Rob Long | 105.7 TheFAN Baltimore Morning Host

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45% off selected products at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions may apply. From our Baltimore affiliate, 105.7 The Fan, we're pleased to welcome our friend Rob Long, who's getting set for the Big Bad Morning show with the cast and crew of thousands. Rob, I'm going to backpedal once we get your initial reaction, but it's easy. Let's start there.

Contract a few days old now. The dust is settled. What's your reaction to Lamar getting the deal to stay with the Ravens? It's about time.

First of all, good morning, Amy. Yeah, it's about time. I mean, it's got us from what we hear similar to the offer that was on the table initially, but I'm glad it happened. Lamar Jackson is a difference maker. He's one of, if not the most dynamic player, excuse me, in the National Football League. And for me to sit here and say they would have been OK without him would have been a lie.

I held my stance the entire time. If he's not here, then we're in trouble. You and your co-host had me on your show going back maybe six weeks ago. Don't quote me on that, but it was probably in March. And I remember that as we're talking about the Lamar situation, it kind of flagged with me that you all were speaking about him as though this was going to be a breakup. It was going to be a divorce. At what point did you change your mind about that? No, my stance is always he'll be back for 23 for the franchise tag. I did not know whether beyond that. That was my stance. I thought he would be back for 23, but I was uncertain about the deal because he seemed to be so hellbent on the fully guaranteed contract. I thought yes for 23.

No, not beyond that. But it was a guaranteed contract. Like he said in that Instagram post, there was a lot of he say, she say back and forth. And the one thing we all heard was that he wanted guaranteed money. He wanted his contract to rival that of Deshaun Watson's. And I just thought the Deshaun Watson's contract was not, it did not set a precedent. It's the outlier. Nobody's doing that. The only time you set a precedent is if you're the beginning of the change. That's not going to change the NFL.

It's the outliers. Like, you know, you had a bad franchise give you a bad contract and other good franchises are going to follow suit. I just didn't feel Stephen Shoddy was going to do that on the Ravens. So that's why I thought long term Lamar and the Ravens weren't going to happen.

Is all forgiven with Lamar and the Ravens now? Absolutely. You know, it's sports. It's sports. I mean, Amy, in my past career, I was a police officer and being a sports star radio, being in the media is similar to that in this. When things go wrong, you're always blamed.

But yet when people need you, they always come to you. When people want the information, they always tune in to us. However, times like this, you know, athletes blame the media and fans follow along with them. There was that he say she say the reason why there was he say she say was because of some of the things Lamar put out there and because of the things Lamar allowed to be put out there. But when when you kiss and make up, you go to their oh, well, you know, that's the media. Well, yeah, there is the media is this is what we were fed. So I feel like a bunch of professions are similar in that we're the bad guy until you need us.

Thank you for your service. Rob Long is now a radio host. That's got to be the most unique career transition or 90 degree turn that I've ever heard from a fellow colleague in this business. But from our Baltimore affiliate 1057, the fan getting set for his morning show, is it still the number one topic of conversation or have people moved on? Orioles baseball is number one right now. I mean, this team is hot. This team is hot. And that's the number one topic of conversation because you've got young players on the team who who are intriguing.

You've got young players on the team who are producing. And on top of that, you still have guys in the farm system that are rated high all around baseball who you still watch. And I have more of my friends going to Bowie Bay Sox games. That's the Orioles double A affiliation right here in Maryland than have ever gone before. So now that the Lamar thing is chilled a little bit, I'll be honest with you, the last two weeks of the Lamar saga, Orioles baseball was still the number one topic of discussion. Second best record in the American League behind only the Tampa Bay Rays, who have set a torrid pace atop the AL East. But right now, Orioles sitting at 19 and nine, picking up where they left off last year.

So a lot of fun early on. OK, so if Orioles baseball has already taken over, then then you think about Lamar Jackson and kind of getting back into a rhythm with the team. We know there's a new offensive coordinator. What do you expect them to do? I know you've not been a fan of Greg Roman for quite a while.

You've told us that. What do you expect them to do to try to spark the offense with a new system, new voice heading into 23? First of all, you put in the NFL style offense and not the cop, the high school offense that they had been running, where you have two or three receivers in the same vicinity where, you know, it was ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. I think now it's not just the weapons.

I think it's also the strategy. Oh, by the way, the weapons. You had Odell Beckham Jr. went out and grabbed J. Flowers and you already have Rashad Bateman. And let's not forget about one of the best tight ends of the game and Mark Andrews.

That sounds pretty good. J.K. Dobbins in the backfield. You have a plethora of weapons now, toys that your new OC can work with. And I have the utmost confidence that John Harbaugh has to produce.

Yes. So I think he's going to step aside, let his offensive coordinator be creative, be innovative. And I don't know whether it was Lamar's plan initially or not, Amy, or something that maybe he backed up to when he realized he wasn't getting the fully guaranteed money. But Lamar kind of manipulated this contract. I mean, it's got this roster, you know, he I don't think if Lamar is not in the contract yet, I don't know if this team would have gone out and paid Odell Beckham Jr. that much money. I don't know if they would have drafted Flowers in the first round. I don't know if you kind of believe that maybe there were some promises given to Lamar for him to all of a sudden sign or announce the signing on draft day. So I think either it was the original part of the plan or maybe he did a pivot at some point the way he kind of manipulated this this this roster.

And I think this is going to be a dynamic offense that that looks very NFL familiar. Rob Long is with us from Baltimore here on After Hours, CBS Sports Radio. Why did Antonio Brown say he's signing with the Ravens? I hope that's a lie.

I have no idea. I hope this goes in the category of why does Antonio Brown do a lot of things and say a lot of things that he does. I hope we all look back on this and laugh. The last thing they need in this locker room is an Antonio Brown. I can deal with Odell Beckham Jr. and his quirkiness because he's funny. He's witty. He's funny.

I love his dances. But I don't know. I don't know if you can mix Odell Beckham Jr. and Antonio Brown.

I just I don't think that's a good mix. How do you like what they did in the draft? Oh, I'm sorry.

Were you not done? I love what they did in the draft. You know why I love what they did in the draft, Amy?

We did our predictions on the show. And the topic that I gave out was do they trade back or do they take the pick? And I said they take the pick because I think the Ravens are in win now mode. Trading back is an investment in your future. Any draft pick is.

But trading back means you're trying to stockpile picks to make an investment. I felt like if you were all in now, you'd take that pick. So the fact that they've made that pick and then trade back like they often do told me, you know what? This team is serious right now. That's the third wide receiver in five years that they drafted in the first round.

They are serious right now. And that alone, not only who they got to love, but the fact that they use the picks. And then at the end of the draft, they traded a future pick to get a seventh round draft pick. Also, which tells me here, here's a guy that we wanted that fell. Get him now. Trade next year. We won't worry about next year, next year. Trade next year's pick and get this guy because we wanted this guy. And one thing I am very confident in is Ravens late draft picks from the fourth round down.

Very confident. Also, this team had a long stretch of undrafted free agents making a team. They're very good when it comes to the back of that draft of free agents, undrafted free agents. So the fact that they traded a pick from next year to get back into the draft of the seventh round confirmed my suspicions of them being in win now mode. Considering that they appear to be making a bunch of moves that will shore up the team in 2023, and as you say, give them a sense of urgency here, looking ahead to the summer of OTA's training camp, yada, yada, yada. How do you see the AFC North stacking up considering the moves that have been made, but specifically around the Ravens?

I think the AFC North is going to come down to two teams, to be honest with you. I believe in the Browns when the Browns happen. You know, the Browns have fooled a lot of people.

They fooled me once a couple years ago when one Odell Beckham Jr. was over there. I think it comes down to two teams, the Ravens and the Bengals. I think Lamar Jackson knows that.

That's why he wanted a lot of toys on the offense because, you know, that guy Joe Cool, he has a lot of toys on that offense over there in Cincinnati. I think Lamar knows you got to keep up with the Joneses. And right now, Joe Barrow is the number one Jones in the AFC North and Lamar Jackson is trying to keep up with him. So I believe this division comes down to two teams. Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be Pittsburgh Steelers.

They're never going to have a losing season. Mike Tomlin is just unbelievable. I know Bill Belichick gets a lot of credit. He deserves to follow the Super Bowl Wednesday he's had. But Mike Tomlin to me is just a phenomenal coach.

What he does sometimes with a roster that others couldn't do that with is just sensational. So you can never come to Steelers out. But I think in terms of being serious AFC contenders, I think they're two teams in the AFC North. Before I let you go, Rob, if you are the Bengals, do you just go ahead now and give Joe Burrow a contract that pays him $52 million in average annual value?

So we'd have Jalen, then we'd have Lamar, then we would have Joe Burrow to top it? You have to. You have to. There's no doubt about it. This guy is just unbelievable. I like him. I like his swag. I mean, you can talk about his productivity. I just like his confidence.

His last year of college is so legit. Can I say this? You credited me from the flip from law enforcement to radio. I don't know if you notice my co one of my co hosts, Ed Norris, was not only a cop, but he was the Baltimore City Police Commissioner and then became the superintendent of the Maryland State Police before he got radio. Impressive.

You guys have what you have quite the resumes on the show. Yes, I didn't want to. I didn't want to.

You know, I'd be remiss not to mention that. Yes, I was a police officer. I was a corporal.

This guy was Commissioner of Baltimore City and superintendent of the state. So amazing. I'm not only am I still that there's two of you, but that you're on the same show.

That's got to be unique in the United States of America. It's unique because we're two law enforcement officers former and our third co host last name is Khan. I love it. I love it. I know they have a good time. They've had me on the big bad morning show in the past. Rob Long Sports on Twitter getting set for his show in Baltimore where yes, the Orioles are all the rage because the Ravens angst has been put to bed, at least for us. Always good to talk to you, Rob. Thank you so much for your time and for joining us live in the morning.

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