Could the Baltimore Ravens use Cortland Finnegan?

For all fans in their formative years still building the tolerance, or the stomach, to brace for the distasteful, and at times flavorful, surprises of the NFL offseason, learn this now: your favorite team's sport of preference during the next few months requires casting their fishing rods into the numinous waters of the free agency pool.

Honesty is the best policy. The White Elephant in the room is no longer white, it's boiling-pot red with fervor. The fervor to win, the fervor to improve.

Three cornerbacks - Danny Gorrer, Lardarius Webb and Jimmy Smith - registered one interception (each), in 2014. Respectively, Gorrer picked off Tennessee's Zach Mettenberger in a 21-7 spanking of the Titans, Webb snagged a shoddy pass made by Browns third-string quarterback Connor Shaw in the season finale, and the injury-prone Smith handily caught Mike Glennon's pass in the trashing of the Buccaneers. Sure, the turnovers got Ravens fans a few Facebook status likes, maybe some Twitter retweets, or perhaps, some of you shared a moment with a fan-stranger, tapping each other's bottles by the bar.

Once the fleeting jubilee dissipated, we unanimously agreed that the defense's most pressing concern was the lack of depth at the cornerback position.

Back to the 'fishing rods and casting them into the numinous waters of the free agency pool' part of the entry. Cortland Finnegan's time with the Dolphins is over and the Ravens should shoot; sign the 31-year-old corner.

Due to the date he was cut, he was not mentioned in this list of the Top 101 NFL Free Agents comprised by NFL Around the League's writers Chris Wesseling and Gregg Rosenthal. However, Finnegan was the 74th-best corner out of 108 eligible on a list graded by ProFootballFocus.com.

His 10 years of league experience would benefit his younger cohorts. Finnegan balls hard when he's healthy (registered 504 combined tackles, 61 passes defensed, 17 interceptions, 425 yards in six seasons he started 13 or more games), and, hey, let's face it: his smash-mouth demeanor on the field fits the bill for AFC North showdowns.