Ravens Trying To Extend Tucker, Smith, Smith, Ngata

Welcome to lunchtime links, where we round up all the latest Ravens news for your consumption. Today we have news that Ozzie Newsome is looking to extend some key players, two tight end sets, how minicamp was harder and more intense this year, and the 5 best moves of the offseason.

Jeff Zrebiec at the Baltimore Sun tells us that Newsome is hard at work trying to extend the contracts of Justin Tucker, Torrey Smith, Haloti Ngata, and Jimmy Smith. It’s definitely a savvy move from one of the best GM’s in the league. Tucker has emerged as one of the best kickers in the NFL, and every one of these guys is young save for Ngata, who could very well bounce back this year and increase his value exponentially.

Shehan Peiris at Bleacher Report discusses how the Raven’s quick rebuild proves Ozzie Newsome’s greatness. Newsome’s position as one of the very best GM’s in the game is no secret and he is highly respected among pretty much eveyrone. His ability to strike team friendly deals with key players and make savvy moves in both the draft and free agency make him a huge asset to the team.

Dan Pompei at Bleacher Report reckons that the Ravens will run a lot of two tight end sets this year. We have mentioned this before, and it seems quite obvious after they picked up Owen Daniels and drafted Crockett Gillmore in the offseason. Kubiak is well known for running this formation a lot in the past, and they are going to lean more on the short to intermediate passing game.