Derek Retires

[CentralQB5]

Kinda a little shocker but i think Steve McNair's death had someting to do with it

[Triple M]

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. If this is how D-mase is going out I want to thank him for the great memories he provided me as a Titan fan. I can only hope the next stage of his life is as fulfilling and productive as his NFL career was.

[miller31time]

As I said on the Wiz Board...

The whole situation really stinks. It's not so much that he's retiring (which is bad enough as it is) but that he's doing so just 2+ weeks away from the start of training camp. One can only guess that his decision was motivated by McNair's death to some degree.

I honestly have no idea what we're going to do. If I were the GM, I'd immediately offer our 1st rounder for Brandon Marshall, legal/character problems and all. We'd have to take a chance and hope that with our veteran-laden team, he'd act appropriately. If we can't get Marshall, go after Boldin. If we can't get Boldin, go after Amani Toomer, then Marvin Harrison - in that order.

Point being - we need to do something. I absolutely refuse to go into next season with Mark F'n Clayton as our #1 receiver and Demetrius Williams as our #2. I like Flacco and I think he has a very bright future but to give a 2nd year quarterback a receiving core like that is just plain mean.

The mantra in Baltimore is "In Ozzie We Trust". He's proven to be a top-notch GM so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one and assume he has a solid plan in place. But if we go into next year without any upgrades at Wideout, I'll have serious reservations about his assessment of our organization.

[Suns2k5]

R.I.P. Derek Mason.

[High 5]

LOL at the title. Saying "Derek Retires" instead of "Mason Retires" or "Derek Mason Retires" while also misspelling "Derrick." Nicely done.

[Icness]

When I was researching my piece on McNair I noticed how remarkably consistent Mason was throughout his career. 4 years in a row in his prime he averaged between 73 and 81 yards per game, yet in those 64 games he only had 11 100 yard games. That means he pretty much tallied 70 yards a game every week. I'll gladly take that over the guy who gets 155 one week and then 66 the next 2 combined.

It's interesting to me that he announced this on his agent's website. No paperwork filed with the league, no press conference or even call-in to a radio show. I agree that McNair's death probably influenced his hasty decision. Real bad timing for the Ravens, who are already pretty thin at WR with Williams still recovering. Mason was the only guy on the team with more than 41 catches last year and the only guy who caught a pass in more than 10 different games.

I have heard rumblings about Boldin but they were much louder before the draft. Maybe this will stoke those fires again. Everything I'm hearing is that Marvin Harrison is done.

I think Brandon Marshall would be fantastic in BAL. That team has enough locker room presence to handle a chronic knucklehead, and dude is an amazing talent.

[CentralQB5]

[quote="Icness"I think Brandon Marshall would be fantastic in BAL. That team has enough locker room presence to handle a chronic knucklehead, and dude is an amazing talent.[/quote]

I could see that happening, but what would Baltimore give up besides draft picks

[miller31time]

Mason officially returning to the Ravens.

That's huge...I literally could not watch this team with Mark Clayton as our 1st option receiver.

[verbal8]

That has to have been one of the shortest retirements ever.