Ravens offseason and draft thread

Boyle is probably gonna get cut. Mayle will stick around because he plays decent Special teams and blocks well.

 

My thoughts too.

 

TE was decimated with Pitta retiring, Gillmore making the position switch to OL, Boyle a PED disaster, Maxx Williams, so far not being able to stay healthy and bordering on being a bust, and Mayle strictly a blocker

 

The Ravens ruined Williams as they do with most offensive players. I'm ignoring the inuries, but they turned a pass catching dynamic TE into what everyone now describes as a blocking TE. it's absurd.

 

Did I miss something? Another TE?

 

I agree, they need to turn the guy loose and use him as they did Pitta but will they? Doubt it...

 

I get a gut feeling that a 4th and 7th is gonna be given up so they can move up here at the end and nab "KK" but just a feeling....

 

Do Not like the Mark Andrews pick. He seems to be a one trick pony that doesn't do the one trick very well. He isn't a great blocker and he sometimes has the drops. Why not Ian Thomas?

Why another TE, Anyway........?

I can see whoever saves the most money against the cap will be gone, Williams or Boyle. If Waller is cheap and performs, particularly on Special Teams, he comes back. Mayle could be a possibility.

Then again

 

Looked over Andrews' highlites and he's really pretty good. Good hands and tracks the ball well and his fast on his feet. He' almost identical to Hurst. I wouldn't have taken a TE here, but he's a good player.

 

Don't worry. We'll draft Equanimious St. Brown in the next round then go all defense to close out the draft. And I honestly won't be mad at any of it

 

Despite the whining and second guessing going on, I am stoked about this draft. Having a child that nearly went to Oklahoma, I spent a lot of time watching OU football, and I can tell you that Zeus Jr. was a stud all season long. He was a man among boys, and despite the combine fail, the tape tells a very different story. Prio to the combine, where they actually watch game film instead of guys in shorts, Brown was projected as a high to middle first rounder. I call that a steal. Secondly, the OK TE is a slot receiver, and will be used like Pitta was. Please don't forget that Pitta was never a blocking TE, more of a slot receiver. Finally, I like the stockpiling of picks. This team lacked depth last season, and I think they addressed that here. Ozzie has made a career out of finding the Pernell McPhees of the world in the 4th - 6th rounds, and even a lot of UFAs that have caught on. Remember that except for the perennial teams that suck (Cleveland) most teams only get 1 guy in the first and one in the second, and typically one in the third. It's the later rounds and UFAs that make the draft. So when your early picks are guys that could/should have gone earlier, and you build depth in the alter rounds, that's what I call a quality draft. Now it's on the coaching staff to develop them.

Back to Lamar Jackson for a second. Let's say Joe gets back to earlier career form and starts lighting it up again, once he gets decent protection and some downfield weapons to throw to, Jackson becomes one of two things - An insurance policy in case Joe gets injured. A guy that you can plug in early in career, and he can win you some games. Second is incredible trade value for the team inevitably looking for a better QB solution, from whom you can extract significant trade value. ESPN has been replaying Louisville games this morning, and I have to say, this kid is a stud. Running, throwing, he's a better version (IMO) of Baker Mayfield, and throws as well as any of the top QBs selected.

 

Quoting simply because a "like" is not sufficient in conveying how right this all is.

The only thing i disagree with is that he is not a better pure passer than mayfield, who i think has the soundest mechanics of everyone that i saw this year. He may end up being more dangerous given his ability to carry and keep people honest.

The Zues stuff is so true though it hurts. People are easily swayed. Tape over everything. The one thing you can say with zeus is that he sometimes didnt maintain his dominant aggression all game which i cant see being an issue considering where he landed. i think we will get the best out of him

2k

 

Juuuuust so we're all in the clear, I have no issue with this draft outside of the first pick. I personally feel like they could have gotten Jackson at 25, likely Godert in the 2nd, and kept next year's second. But outside of that, I love that they are actually attempting to focus on offense. Between the draft thus far and free agency, I can't think of a time the Ravens were this focused on the offense

And contrary to what it may have seemed, I actually want St Brown in the 4th. We have a possession guy, a speed guy, a slot guy, why not get the bigger guy now

 

Would love to see some Defensive depth added today, maybe an edge rush project or two, some DB depth. Would love to see a small school prospect like another Lardarius Webb pop up in the later rounds.

 

I agree to a point here. I've been looking back over the draft and my concerns are justified in these pick and the trade up. It's not to say I think they're having a bad draft because that will play out in years to come. My thoughts/concerns:

1) Hayden Hurst - is a solid pick and great talent. He'll be a day 1 starter. Drawback is that he's 26 y/o already. Further, Calvin Ridley was there and I believe he was a better player and pick for this team. If they let the Eagles pick at #32 I doubt they'd have taken Goedert who we could've landed in the 2nd rd ourselves. So our offense would've had Ridley and Goedert - low risk, high reward studs.

2) The trade up for Lamar Jackson - Why? What team was going to draft him before us at #52 if we didn't do this? Browns, Giants, Colts, Bucks, Bears, Broncs, Titans, Dolphins, 9ers, Rams, Packers, Chiefs, Cards, and Philly ALL have a QB. LJ would've come to us naturally. If there was any suspicion a team was interested in him it would've been likely the Dolphins or Cardinals which would've been less costly then to trade up. Further, as @Tim pointed out he had Mason Rudolph as the best passer (opinion) but the kid is also a baller and a solid pick in the 3rd rd. No need to burn picks and build more depth than necessary. The entire thing screams obfuscation to me.

3) Mark Andrews - Not sure why they thought a 2nd TE was necessary - AGAIN. Yes Pitta turned out to be a great player as the 2nd TE drafted for us in 2010. However, that makes the Ed Dickson pick look like a valuable lesson to learn - and they didn't Why draft Hurst with a first then and go back to Calvin Ridley being the BPA at #25.

4) End of draft - As @ravens_R_#1 said, St. Brown would be a great pick in the 4th and going D after that would be great. I think this is where Ozzie shines and the the other questions about his 1st to 3rd rd picks get forgiven a little. So much of what they've done IMO is unnecessary, and that's not even in retrospect.

This is the 2nd draft in a row where I had some doubt about their methods and selections and I think that isn't going to change much under DeCosta especially with Ozzie still in the room.

My draft at this point would have been:
Rd1 - Ridley
Rd2 - Goedert
Rd3 - Jackson/Rudolph
Rd3 - Zeus Jr/Bozeman

And last year I chose 3 of the top 4 picks for the Ravens that the Steelers took.

 

My quarterback rankings and scores are listed here -
https://live4sportnetwork.com/forum/threads/2018-quarterback-class.10753/

 

Nobody could have jumped Balt at #52? If he’s their guy u go get him and now they get the 5th yr on him

 

To anyone that doesnt understand why the Ravens traded up to get Jackson in the first, it's because of the 5th year rookie option. It's a shrewd move but not uncommon in the league now.

The more I think about it, there is no way Flacco is on the team past this year and may not even start the full season. Even if he is a NFL and Super Bowl MVP this year, he's gone. The brass is too excited to X and O for Jackson, and they also want to bring excitement to the fans as well.

The Jackson pick also gives Harbaugh more leash imo. Harbaugh's coaching staff seems set to develop Jackson, so why remove them?

 

I suggested that Baltimore should look to move on from Flacco this off-season early last year during some talks on another thread (I believe @ravens_R_#1 and I were the ones discussing it) and this draft pick appears to move the Ravens in that direction for the 2019 off-season. Give Lamar a year to decide if he can be your answer, make the move to release/trade Joe then make a deal to get Griffin on for a couple more years as Lamar's back-up.

 

I posted something about this yesterday. The Ravens could honestly get rid of him before week 1 of incline. The extra 4M cap hit to move on from Joe can be managed, and it would leave them with no 2019 cap issues with Flacco (I think, I'm not positive on this though)