McGahee Staying in Baltimore?
by Bruce Raffel on Feb 21, 2010 4:12 PM EST
38 comments
According to NFL.com, it appears that the Baltimore Ravens will more than likely be keeping running back Willis McGahee for the final year of his contract in 2010. McGahee offers a solid option as a backup and complement to starting RB Ray Rice and proved he can still get it done with 14 touchdowns in the 2009 season.
McGahee was among the league leaders in touchdowns despite having around a third of the touches of those league leaders. His 14 touchdowns tied for third in the league with the New York Jets' Thomas Jones. That was just behind the 16 TD's by both the Tennessee Titans' Chris Johnson and the Jacksonville Jaguars' Maurice Jones-Drew. The league leader was the Minnesota Vikings' Adrian Peterson with 18 scoring runs.
However, McGahee scored his 14 touchdowns on 109 rushing attempts and 15 pass receptions, or 124 offensive touches. In comparison, among the touchdown leaders listed above, the minimum number of touches anyone had was 341 total touches.
Here are the rushing/receiving comparisons:
Rushing/Receptions Total Touches Touchdowns
Chris Johnson 358/50 408 16
Maurice Jones-Drew 312/53 365 16
Adrian Peterson 314/43 357 18
Thomas Jones 331/10 341 14
Willis McGahee 109/15 124 14
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Boooooooooooooooooo
Yet another terrible decision by Ozzie Newsome. Why keep him, when we could trade him for a 2-3 round pick, or Antonio Cromartie? Bad move IMO….
The night is darkest right before the dawn
by Baltimore Warrior on Feb 21, 2010 4:21 PM EST reply actions
How can you boo him?
This is not a terrible decision by Ozzie what so ever. Willis is a great back to have behind Rice. You really trust Lawarence or Parmale over him? Willis knows the system and had a really good season last year. You don’t want to get rid of players who score 10+ TD’s in a season. Plus, team’s don’t want to have to pick up his contract. That is why no one wants to trade for him.
You act like this is all on Ozzie. If the right situation came up, we would be glad to give up Willis. But nothing has come up right now.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
Send him, Troy smith, and a 2nd to Denver for Marshall
If I could figure that out, why can’t he?
The night is darkest right before the dawn
by Baltimore Warrior on Feb 21, 2010 4:32 PM EST up reply actions
NO, but Rice would be a hulluva lot more productive if he didn't have to share the ball with McGahee.
The night is darkest right before the dawn
by Baltimore Warrior on Feb 21, 2010 4:33 PM EST up reply actions
Not really
Rice is relatively small and he might break down without Willis to spell him and keep his carries and wear/tear down to extend his career. Plus, Willis is only costing us $3.6 million against the cap, not the $6-7 million that many thought (including me). Finally, there is no way anyone would ever give us a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick for Willis. That said, would you trade his value and amazing production based on above for a 4th or lower pick? Probably not, right?
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Feb 21, 2010 4:38 PM EST up reply actions
Have you seen the BengsalsHB depth lately?
Got a feeling that they would.
The night is darkest right before the dawn
by Baltimore Warrior on Feb 21, 2010 4:41 PM EST up reply actions
Nahhhh...
not trade like that within the division. At least not by any team not from Cleveland!
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Feb 21, 2010 4:45 PM EST up reply actions
You mean Ohio?
The night is darkest right before the dawn
by Baltimore Warrior on Feb 21, 2010 5:06 PM EST up reply actions
Boooooooooooooooooo
Yet another terrible decision by Ozzie Newsome. Why keep him, when we could trade him for a 2-3 round pick, or Antonio Cromartie? Bad move IMO….
Uh, maybe because the only place those trades would be accepted is in fantasy land. No one will give us a 2-3 pick or a starting CB for Willis.
Ozzie is one of the best in the business and a hell of a lot smarter then you and I.
I’m torn between what I think we should do with Willis. I am a big Willis fan and love what he brings to us here.At the same time I don’t think his stock could be any higher to pull off a trade for one of our missing pieces.This could also give McClain more of an opportunity for touches. I think we should shop him around and see what we could get, but don’t just give him up for nothing special. Willis can still play and I’m sure whatever decision Ozzie makes will be the right one.
That's one expensive back-up RB.
I would cut him and use the money to fill other positions. Still, keeping McGahee isn’t a bad thing.
Keeping him is fine, although
I think Jalen Parmele would be the next Chester Taylor and they both went to Toldeo.
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Feb 21, 2010 7:01 PM EST up reply actions
As I've said before
What happens if we trade McGahee off and (god forbid) Rice goes down for the season? Do you really think that Lawrence or Parmele could handle the load in this run-heavy style of offense….I doubt it.
"I kill myself in small amounts"
by StuckInUtah on Feb 22, 2010 10:04 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
You can say the 'what ifs' about any position on the field.
I’m not saying its a bad thing to keep McGahee because he is effective as a back-up. However, he is expensive. You can cheaper backs who will get the job done behind that big Ravens offensive line. That is just something that I would do.
but at RB
what if’s are a reality, they take a beating and even backups make an impact on every game
"I have seen the future and his name is Matt Wieters." Keith Law
by Reddrummer9187 on Feb 22, 2010 11:55 AM EST up reply actions
And McGahee may be an expensive backup
But this is the final year of his contract in an uncappped year. So there’s absolutely no harm being done by keeping him on the roster.
"I kill myself in small amounts"
by StuckInUtah on Feb 22, 2010 12:07 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Based on our offensive line
I’d be comfortble knowing Parmale would be a very serviceable RB along w/ McClain and whomever else is on the team, if Willis were to leave. But based on the news that his salary hit would only be $3.6 million, I just wouldn’t give him away. Troy Smith on the other hand…..
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Feb 22, 2010 12:20 PM EST up reply actions
I am with you, Utah.
How many teams have a pro-bowl RB as their back-up? Why degrade your strongest area? And to everyone who thinks McClain would step up if we got rid of Willis, you need to realize that there is not one other Fullback on the team worth starting. So no, McClain would basically see the same amount of carries next year.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
Glad he's staying
Willis just scored 14 TD’s last season and everyone wants to get rid of him. I must admit that I was one of those people, but after I thought about it, It would be a bad move to trade him. McGahee is the best RB back up in the NFL. He gives us options that other teams would kill to have. If Ray is in a slump and isn’t playing well, we can bring willis in. If Willis can’t get it going, we have the McClain train next. Three running are always better then one. Our offense can control the clock with the run game which means we have a chance to win every single time we play. Now, I know we need a WR, but trading away a very good player isn’t the answer. I can undersatnd if McGahee wanted out of Baltimore, but he wants to stay and try to help this team win another championship. Is anyone here against that? Keep Willis as long as he’s productive and isn’t a problem in the locker room. This is a very deep WR class this year and I’m pretty sure we can find someone late 1st or even in the 2nd. Also, there is still the possiabilty that we give up a 2nd for Boldin and still get to keep our core unit together. Great move by Ozzie.
FEAR THE NEVERMORE DEFENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Benji5203 on Feb 21, 2010 5:26 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Gottaa give McGahee his props, but
he DID score most of those TD’s after Rice and everyone else got him to the goal line.
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Feb 21, 2010 7:02 PM EST up reply actions
Sometimes the best trade is the one NOT made
Last year there was discussion of Heap and McGahee to Arizona in exchange for Anquan Boldin. Hindsight is 20/20 and the Ravens made the smart decision keeping both players and the players warranted returning base on their 2009 production.
The Ravens offense will be more explosive with a strong #1 WR. I’m afraid that Ozzie Newsome places too much value on his draft choices to aquire a big-time talent at WR via trade.
So what? The purpose of the game is to score points, not gain a butt load of yards. Willis did his job and averaged 5.0 YPC. Why get rid of that?
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
butt load
lol
The night is darkest right before the dawn
by Baltimore Warrior on Feb 22, 2010 7:05 PM EST up reply actions
you never no
willis may step his swag way up or game lol that he may become the starter again just never know
Keeping Willis Makes A Lot Of Sense
1) Willis adds great red zone running with his bigger size. Ray Rice is amazing, but he’s more of a open field back between the 20s. He can bust a big run open and catch like a WR, but he can’t lean hit shoulder down and fall through for a few short yards as well as Willis. Right now we’ve got small, medium, and large size triple threat for all sorts of different game situations, and I like that. Willis scored a lot of TDs for us, we should keep him.
2) RB get destroyed quickly in this league. They take a lot of touches and a lot of hits. Being able to split carries with Willis will increase the productive life of Ray Rice and make him a lot less prone to injury. In addition we basically have two starter level backs so if one gets hurt its not the end of our season.
3) There is no cap next year, so we don’t have to give up anything to keep him. Its just a few million out of Biscotties bank account. If the cap comes back we can get rid of him next year.
4) You aren’t going to get a ton for trading him away.
by davver on Feb 21, 2010 5:47 PM EST reply actions 4 recs
Great comments
Recommend everyone “rec” this comment. Thanks.
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Feb 21, 2010 7:04 PM EST up reply actions
Hey guys,
Buc fan here- Can you tell me a little bit about your offensive scheme? More importantly, the prototypical WR for your offensive scheme?
Second Fav. NFL Team- The chiefs
by Some other guy who does not care on Feb 21, 2010 8:31 PM EST reply actions
Like it or not, Rave3ns fans
we are still a “run-first” offense. However, we Ravens fans want to see a “true” #1 WR, who makes defenses worry about him every time he lines up out wide. That will free up our #2 and three guys as well as Todd Heap at TE. If Joe Flacco can truly look at the big wideout and even his second or third reads BEFORE checking down to Ray Rice out of the backfield, we will go even further than we have gone the past two years. Our offensive line is solid and only getting better. So that is our scheme, but perhaps more so from a fan’s perspective than the team’s.
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Feb 22, 2010 8:16 AM EST up reply actions
where did that “3” in “Ravens” come from? My oops!
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Feb 22, 2010 12:20 PM EST up reply actions
He's a keeper
No doubt… McGahee won’t garner a high return as trade bait as some have said. He won’t. I am convinced that if he is kept on the team and allowed to perform in the same role he did last season, well, we’ve got a happy McGahee and a productive and rested when needed, run offense. Remember, Rice is only going into his third year with the league so he’s still not a proven commodity. Do any of you remember Rice’s inaugural season? Yeah he got hurt… Willis is an insurance policy with proven skills. He doesn’t fumble a lot and just came off a career high season with those 14 TDs…. (oh and I also spent about $100 bucks on his jersey so I’d like to keep him around another season so I can wear that number 23 around section 117!)
Exactly, we are not going to get that much for him. SD won’t do Cromartie for Willis straight up, so get that out of all your thick skulls. And we don’t want to lose an early draft pick AND a RB who scored 14 TD’s last year for a CB who has been off and on his whole career. Rather keep Willis and draft another Webb in the 3rd or 4th round.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
Recent rumor is
that San Diego will even consider releasing Cromartie if they can’t find any takers and Ozzie knows this and is sitting like a vulture on the fence like so many othr GM’s awaiting all the axes that will begin falling shortly after the CBA expires on March 5th.
aka 'Rexx'
Yup
As we discussed yesterday, I think Oz is going to do most of his damage in FA after the first and second round of cuts. Since teams can cut players with no cap ramifications this year, there should be plenty of interesting options, and Oz is always ready to swoop in on these type of guys as they can usually be had for the right price.
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