can say is that Scott and AD are a bit faster than Cody. That helps a lot on special teams.

With the rest of the post you paint a fairly disturbing picture. We've all known about how bad the Ravens second round picks turn out and this has been a franchise long problem. Really the only good pick I can think of out of the second round is Jamie Sharper. The jury is still out on Terry, though I think he'll do just fine.

I don't know what else to say. Maybe we should start trading our second round picks for more sixth and seventh rounders?

[HDDream]

Weaver was a solid second-round pick, Baxter played well for a couple of years, and Herring was okay, but that's about it. I think Chester still has a chance, but at this point, I don't hold out much hope for either Terry or Cody to be long-term factors. Oh, and the situation with third-round picks is even worse.

[AZRAVEN]

I really don't have much patience with this habit the Ravens have of sitting high round draft picks. IMO, if they were good enough to be picked that high then they should be seeing the field. I'm sick of hearing how they need a year in the weight room to bulk up, why can't they be bulking up while they are playing?

[highwater]

I really don't have much patience with this habit the Ravens have of sitting high round draft picks.

I'm with you on that, but that is usually something they do with offensive linemen. Why Cody sits on the bench without getting any playing time at all perplexes me. The FO seemed to be pretty excited when he fell to us, and I know he's coming off an injury, but he should be getting at least a little playing time by now.

[Losac]

Wow, so many people ready to call Cody a bust already. He missed all of last year with the ACL injury, and this year, frankly, he just isn't needed. Suggs, Ray, Bart and AD are all playing lights out, so why rush him on the field to take playing time away from them? He could be on the active roster for depth, but I guess they need more WR's and DB's on game day.

[Mobtown]

I know I am probably in the minority here...

...but we have the #3 defense in the league right now and we are in no way thin at the LB position.

The inactive list is exactly where Cody belongs right now, regardless of his draft position.

[WxKevin]

We have 8 players inactive every week. They include Cody (2nd), Chester (2nd), Pittman (3rd), Edwards (2nd), Darling (3rd). 5/8 (62.5%) of our inactives are 1st day draft picks within the past 3 years, & they can't crack the playing field? Meanwhile we have RFA's (Prude) & 2nd day picks (Landry), active & playing every week. I know the Ravens usually get high marks for their drafting, but this inactive % for 1st day picks is sad. Inactives should be your fringe practice squad (Ross, Daniels) & the guys you don't know if you have to IR (Ivy). The story just isn't Cody my friends, the story is deeper into the orginization.
We have a lot of depth, that's why these some of these players are inactive. Cody is not playing because we have so many good linebackers...period! You can only have so many. Chester had been inactive because he was last on the depth list. Chester has been active since then I believe. Once again, Chester on the inactive list was a numbers game. Darling has been inactive because we have been playing 4 WRs (Mason, Clayton, Williams and Moore).

It is probably safe now to say that Edwards is a bust.

My point is that this is not a problem, it is a good thing that we have decent players hat are inactive each week.

[highwater]

I agree that Cody isn't needed, but it's still strange that a supposedly healthy second round pick can't even get into the game for a few plays.

Edwards -- :grbac: Have we had a worse draft pick?

[AZRAVEN]

No, he isn't needed now but the reality is that we may not resign Thomas next season and then, I would think, Cody would be needed. Why not play him now, at least part time, so that when/if we don't have Thomas he will be up to speed with the rest of the LB corps? Of course, if we did that then we couldn't use the excuse when he does start playing that "he's new and needs to learn". I just think it's stupid to have him sitting on the bench gathering dust.

[Art-Florida]

The whole idea of an inactive list is ludicrous. What purpose does it server. They are being paid - play them.

Cody, Darling, Chester, and yes-Edwards, all need to be evaluated further. How will you ever know? I submit Rabach as evidence. AD and Bart Scott are two more examples.

[Sports Steve]

Cody hasn't even been given the chance to play. He is a beast but if he is to show that he needs to play. However we must keep AD at any cost. He's worth every dollar we have to spend on him to keep him.

:jester: :jester:

[Ravskins]

Cody might be sitting for purposes that are beyond his control but consider when we drafted him we had a somewhat inexperience/unknown person in Bart Scott, AD had not fully come into his own, and Pryce was not on the team.

Essentially, when we drafted him we needed him but now he has become a luxury. I hate to see 2nd rd'ers sitting but I wouldn't be sitting anyone, right now, just to have Cody gain experience.

Maybe we'll see him later in the season when the injuries and tiredness starts to take a toll on the depth. Don't know but we have tremendous depth for his position and I didn't even mention Jarrett Johnson (until now).

[ravensfan86]

The fact that he isn'ty playing now worries me that he doesn't have the first step explosion like he had at okie. He dominated at the college level. I understand that we have better LB's ahead of him, but he is fresh and hasn't endured all the hits the rest of the LBs have. I just wonder what we have. Is he a bust or does he have game? I hope we will not go into the off season not knowing and then lose out on AD.