In the wake of two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Derrick Mason announcing his plans to retire earlier today, the Ravens have responded by issuing a statement noting that Mason hasn't officially filed his retirement papers at this point.
Ravens senior vice president of public and community relations Kevin Byrne released the following statement minutes ago:
"For any player to retire, he has to send a letter to the NFL stating this," Byrne said. "Derrick Mason has not done that."
It's unclear whether Mason could potentially be talked out of retiring, but the 35-year-old seemed pretty definite in the statement he released this afternoon.
This could get interesting.
Nice try Ravens, he's no Brett Favre
He's going to Vikings!!
I'd retire too if I was an awesome WR on a team that never gave me a legit QB*
*Not saying Joe Flacco won't eventually become one, just saying that his rookie season looked an awful lot like same-old-same-old in Baltimore.
Still no news on romo and jessica Simpson breaking up? LOL
TFBuckFutter,
Did you watch a single Raven's game at all this year? How can you possibly say Flacco isn't a legit QB? Ask any analyst, Florio-anyone at ESPN-anyone with the CBS or Fox NFL shows. Flacco is legit and Mason was a go to receiver for him. We will miss D-Mas's heart and effort. He literally played with one arm most of the season and still managed over a thousand yards and 5 TD's on an AFC championship team. He will be sorely missed!
phillydollabilly,
Flacco is and will be horrible it's the same old story in baltimore with a solid running game a good defense and a mediocre qb. I would love to see what you have to say at about week 8 when your boy has thrown 7 tds and 13 picks. By the way there was no reason to draft this clown your best qb is troy smith. You don't have to believe that though if you don't want to, remember when kyle boller was supposed to be awesome you won't have to wait long for this bumb to start stinkin it up just like boller.
80.3 QB rating and 14:12 TD:INT ratio = average. In fact, the average QB rating for the NFL last year was 81.5, thus Flacco was slightly below average.
So again, same old same old.
mason played tough. will be hard to replace. would have been better if healthy...
i bet he doesnt have anything left in the tank.
Let the Boldin Baltimore rumors fly... (will take a 1st & a 3rd)
TFBuckFutter and jkr you all must be steelers fans. Flacco was a rookie QB who did something no other rookie has ever done, and that was win two playoff games. Yea he had an overall 80 rating which is avg. But during the last half of the season Flacco had over a 90 rating and was one of the better qbs in the league over that stretch. I dont think Big Ben put up huge numbers his rookie year. Flacco almost threw for 3000 yards, he did what the coaches asked of him and managed the game. If you knew anything about Baltimore you would know he had a make shift offensive line and usually had only two receivers out in the field while most ppl blocked for him. You guys are ignorant fans and just dont want to admit the Ravens finally have a franchise qb.
anyone to the topic at hand.
Mason will be severly missed and the ravens need people to step up on the team or they need to trade. Last year everyone was shocked when McNair retired before training camp and Flacco stepped up and took over the job. It will be intereseting to see how this all shakes out during the season.
"Return to Festivus says:
July 13, 2009 10:05 PM
TFBuckFutter and jkr you all must be steelers fans. Flacco was a rookie QB who did something no other rookie has ever done, and that was win two playoff games. Yea he had an overall 80 rating which is avg. But during the last half of the season Flacco had over a 90 rating and was one of the better qbs in the league over that stretch."
First, no I'm not. Second....in the second half, he had good games against Cleveland, Houston, Philly, Cincinnatti, Dallas, and Jacksonville. Ranked: 14th, 17th, 3rd, 15th, 5th, and 24th in passing defense. So granted, he played well against the 3rd and 5th ranked defenses in the league, but he also only played averagely against Oakland (10th), terribly against New York and Washington (8th and 7th) and HORRIFICALLY against Pittsburgh (1st). So in the second half, he had 6 good to great games, 1 average game, 2 terrible games, and 1 game that should have resulted in a benching (assuming Baltimore actually had anyone else to play the position).....add in 4 bad games, 1 average game, and 1 good games from the first 6 games of the season.
What does that equal? 7 good games, 2 average games, and 7 bad to terrible games. Sounds like the epitome of "average to below average" to me. And again, I will give you that he was a rookie....however, the stat lines were no better than any of the other average QBs Baltimore has run through the system. Until they change that, they aren't going anywhere....and losing Mason certainly isn't going to make Flacco better.
Oh, and again, not a Steeler fan, but Roethlisberger put up a QB rating of 98.1 his rookie season, which I'm pretty sure is a record. And that was also WELL above league average.
TFBUCKFUTTER
Ha Ha Ha franchise qb what a joke and no I'm not a steelers fan I hate big ben's guts I think he is the worst qb two win 2 sbs in the history of the NFL. That being said I'am a raiders fan and don't even try it with your jamarcus crap because I think he sucks I personally wanted them to draft Adrian Peterson but who am I don't know anything oh wait he's not bad right. Flacco sucks and you never draft a qb in the first round the percentages are heavily against you and if you don't believe that look up the qbs drafted in the first round the past 10 years.
sorry TFBUCKFUTTER that was supposed to be for RETURN TO FESTIVUS
TFBUCKFUTTER:
Consider this, the Raven's went 11-5 and lost in the AFC Championship game to the eventual Super Bowl Champs. Flacco was a 1-AA QB who came in and had to start EVERY game as a rookie with no preparation. Keep in mind that Boller was injured and Troy Smith went down with a terrible sickness late in the preseason. He took hardly a third of the snaps during training camp and preseason and managed to improve throughout the season. He was playing with a MEDIOCRE, at best, receiving corps. Mason, who isn't a deep threat, was his only real target. He had a pro-bowl TE Heap who dropped passes consistently throughout the season, not much help for a rookie QB. The offensive line was a revolving door of guys who had little, to no, experience. Consider were Flacco came from, consider what he had to work with. Then take into account that he is the only Rookie QB in NFL history to win 2 playoff games. He took a team that was predicted to go 6-10 to the AFC championship game. You clearly did not see him play enough last season. Was watching NFL live today on ESPN, and 3 different analysts said Flacco is one of the top 3 long ball throwers in the league. He has a cannon for an arm and takes a beating and gets right back up. Ray Lewis has said on multiple occasions that he wants no one other than Flacco to lead their offense. I can think of only a few other QB's in this league that I would take over Flacco right now (Big Ben, Brady, Manning). Here are a few things that you CANNOT deny:
11-5. AFC Championship game. Only rookie QB to win 2 playoff games. 1-AA QB that starts every game his rookie season and leads a team to the playoffs that was picked to finish last in its division and go 6-10. These are the facts and they can not be disputed.
You keep talking about him "winning" football games, which is BS. He didn't "win" those games. The defense did. The team would have only been marginally worse with Troy Smith or Kyle Boller, and they would have been exactly the same with any other QB close to average.
I understand that winning games is important when evaluating a QB, but stats are more important for predicting sustained success. When an average-to-below average QB "leads" a team to an 11-5 record, it's an aberration and can't be counted on happening again when other parts of the team break down (Like, say, losing his only reliable target).
Again, I'm not saying he won't be a good QB....he's got a strong arm, and the 60% completion percentage is a nice start.....but I am saying he is WILDLY overrated.
I dont get where you say he is wildly overrated. No one is saying he is the second coming of Johnny Unitas in Baltimore. No one including people in Baltimore evne think Flacco is better than the Matt Ryan as a rookie. Flacco is just a good QB with good accuracy and a great deep ball. And I never want to hear a Raiders fan say anything about how to draft players. They are possibly the worst in the league at that while the Ravens constantly produce great players in the draft. There was no way Boller could of led that team last year. BuckFutter who are you to say he had a good or bad game, did you watch them. And how can you say that they would of won with Kyle "Happy Feet Boller". Smith is unproven but neither has the pocket presence of Flacco. Stop hatin on Baltimore. Every QB is allowed to have bad games (by the way against the Giants Flacco led the team in rushing and didnt play that bad, the team played much worse including the D) and what fan goes only by the facts. Good players step up in big moments, I hate Ben as well that mofo is clutch.
I just hope that this retirement leads to a blockbuster trade or someone finally develops into a good receiver. You really cant judge any player until their 3rd year, so all you Flacco haters will either shut your mouth or say I told you so, but we both have to hold our tongues for a couple more years.
I dont get where you say he is wildly overrated. No one is saying he is the second coming of Johnny Unitas in Baltimore. No one including people in Baltimore evne think Flacco is better than the Matt Ryan as a rookie. Flacco is just a good QB with good accuracy and a great deep ball. And I never want to hear a Raiders fan say anything about how to draft players. They are possibly the worst in the league at that while the Ravens constantly produce great players in the draft. There was no way Boller could of led that team last year. BuckFutter who are you to say he had a good or bad game, did you watch them. And how can you say that they would of won with Kyle "Happy Feet Boller". Smith is unproven but neither has the pocket presence of Flacco. Stop hatin on Baltimore. Every QB is allowed to have bad games (by the way against the Giants Flacco led the team in rushing and didnt play that bad, the team played much worse including the D) and what fan goes only by the facts. Good players step up in big moments, I hate Ben as well that mofo is clutch.
I just hope that this retirement leads to a blockbuster trade or someone finally develops into a good receiver. You really cant judge any player until their 3rd year, so all you Flacco haters will either shut your mouth or say I told you so, but we both have to hold our tongues for a couple more years.