Pierce was gone back in August when he reported overweight and failed his physical in a contract year.
I think one thing you should do is save this and stow it away for a year or a few years. Come back to it and see how well you did with the benefit of hindsight and how these players' careers went. Were you giving McSorely a bit of hometown juice? Get him to share some Hamler secrets with Jackson? Hamler would be one of the fastest slot guys in the NFL for sure as it appears that he loves going over the middle. Davis is definitely the opposite in making tough catches. I saw the line on NFL.com about him taking plays off when he's not primary receiver. That's probably going to make him not a Raven as it doesn't fit their mold, but who knows.
I was thinking about this last night. I wonder if the Ravens had thoughts about moving on from Williams and going to Pierce? When Pierce came in out of shape, they decided they weren't risking a big contract for essentially the same player when they were so close to getting out from Williams already. Then to top it off, it's not like Pierce had a stellar season. In fact, I'd say his best season was his rookie one with a slow decline after. He actually looked like he could get in the backfield as a rookie, but then he never developed. 2 sacks as a rookie and 1.5 sacks total the next 3 years!
I imagine that this coming season will be Brandon's LAST with the team, his contract becomes much more releasable after 2020. He has not performed nearly to expectations after signing his big money deal. They thought he would become another Ngata, but they got at best a Kelly Gregg...
Hey no dissing Kelly Gregg. I'd take him over Williams any day. Just as a point of reference. Ngata in 9 seasons had 25.5 sacks Gregg in 9 seasons had 19.5 sacks Williams in 7 seasons had 6.5 sacks Plus Williams has been a part of some of the worst run defenses including three seasons where they gave up 4+ yards per rush. This only happened 1 other time in team history (2012) where they also gave up 4 yards. As I'm typing this, Williams really has been more of a dud than a stud. Serviceable player, but not a superstar by any stretch.
Definitely, the Rush defense has went into steady decline since the 2015 season. Our LB core has steadily dropped in talent level since Zach Orr's unfortunate retirement as well.
You never know, Williams could get get 7 sacks each of the next 2 years........who am I kidding. And Gregg gets more credit from me for doing this as an actual NT. Remember, Ngata played DE until 08 when Gregg had that microfiber surgery. Then moved back to DE when Gregg returned
Williams hasn't been what I'm sure the Ravens were expecting, But I don't think he's as bad as he's being portrayed here. He wasn't brought in here as a pass rusher, he was brought in as a run stopper, and the Ravens run defense has usually been successful. And generally, run defenses are more dependent upon LB play to be the most successful. Is he worth the money he's being paid? Not based on his recent performances, but could his decline be traced to a general decline of the Ravens front 7, particularly last year when it had to be rebuilt during the season when the Ravens pass D was ranked around 29th before ending up 3rd, (but in addition to the improved players, a lot of that might have to do with the offense being on the field longer). Football, more than may other, is a team game where an individual performance could depend heavily on how the players around you are performing. With his contract the Ravens aren't releasing Williams, but I think it's telling that they did release Michael Pierce and trade Chris Wormley, particularly to a division rival. I think that may tell you that the talent surrounding Williams last year weren't performing up to the Ravens expectations. But it's obvious with the signing of Campbell and Derek Wolfe this off season. I'm willing to take a wait and see position and give Williams the chance to prove us wrong, especially with the help he's been given on the line. Where a run defense ranks, IMHO, is dependant on more than just the defenders on the other side of the line of scrimmage. It can be affected by whether a team has to abandon the run to score quickly, skewering the statistics somewhat. Since Williams has been in the league, the Ravens have been ranked as high as 2nd against the rush (2018) and as low as 15th (2017) In those 7 years the Ravens have given up 4.0 yds per rush or more in 3 of those years; 2015-4.0 defense ranked 12th against the run 2017-4.1 defense ranked 15th "" 2019-4.4 defense ranked 5th "" And remember for his first two years in the league, Williams played on the same line with Ngata. During the 2 years they were together on the line, Ngata had a total of 3.5 sacks, playing in 27 games. Williams had 1.5 sacks in 23 games over the same period, but he appeared in only 7 games his rookie year. The majority of Ngatas sacks while in Baltimore came in 3 seasons (10, 11 and 12) when, at the height of his career, he had a total of 15.5 sacks, meaning over the remaining 6 years of his career in Baltimore, he averaged less than 2 sacks per year (1.66666). Kelly Gregg had a more consistent career than either one of them considering that of his 19.5 sacks he never had more than 3.5 in a season. so he was more consistent in the number of sacks you could rightfully expect. Taken as a sack per game average during their Baltimore years, the stats on each are as follows KELLY GREGG 134 GMS 19.5 SACKS = .14 SACKS PER GAME OVER THOSE 134 GAMES HALOTI NGATA 135 GMS 25.5 SACKS = .18 SACKS PER GAME BRANDON WILLIAMS 97 GAMES 6.5 SACKS = .06 SACKS PER GAME. But as I alluded to, he wasn't brought in to be a sack guy. I'm willing to give Williams this season with better players around him to see if his play improves.
Definitely a lot of good stats and info in here, so don't take my shorter response as dismissing any of it. Williams definitely was brought in to be a run stopper as you mentioned, but also, it's been shown that since he's joined the team, the Ravens have had 3 of their worst run defenses in team history (by AYPR), so that can't be denied. Is that a result of the DL? Is it a result of the LB? Is it a result of a bad DC or position coaches (we had pees afterall)? The answer is probably "yes". You can't put the blame at any one spot, and I certainly don't want to suggest Williams is the reason the run defense suffered. That would be a silly position for me. It's just something that happened for whatever reason. Since he's not a sack or rush guy, then you REALLY want that run defense to be at the pinnacle of achievement, and sadly, this has been the furthest thing from that we have seen. That's why he gets so much heat. If we were back to giving up 2.7 YPR like in 2000 with Goose and Adams, no one would be batting an eye over Williams not getting a sack...but we gave up 4.4 yards. Is the talent around him not up to snuff? As mentioned previously, Pierce peaked as a rookie and slowly went downhill. Wormley never peaked and was simply better off as a rotational guy. Counting Williams, since that rookie 2013 class, 10 of their 24 selections in rounds 1-3 were the front 7 on defense. They swung at that position a lot! They produced a ton of absolute duds there as well. Again, are the players duds? Are the talent evaluators duds? Was the DC a dud? Here's what I'll say (and it's the same thing that got tossed around at Flacco and other franchise QBs that get huge contracts); if you're making that type of money, you shouldn't need other high level players to elevate your play. You should be the one who is performing so well that you're helping the other players to be better and more dominant at their positions due to all the attention being thrown at you. Think of Donald or JJ for these type of players. That's the main issue I think people have with Williams. He just never came close to living up to the contract.
Collaborative mock draft results: Baltimore Ravens 1(23) Patrick Queen, LB - LSU 2(23) Laviska Shenault Jr., WR - Colorado 2(28) Marlon Davidson, DL - Auburn 3(26) Cole Kmet, TE - Notre Dame 3(31) Solomon Kindley, G - Georgia 5(2) Khalid Kareem, LB - Notre Dame 6(5) Michael Ojemudia, CB - Iowa 6(22) Nick Coe, DE - Auburn
Mock Drafts by Mink and Downing. Mink: Round 1, No. 28 – EDGE A.J. Epenesa, Iowa Round 2, No. 55 – WR KJ Hamler, Penn State Round 2, No. 60 – G/T Robert Hunt, Louisiana-Lafayette Round 3, No. 92 – LB Willie Gay Jr., Mississippi State Round 3, No. 106 – RB Zack Moss, Utah Round 4, No. 129 – WR Tyler Johnson, Minnesota Round 4, No. 143 – TE Thaddeus Moss, LSU Round 5, No. 170 – EDGE Anfernee Jennings, Alabama Round 7, No. 225 – CB Parnell Motley, Oklahoma Downing: First Round, No. 28: LB Patrick Queen, LSU Second Round, No. 55: WR Jalen Reagor, TCU Second Round, No. 60: OL Robert Hunt, Louisiana Third Round, No. 92: OLB Jabari Zuniga, Florida Third Round, No. 106: DT Leki Fotu, Utah Fourth Round, No. 129: WR Lynn Bowden, Kentucky Fourth Round, No. 143: S J.R. Reed, Georgia Fifth Round: No. 170: TE Devin Asiasi, UCLA Seventh Round, No. 225: LB Chris Orr, Wisconsin So what do you guys think of those? I think I might prefer Mink's.
As long as they pick up another pass rusher or 2, I'll be okay with trading Judon. He's a little overrated imo
What in the world type of low-ball offer did the Ravens give to not get Hopkins? Did they only throw up half a can of Pringles? I think the one thing to keep in mind is to take a look at the whole draft haul as opposed to one pick. I haven't been thrilled with the idea of individual picks, but for the most part, when it's over, I've liked what I see.
I assume they offered the same thing as Arizona, or something very close (maybe a little worse or a little better) and Houston chose to send Hopkins out of the conference.
