Ravens offseason and draft thread

Ok, so I stepped in to the GM role for the site mock draft and after floating several offers to trade down and getting no response, I selected Mike McGlinchey OT Notre Dame with the 16th pick in the first round.

I looked at the WR talent and did nit think they were worth the 16th pick and figured we could use the #1 rated tackle (based on Mike Mayock's ratings) to solidify our line. He plugs into RT and shifts Hurst to LG and allows us to shift him (McGlinchey) to LT if Stanley gets injured or if we can't retain him after his 5th season.

I floated offers to drop back to the Patriots pick at 23 (picking up pick 11 in the 2nd round) and also to the Dallas pick at 19 (picking up their 3rd rounder) but they never responded, so I made the choice.

 

Good choice.

 

I see the Bears did not match the Saints offer for Cam Meredith. Why haven't we seen the headline, "Ravens Offer WR Willie Snead Contract"?

 

Why do fans and sports writers insist that the Ravens will draft a QB within the firs 3 rds this year? I've seen reports of Baker Mayfield with the 16th, Lamar Jackson in the 2nd or late first in a trade back scenario. And for the dumbest reasons: "Joe's contract," "Joe's terrible," Joe's on the decline," and now "the Ravens are moving to a mobile athletic QB with the new coaching and RG3 signing." None of this makes any sense and seems like knee-jerk reactions for people that either don't like Flacco or somehow think running QBs are more successful.

Also, Cam Merideth was signed by the Saints making Willie Snead less of a priority for them to offer him a matching offer Unless other teams now want him more now, the Ravens can get him at a cap friendly deal, perhaps with incentives. With Campanaro heading to the Titans, Snead makes more sense now than before and is an immediate upgrade. He has sure hands, big play ability, good route running, a nose for moving the chains, one injury in his career AND he's only 25. If he doesn't get signed now, he won't ever be and the Ravens can't do much better in FA right now.

Pick 16 Calvin Ridley train? The more that is said about diminishing capacity of college WR to become immediate contributing pros is as real as the the 1st rd RB drought. This is backed up by the lack of success 1st rounders have had in recent years due to college coaching and role expectations. Therefore only the prospects in pro-style offenses still in effect today are really ever worth considering with a top 20-32 pick. According to SI's Connor Orr that's Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Florida State. In this class ONLY Calvin Ridley qualifies. That doesn't mean that Sutton or DJ Moore not worth it, just perhaps not quite as NFL ready and less of a "sure thing" at least as much as there can be one in the NFL draft.

 

Ok guys, I am about 2 hours away from the Ravens next pick (2nd rounder) and was thinking now is the right time for skill position. Lots of options still available and only 5 teams ahead of our pick: (Here they are based on Mike Mayock's rankings in their position categories). What are your choices here?

RB

3. Sony Michel, Georgia
4. Ronald Jones II, USC
T-5. Nick Chubb, Georgia
T-5. Rashaad Penny, San Diego State

Wide receiver



T-5. Anthony Miller, Memphis
T-5. DJ Chark, LSU


Tight end

1. Hayden Hurst, South Carolina
2. Dallas Goedert, South Dakota State

4. Mark Andrews, Oklahoma
5. Will Dissly, Washington

 

Hurst is gonna be a Pro Bowl type TE...in the same mold as H Henry

 

Sutton

 

Scratch Sutton from the list. He's gone.

 

yeah, I saw that

 

Anthony Miller

 

I should not disclose he is my target, but I have 2 guys in mind as long as the 2 teams in front of me don't take both.....LOL

 

Second round the Ravens selected WR Anthony Miller (Memphis)

 

That was a great pick imo

 

I'm actually mad the Ravens didn't offer Meredith a similar contract. With how much the Bears have given to WRs and TEs lately, it was very doubtful they'd have tried to match

 

I think that Ozzie believes that Dez Bryant is going to be a June 1st cap casualty in Dallas this year. I also know that he REALLY wanted Dez in the draft and that Jerry traded up above the Ravens to snatch him which caused the team to trade down so the Broncos could draft Tim Tebow ( a wise trade after losing out on the guy the team truly wanted, even though those picks obtained became Kindle (the drunk fell down the stairs and deafened himself with a skull fracture etc and Mount Cody, who had a couple of alright seasons before eating himself out of the league)

The fact remains that Ozzie loved Dez then, and I think he wants Dez now and he can probably get him in the way that the Ravens have always wanted to get a veteran, through release so that they don't lose any picks by signing them.

Do the Ravens have the cash to sign Dez? That totally depends on how much he wants, if its 16 mil plus? then no. but I think the league knows that Dez has lost more than a step and he is no longer a top receiver in the league. He should be had for Mike Wallace type of money and in that, the Ravens can manipulate the cap enough to sign.

 

I doubt we can get Dez for good money unless he's willing to sign based on a SB or bust team rather than the big dollars. He may've had some nagging injuries and perhaps a little sick of playing in Jerry's sandbox, buthe's just 29 and would give us several good years a la Anquan Boldin/Derek Mason.

Further, when Dez was coming into the draft was compared to Micheal Crabtree in college. Having the 2 of them would be a coup, but the money doesn;t appear to be there as I'm sure Dez will get attention. If he is targeted as a June 1st release then I don't see Snead getting signed now or later.

And to be honest, I think I'd rather see Snead in Purple over Dez because he fills a role and will come at a cap friendly number.

 

TBH I'd have taken Hurst or Goedert for TE over Miller, BUT to be fair I haven;t really scouted this year like usual and Miller wasn't on my radar. Seeing his game tape now and given that you didn't reach for Sutton or Moore, I think he was a good pick.

 

I'm not sure a team that's missed the playoffs three straight seasons qualifies as a SB or bust team at this point. If Dez comes here, it'll likely be because teams with a better superbowl chance, or teams with more money, just aren't interested. Honestly, I'm not sure what the biggest incentive is for a WR to come here right now.

- Playing in a good offensive system
- Playing under a good OC
- Playing for a top end QB
- Playing for a consistent superbowl contender
- Playing for a perennial playoff team
- Playing for a team willing to spend big money.

None of these describe the Ravens at this moment. What else is there?

 

Well, I wans't necessarily implying the Ravens were his target team. But while we're on the subject, I think that any team that loads up in FA qualifies as a SB or bust team and the Ravens have been pretty active thus far and June 1st cuts are right around the corner. That could still end up being us in some fashion - the off season isn't over yet and they have $9.25M according to Spotrac (or $10.7M acc. Overthecap). The Ravens are a few good pieces away from being a playoff contender again and Joe is far from washed up having had some bad luck with injuries and busts in FA/draft by Ozzie lately.

 

They both went in the next handful of picks after I chose Miller. I was potentially going to try to trade up but those happened late at night (later than I had bandwidth for) so I missed out on the trade back into the top of the 3rd round. Not that I wanted to spend that kind of ammo, but it might have been worth a look.

I was mostly concerned about the shakiness of prospects in the TE class. Goedert never really played against anyone good and Hayden is already 25 years old and will be 30 at the end of his rookie deal and is really a 1 dimensional player. I liked the fact that Miller is a senior, played a lot and is described as being ultra competitive and plays with a chip on his shoulder and is the athletic player we are looking for.

Is there a position we are looking to upgrade with our third rounder? Anywhere we want to focus after Tackle and WR?