FanHouse Demetrius Williams

The pending retirement of Derrick Mason is still sorting itself out. Coming completely out of nowhere, it's left teammates and fans everywhere wondering if the story is true. After all, Mason has reached the 1,000-yard plateau in seven of his last eight seasons, most of which were marked by erratic QB play. With such consistency, Mason made for an excellent receiver pick in the middle rounds. He says he's 99% sure about the decision, so we can't quite rule out a return this year. If the retirement stands, how does it affect the fantasy stocks of the other Baltimore Ravens? Let's see if we can figure that out.

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The Baltimore Ravens' need for wide receiver help just became much more dire, as veteran Derrick Mason unexpectedly and abruptly announced his retirement from the NFL on Monday.

Mason's retirement is still unofficial, Ravens senior vice president of public and community relations Kevin Byrne told BaltimoreRavens.com, saying that Mason has yet to file the necessary paperwork with the NFL. (A few hours after his announcement, Mason told ESPNews he was 99-percent sure he would retire, so this may not be over yet).

A 13-year veteran of the NFL, Mason played much of the 2008 season with a painful shoulder injury, one that required offseason surgery, and was still struggling to recover during Baltimore's workouts in early June. At the time, Mason indicated that he may not be ready for the start of training camp.

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With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.

Meet the...
Team with the most rushing attempts in the NFL last season. With a rookie quarterback and a newly installed ball-control offense, the Ravens ran the ball 592 times in 2008. The team's 11 wins and two playoff victories give proof that the system works. Confidence in second-year quarterback Joe Flacco will be greater in 2009, so you can expect this offense to continue to run the ball at every defense they meet; just maybe not 58% of the time.

The name of the game in Baltimore will still be defense, however, even without defensive coordinator Rex Ryan and linebacker Bart Scott, who both left town to join the New York Jets. New defensive coordinator Greg Mattison should have this unit among the top five defenses in football with an extremely tough and disciplined approach and key additions like Domonique Foxworth in the secondary.

The Baltimore Ravens are not necessarily scrambling to send Denver a trade offer for Brandon Marshall, but they are at least exploring the possibility of pursuing a deal, according to a report from the Baltimore Sun.

The Ravens are often the subject of rumors involving potentially available wide receivers, and it's not hard to see why. Their leading pass-catcher in 2008, Derrick Mason, is still struggling after offseason shoulder surgery -- and he was the only player on the team to catch more than 41 balls last year (80 for 1,037 yards). Their third most-productive WR, Demetrius Williams, missed nine games, and three of Baltimore's top seven receivers were running backs.

Heck, the team's eighth-leading "receiver" was quarterback Joe Flacco, who caught one ball for 43 yards.

So the need is there. But, based on comments made by Baltimore coach John Harburgh on Tuesday, Marshall might not be a great fit.

Franchise tags and salary-cap concerns play a very important role in real-world wheelings and dealings, but what if the biggest-named free agents were matched with the teams that gave them the best chance to make a Super Bowl run? What would that list look like? Glad you asked.

Yes, this is a strictly fictional account, one that requires you to suspend reality for the next few minutes. But, hey, it's the NFL offseason, which means that there won't be any meaningful football for another seven months. What else do you have to do?

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: The position has been an issue in Baltimore since, well, the club moved from Cleveland. Brian Billick turned out not to be such a smart guy, after all, which explains Tony Banks, Elvis Grbac, Chris Redman, and Kyle Boller. Second-year player Troy Smith showed promise during a brief stints last season, but Joe Flacco is the team's newest franchise quarterback. Now it's just a matter of getting him up to speed on running the offense. Heat Index: 4

Running backs: Letting Jamal Lewis walk after the 2006 season was a no-brainer, even if he had a resurgence of sorts with the Browns. Willis McGahee is more than capable when healthy, and rookie second-rounder Ray Rice should see plenty of action. Heat Index: 7

Even though they dumped an offensive "genius" from the head coaching spot, the Ravens could come out with a much more aggressive offensive style in 2008. Word from this weekend's minicamp is that new offensive coordinator Cam Cameron is seriously considering using three wide receivers in the team's base formation.

There's a couple of reasons why that's a curious choice. For one, the presumed trio of Derrick Mason, Demetrius Williams and Mark Clayton combined to score five touchdowns in 2007, all by Mason, and struggled to gain yards after the catch. Mason did catch 103 passes while the other two battled injuries and all three had to deal with some of the worst quarterbacking in the league but it's not a unit that strikes a lot of fear into the hearts of opposing defenses.

That quarterbacking problem is the other reason it's an odd direction. A spread formation would require quick, well chosen passes and I don't think anyone expects that kind of production from Kyle Boller. Troy Smith may have those skills but he's untested as is first-rounder Joe Flacco. Flacco's arm strength is his strong suit but he may not get to show it off in an offense predicated on timing not verticality.

Assuming they work out those issues, though, Willis McGahee would benefit from such an alignment. A spread out defense should offer him space to maneuver and help avoid the grinding that takes a toll on his body.

Kyle Boller couldn't have asked for a better matchup for his return to the starting lineup. The Browns are defensively deficient which plays into both his strengths and weaknesses. His strong arm could find exploitable holes in coverage while his poor decisions might not turn into disasters because of Cleveland's mediocre D.

Unfortunately he won't have a full complement of weapons at his disposal. Todd Heap will miss his fourth game of the season and Demetrius Williams joins him on the inactive list for today's game.

Theoretically, that means a lot of work for Willis McGahee. A commitment to their offseason acquisition has been slow in coming but today would be a good time to start. The Browns are weak on the run and McGahee hasn't been ground down by overuse. Of course, with Brian Billick calling the plays they will probably throw more than ever.

The Ravens defense will also be shorthanded. Samari Rolle's lost season continues as the cornerback is once again inactive because of his lingering, undisclosed illness. Trevor Pryce is also back on the sidelines after playing the last two games. They'll miss his pass rush skills while trying to keep wraps on Derek Anderson.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls has an interesting tidbit on former head coach Billy Cowher and his sometimes hit-or-miss draft strategies.

Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola made an interesting point on the radio last evening: Remember Willie Reid? Yeah, another draft-day reach, in April 2006, and another of Cowher's pet projects. Labriola said that there were strong opinions in the Steelers' draft room about taking one particular wide receiver over another.

Labriola brought this up because the "other" wide receiver in that discussion will be playing for Baltimore on Monday night. That would be Demetrious Williams, whom the Ravens drafted in the fourth round (111 overall) of the same 2006 draft that saw the Steelers take Reid in the third round (95th overall).

JPPB goes on to point out that Williams has been a nice little find for the Ravens, a team that has long struggled to cultivate any offensive weapons outside of Jamal Lewis. Through seven games, Williams has 19 catches for 285 yards -- a 15.0 yards-per-catch average, while Reid has three grabs for 48 yards.