Saturday Morning Links

In his Top 10 bold NFL predictions for 2009, Peter Schrager of Fox Sports doesn’t expect a sophomore slump for second-year QB Joe Flacco. Not only does Schrager not expect Flacco to struggle, he’s predicting that Flacco makes the Pro Bowl.  Schrager goes on to write that the Ravens’ offense “is going to be both balanced and high-powered this year.”  Granted, Flacco has looked sharp in the pre-season, he has the big arm, composure and poise to become a Pro Bowl-caliber QB, it’s hard to believe that he reaches that level this year with the group of receivers the team has.  But, then again, the Ravens don’t need Flacco to have a Pro Bowl-caliber season for the season to be very successful.

Receiver Demetrius Williams says: “As far as being healthy, being out there and being a guy they can count on, I think so.”  The oft-injured, speedy receiver had a good outing in the final pre-season game at Atlanta Thursday catching three passes and drawing an interference call.

Former Ravens OT Orlando “Zeus” Brown was released on his own recognizance after being arrested Friday on charges of breaking into his ex-wife’s home, according to the Baltimore Sun.  Brown and his ex-wife divorced in 2004 and she claims he broke in to her house while she was on vacation.

As James Walker, the AFC North blogger for ESPN, points out, it looks like this year will be no different for Ravens LB Terrell Suggs — in other words, missing (the bulk of) training camp yet being ready for the season opener.

Baltimore Beat Down takes does a good job at predicting the Ravens’ 53-man roster (final cuts due this afternoon).  After Bruce Raffel projected 52 roster spots, that left: Yamon Figurs, Jason Cook, Jason Phillips, Joe Reitz and Kelly Talavou. He gave the 53rd spot to Yamon Figurs.

If you have a fantasy football draft this weekend, no Ravens players’ will be drafted in the first few rounds.  But RB Ray Rice continues to ascend up draft boards.  If you’re looking for a cheat sheet, we’ve compiled a top 150 consensus/average cheat sheet of five different cheat sheets.  Here are the rankings for Ravens’ players in the top 150: Ray Rice (61), Willis McGahee (105), Le’Ron McClain (113), Derrick Mason (115), Ravens team defense (126) and Mark Clayton (143).

In Forbes magazine’s ranking of NFL franchise values, the Ravens ranked 11th at $1.1 billion, which is an increase of two percent over last year’s value.

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Tags: Derrick Mason, Joe Flacco, Le'Ron McClain, Mark Clayton, Orlando Brown, Ray Rice, Terrell Suggs, Willis McGahee, Yamon Figurs