LOMBARDI'S WAY: Ozzie's vision isn't exactly 20-20

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Lombardi's Way - LOMBARDI'S WAY: Ozzie's vision isn't exactly 20-20

Ravens GM misfires on contract extensions

Posted On: 2/21/08

Written By:

Tony Lombardi

LOMBARDI'S WAY: Ozzie's vision isn't exactly 20-20

Ozzie Newsome gets credit for being masterful on draft day. His success in round 1 is impeccable. He’s also been very successful on day 2 of the draft thanks in large part to Eric DeCosta’s ability to reassemble the draft board prior to the draft’s second day. What happens in rounds 2 and 3 remains a mystery but we’ll save that discussion for another day.

His draft day prowess aside, where Ozzie fails as a GM is in his inability to effectively manage the cap. Time and time again the Ravens overpay for players that Newsome has an attachment to and it’s no surprise that those players are first round draft picks. That places a burden on the remainder of the roster and it weakens the team’s depth. We all witnessed in 2007 what can happen when a team is as top heavy as the Ravens. The replacement parts aren’t all that effective.

In 2008, early projections indicate that 50% of the team’s cap will be allocated to 9 players. To put that in another way, as it stands today half of Ozzie’s piggy bank will be used to pay 17% of the 53 man roster and the Ravens’ GM must accept most of the blame for the lack of balance in the payroll.

We hear Ozzie talk about how successful the team has been in retaining their high end draft picks. That’s the good news. The bad news is that every time he does re-sign one of his former No. 1’s he gives them record setting money: Jonathan Ogden, Ray Lewis, Todd Heap, Ed Reed – each of them received unprecedented contracts on their way to becoming the highest paid players at their respective positions.

You could make the argument that J.O. and Lewis deserved what they got and you wouldn’t be challenged by many. (Although one might still argue that the Ravens were a little too generous). But why make Heap and Reed so wealthy?

There was little doubt that the Ravens would keep Todd Heap and they signed him a year before the final year of his contract. But if Ozzie is so determined to keep his core players and his No. 1’s, why not approach Heap a year earlier when the market isn’t as inflated, cap resources aren't as ample and when you have a greater chance of securing a more economical deal with a player still two years removed from free agency?

In the case of Reed, the Ravens knew that Reed still had plenty left in the tank (plus he plays a position with significant longevity) well before making him the richest safety in NFL history. If they wanted to keep him long term, why not go to him sooner. Or if he was demanding cornerback money, then play hard ball and franchise him. Why cave in? What would Reed have done? It’s just business, right?

At the time the Ravens struck a new deal with Reed, the safety franchise charge was roughly $2.5 million. Today thanks to Reed’s contract along with Troy Polamalu’s and Bob Sanders’, the franchise tag for safeties is $4.49 million.

If Ozzie had tagged Reed for a year or two maybe he would have had room to re-sign Adalius Thomas, particularly if he had gone to AD a year or two prior to the end of his contract. Reed’s contract might go down as one of Ozzie’s worst moves ever given the options available to him prior to opening the vault for the Pro Bowl safety.

Reed hasn’t been as effective since he signed that contract. Some players require the extra motivation. Perhaps Reed is one of them.

Today the Ravens are faced with the daunting task of re-signing Terrell Suggs who by their own admission is a cornerstone of the Ravens defense going forward along with Reed and Haloti Ngata. So if Ozzie believed that Suggs was a piece of said cornerstone last year or the year before (prior to Dwight Freeney signing his massive deal), why not negotiate then when the team had more leverage?

Ozzie fumbles regularly with these contract extensions and it ends up costing the team for years. Now he’ll need to extend Suggs in order to save face for the loss of AD. That is why they let AD go, right?

When will he learn? When will he go to Ngata and extend him? When will they extend Jason Brown? Why isn’t Ozzie more proactive?

You can’t have a team of all-stars in the NFL. The salary cap won’t allow it. But NFL teams can keep their all-stars longer if they want to, provided their GM is a bit of a visionary. Since the Super Bowl, Ozzie Newsome has hardly been a visionary. He leaves his glasses in the Ravens' War Room.

Ozzie may be one of the finest executives in the league but like Brian Billick perhaps his time has come. Perhaps it’s time for Ozzie to move on. The Ravens just might need a new set of eyes and ears in that GM’s chair if Steve Bisciotti is going to realize his goal of consistently fielding a winning team.

Maybe Ozzie needs new prescription glasses.

And if he dismisses such a suggestion, maybe he should be dismissed himself.

Photo by Sabina Moran

John Gehrig contributed to this article.