Baltimore Ravens Do Not Test Free Agency Waters Away from Shore, Lose Corey Graham

Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Wednesday has brought a little more Baltimore Ravens’ news in the start of free agency.

CB Corey Graham has been signed by the Buffalo Bills, ending the possibilities of his return to the Ravens.

Graham had a short two-year run in Baltimore, where he had improved this season from his first year. He tallied 74 total tackles this past year, which nearly doubled most of his seasons with the Chicago Bears.

He picked off opposing quarterbacks four times, while having some key pass deflections throughout the year.

It’s disappointing to see the Ravens let him go, but they cannot keep everyone. Graham should have a good career with the Bills facing quarterbacks that will see his strengths on display weekly.

With Graham’s departure, the Ravens have more reason to do something about the secondary, which already needs to be put in stone.

Jimmy Smith stands alone on the right side of the field for cornerbacks, which means the Ravens need to add depth to the position in some form, whether through the draft or free agency.

Safety is already a target for free agency, so a new cornerback may not come in free agency, but in the draft.

As I have mentioned briefly in other articles, strong safety James Ihedigbo may not return to Baltimore because of Matt Elam being shifted in position. Because the Ravens have no true free safety, Elam took that role, despite being a strong safety.

Elam did great in his first season, but the Ravens are going to want a true free safety, so either Elam or Ihedigbo have to take a step back. With Ihedigbo a free agent, I doubt the Ravens will re-sign him.

However, I was on record as saying that the Ravens would not re-sign Jacoby Jones, but they re-signed him on Wednesday for four years.

Jones has had his moments, which have been pointed out in another article, but I disagree with this move. In the NFL, where the kick return is slowly being taken out, I do not believe Jones will have much of a job here soon.

If the Ravens re-signed him for one year, I would be a bit happier, but a four-year, $14 million deal is pushing it a bit.

This brings me to the only conclusion I can think of, Gary Kubiak had to have something to do with it. He wanted Jones for his offense, so he had the front office reach out to him.

On the other hand, Ozzie Newsome or someone else high up knows something about the inner conversation about essentially removing the kick return from the game.  They know there is no real threat to remove it so they wanted to keep the Ravens’ kick return man.

I hope Jones is healthy this next season and can show me to be a bad Ravens’ fan for not wanting him to be re-signed.

With all that, clearly, the Ravens have waited until their free agents left the nest before re-signing the ones they want. This late decision-making is driving me crazy.

Rather than being in the new free agent market, the Ravens are staying close to home so far. I would have wished they dealt with this all before the free agent market opened, but I’m sure Newsome has it all planned out.

I’m not sure whether to expect a re-signing of one of the Ravens’ free agent players, or to keep an eye out for the other free agents the Ravens could use.

Newsome will probably surprise me.

The free agent market is still slow moving for the Ravens, but I’m sure it’ll heat up here soon. Newsome owes Ravens’ fans an aggressive offseason in getting the players he wants.