Ravens get WR Mason

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

ESPN.com


On the first day of free agency, the Baltimore Ravens took care of the first item on their offseason to-do list, reaching agreement in principle with wide receiver Derrick Mason on a five-year contract.

	Derrick Mason Wide Receiver Tennessee Titans Profile
	2004 SEASON STATISTICS Rec Yds TD Avg Long YAC 96 1168 7 12.2 37 266

The contract is worth $20 million and includes a $7 million signing bonus. Mason will be paid $11 million in the first two years of the deal.

"We were high on his list, and he was high on our list," Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said Wednesday. "He was really the only receiver we have had any active discussions with thus far. What this does is we bring in a veteran receiver who has the type of attitude and type of personality that we look for in a football player."

Over the last three seasons, Baltimore has desperately needed a wide receiver of Mason's caliber, and the acquisition of a proven pass-catcher figures to speed the development of two-year veteran quarterback Kyle Boller.

The Ravens will enter the 2005 season minus both starting wide receivers of a year ago. Seeking to join a team with a more productive passing attack, Kevin Johnson exercised an option to void his contract and become a free agent. Former first-round pick Travis Taylor, a disappointment during much of his five-year career in Baltimore, was allowed to depart as an unrestricted free agent.

Mason, 31, certainly represents a major upgrade for the Ravens, and he likely will be teamed with a young wideout in the starting lineup. With the wide receiver pool getting drier by the day -- some of the top pending free agents at the position recently re-signed with their incumbent teams -- the Ravens moved quickly to pursue Mason, released by the Tennessee Titans last week in the club's bloody salary cap purge.

Baltimore had flirted with the idea of dealing for Randy Moss, but backed off that idea, and then was involved in discussions to land Laveranues Coles of Washington. Mason, however, presented an alternative too attractive for general manager Ozzie Newsome to ignore as he considered methods to enhance a passing attack that statistically ranked 31st in the NFL in 2004.

"The signing of Derrick Mason is the most substantial move we've made particularly in free agency, particularly at the wide receiver position," Ravens coach Brian Billick said. "When you take someone of Derrick Mason's caliber, you expect it to have an impact."

Recent reports cited Jacksonville as the front-runner for Mason's services, but a Jaguars team official said Wednesday there had been no substantive discussions with the wideout or his agents.

In eight seasons, Mason has 453 receptions for 6,114 yards and 37 touchdowns. But not even those numbers reflect his overall productivity, since he was primarily utilized as a return specialist early in his career. A fairer measure of Mason's impact are the numbers posted over the past four seasons, which coincide with him becoming a full-time starter.

During that stretch, Mason has averaged 85.8 receptions, 1,152.8 yards and 7.25 touchdowns. He has been over 1,000 yards each of the past four years. The former Michigan State star has played in 122 games and started 73 of them.

The leading wide receiver for the Ravens in 2004, Johnson, had just 35 catches. Baltimore hasn't had a wide receiver register more than 61 catches since the 2001 season.

Freak

If you have Mason on your fantasy team, this is pretty bad news. But he's a great receiver and should be a big asset to Baltimore, assuming Billick uses him properly (seems like he forgot how to build a passing attack though). At the very least he'll free up room for Jamal Lewis, and to a lesser extent Todd Heap.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Kyle Boller and Chris Redmen will make you want to forget a lot of things.

Freak

Chris Redman isn't even in the league anymore, is he?

I really don't think Boller is that bad a quarterback, but wasn't Billick a guy who always seemed capable of making any old QB put up really good stats? I forget when exactly he left, but Minnesota was always a revolving door of starters back then.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Yeah they had Brad Johnson, Randall Cunningham, and some others I believe.

No, I don't think Chris Redmen is in the NFL anymore, and as for Boller..I'd be a little worried. He really hasn't shown much compared to a lot of the other young QBs in the league.

To me, it might be early, but I think he is just a "combine" guy, like Jeff George. He goes out there and lights up every drill you can throw at him with his impressive arm strength, and then in a real game looks like he doesn't know what the hell he's doin'.

Freak

Hey, Jeff George put up decent stats under Billick too.

Think about it.

Eugh, I do have a friend who's a big Cal fan though, and he still never shuts up about "KYLE BOLLER AT THE COMBINE THREW A BALL THROUGH THE UPRIGHTS FROM HIS KNEES AT THE 50-YARD LINE!"

Speaking of which, your 49ers could have a Cal boy taking over the reigns at QB next year.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

I like Rogers, don't get me wrong, but I hope they select Alex Smith from Utah. I don't know, I just love his style. I'm not worried about the whole small college thing either, cuz look at Leftwich, Pennington, and Roethisberger.

Freak

Culpepper, Favre, and Carr are some other guys who come to mind.

I'm not sold on Alex Smith, but that's mostly because I haven't seen a whole lot of him. Still, I worry when a guy, especially a QB, just vaults up draft sheets based on a good senior season... it makes me think of Akili Smith. No one ever considered Alex Smith to be even a first DAY pick heading into this season, and now all of a sudden he's slated by many to go first overall? It's sketchy. Plus, as good an athlete as he is, he doesn't have ideal arm strength.

I think the 49ers would be best served to try and trade out of the no. 1 spot (almost impossible to do), and if not, just take a guy like Bray Edwards.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Believe me, I've thought about them trading the pick also. They are not the type of team that is one man away. They need so much right now its scary.

I see what your saying about Akili and him compared with Alex, but I gotta say Alex did look damn impressive with the games I saw.

Anyway, I'm not sold on a lot of people in this draft. I'm not even sold on Edwards. He drops way too many easy passes for my liking.

Freak

Plus he's from Michigan, which doesn't help his status much.

The only guy I really, really like high in the draft this year is Derrick Johnson, the linebacker from Texas. Not only is he the most athletic linebacker in several years, but he's built big enough to kick some ass in the NFL. He just ran a 4.56 at the Combine, and while I don't put a lot of faith into 40 times, that's pretty amazing for a 240-pound backer. I don't see the 49ers taking him though.