Ozzie Newsome

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome has been with the Ravens since they arrived in Baltimore in 1996, and he constructed the 2000 Super Bowl squad. It seems as if speculation about his future in Baltimore is an annual rite of winter, but Wednesday, Newsome indicated that he has no plans to leave anytime soon. “I enjoy coming to work. I don't know if I have a bad day. I make a lot of mistakes,” Newsome said. “But I don't know if I have a bad day at the office. With the people that's in this building, I really enjoy what I do. I don't know how long [he'll stay]

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome was having a great offseason as far as acquisitions and building the team, but the Ravens are embarrassed by linebacker Rolando McClain's announced retirement. The old mantra about "In Ozzie We Trust" should be changed to "In Ozzie We Trust, Most Of The Time. " The Ravens blew it on this one. They went out and signed a knucklehead who remained a knucklehead. At this point, we don't know why McClain retired at age 23, and to be honest, I'm afraid to ask. I really don't want to know, and I'm just glad he is out of here.

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome isn't interested in looking for a quarterback any time soon. As far as he is concerned, Joe Flacco is the Ravens quarterback now and in the future. "Well, Joe and I have a good understanding of where his contract is," said Newsome during Tuesday's Super Bowl media day. "People fail to realize that he was a dropped pass away from getting to the Super Bowl last year. So, what he did was just back up to what he did a year ago. He's doing a great job. He has great chemistry with Jim Caldwell.

The Ravens repopulated their defense during the first four rounds of the NFL draft and found several high-quality players to help fill the biggest holes remaining on a defensive unit that lost six key contributors during the team's post-Super Bowl roster shuffle. That group included safety Matt Elam, whose rise from a harrowing childhood has made him one of the inspirational stories of the draft, and high-character players Arthur Brown, Brandon Williams and John Simon. The player personnel types call those guys “red star” players, which is the pre-draft equivalent of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

Waibel remembered as legend, role model The state of Maryland, city of Baltimore and especially the students and former students at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute have lost a dear friend with the death of Augie Waibel. I want to personally thank your paper for the many wonderful stories that have been written about Poly football under Coach Waibel and especially the recent articles after his death. Augie was a legend, not only in his football coaching career, but also with his relationship with all students and peers.

Jacoby Jones ended up being the Ravens' top free-agent acquisition during last offseason. This past season, Jones tied an NFL record with a 108-yard kickoff return and became the first player in NFL history to record multiple KOR-TD of at least 105 yards (108 and 105). He set franchise records for kick return TD's in a season (2 KOR and 1 PR) and averaged 30.7 yards per kickoff return. With 31 seconds left in regulation, Jones also had the 70-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco which tied the game before the Ravens beat the Denver Broncos in double overtime on Jan. 12. Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said he had some help in signing Jones.

Whenever an injured player goes down, the Ravens like to use the term "the next man up." At the team's training facility in Owings Mills, the next man up is general manager Ozzie Newsome, followed closely by owner Steve Bisciotti. The Ravens' troubled offense during the past nine years has led to the dismissal of offensive coordinators Matt Cavanaugh and Jim Fassel and the recent firing of head coach Brian Billick. It's Newsome's turn on the hot seat. If the Ravens can't correct their offensive problems with a new head coach, then Newsome is the next man on the food chain.

For at least one more season, Shannon Sharpe has his sights set on NFL records, not retirement. Just ask Ozzie Newsome. Sharpe is 44 receptions and 188 yards from breaking Newsome's all-time records for tight ends, and he'll probably surpass the Ravens vice president of player personnel by mid-November. Until then, Newsome expects a countdown. "I would probably say 90 percent of the time the records come up," Newsome said, "it's brought up by Shannon." So, who's the best tight end of all time?

Like many NFL teams, the Ravens have a public image and then another in the private corridors where the league operates. The public image is a blend of Ray Lewis and Brian Billick: tough, swaggering and, to some, arrogant. But the Ravens' behind-closed-doors image is markedly different. They're regarded as methodical and patient, smart drafters and solid salary cap managers. A number of factors contribute to that organizational personality, but more than anyone, it's a reflection of Ozzie Newsome, the team's general manager.

While he was still pulling down passes for the Cleveland Browns in the 1980s, Pro Bowl tight end Ozzie Newsome spent his off-seasons as a headhunter for the East Ohio Gas Company. "I did campus recruiting for management trainees," he said. "I used to go to different colleges to interview students and decide whether they were capable enough to be invited back. "I was looking for a kid with potential to be vice president or president of the company." Little did he suspect his avocation would one day become his vocation.

That big collective sigh you heard late Sunday came from Ravens Nation, which was in full-scale panic mode and exhausting the region's supply of Xanax until the news of Elvis Dumervil's deal came down. What a heist Ozzie Newsome pulled off, something on the scale of "Ocean's 11," only without a casino involved. Let's see, the Ravens get one of the best pass rushers in the league to replace Paul Kruger, who pulled off his own heist when he got the Cleveland Browns to pay him $40 million over five years.

Torrey Smith has heard it before. About three months after the wide receiver was drafted, the Ravens released three popular and productive offensive players, and Smith remembers the talk that the team was headed for some struggles. "They had cut [ Derrick] Mason , [ Todd] Heap and Willis McGahee [and] everybody was panicking and saying, 'Oh, you're going to be terrible,'” Smith said Saturday before hosting his charity basketball game at Stafford High School, his alma mater.

Believe it or not, Ozzie Newsome and the Ravens have a plan. It might not have seemed like it to you when they let one of the greatest players in team history, Ed Reed, head to Houston. Or when they traded Anquan Boldin, a playoff hero and their leading receiver the past three years. Or when they said goodbye to their top tacklers from their Super Bowl season, Bernard Pollard and Dannell Ellerbe; their leader in sacks, Paul Kruger; and their co-leader in interceptions (along with Reed)

The league's top decision makers will spend the next three days at the posh Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix for the NFL Annual Meetings. On the agenda is voting on several potential rule changes, along with an address by commissioner Roger Goodell . It also could be a particularly significant week for the Ravens, who will make a final pitch to try and re-sign free agent safety Ed Reed , learn how many compensatory picks they'll have in...

The NFL will soon reveal which teams will be awarded compensatory picks for free agents lost last offseason. The Ravens are expected to receive three or four compensatory picks -- likely four -- which would bring their number of picks for next month's NFL draft to 12. That's a lot of ammo for general manager Ozzie Newsome should the Ravens choose to move up, down and all around or acquire more picks for next year's NFL draft. Since the Ravens arrived in Baltimore in 1996, they have gone into the draft with nine or more selections in five different years.

Try to imagine the Ravens defense next season without Ray Lewis. Now try to imagine it without Ed Reed, too. No, I can't do it, either. One thing's for sure: the Ravens are at a delicate point in their long relationship with the moody free safety with NFL free agency starting Tuesday. The man is bound for the Hall of Fame and he's been the ultimate team player and community do-gooder for the Ravens. So they don't want to tick him off with a ridiculously low offer. But with his age (34)

Ravens vice president of player personnel Ozzie Newsome grew up during the civil rights movement close to its heart, in Alabama. He was the only African-American in his sixth-grade class when schools were finally desegregated. So when Art Modell asked him to run the team when the former Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996, Newsome didn't feel the slight bit nervous about running a multimillion-dollar franchise. "It was turbulent in Montgomery and Birmingham because they were bigger cities," said Newsome, 44, a native of Muscle Shoals, Ala. "The violence never reached the magnitude of water hoses and dogs that Bull Connor unleashed in Birmingham.

The number 1 Starts by Rams QB Jamie Martin in eight NFL seasons. The quote "If I'd have beaten Denver as many times as a Brown as I have as a Raven, I'd have been in three Super Bowls." Ozzie Newsome, Ravens senior vice president of football operations

To hear Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti tell it, he learned very early that it probably wasn't wise for him to meddle in most player personnel decisions. As the Ravens prepared to make the 24 th overall selection in the 2002 Draft, it became clear that they would have an opportunity to draft one of the top remaining defensive backs left on the board. Bisciotti wanted Lito Sheppard , a cornerback out of Florida. General manager Ozzie Newsome and his staff, however, had their eyes on another player.

Ozzie Newsome circled the weekend more than a year ago. He knew that Jonathan Ogden, the first player he picked for the Ravens, would have a strong chance to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Feb. 2, 2013. Wouldn't it be something, Newsome thought, if the Ravens played in Super Bowl XLVII the next day? It was quite the fantasy, and it grew wilder still when Ray Lewis, the other potential Hall of Fame player Newsome selected in the first round in 1996, announced he would retire at the end of this year's playoffs.