JonnyBaltimore

For whatever it is worth, we also selected John Simon in that draft class and only 8 players drafted that year have had more sacks than Simon since. haha

Wagner was the last pick in Round 5 of the 2013 Draft. So basically a 6th rounder.

If you look at Boldin's stats prior to and after his departure from the Ravens, you would see that his numbers actually regressed during his time in Baltimore: http://www.nfl.com/player/anquanboldin/2505587/careerstats Prior to arrival in Baltimore, Boldin had 2 years over 1000 yards in Arizona In Baltimore, Boldin had 3 years sub 1000 yards After departure from Baltimore, Boldin had 2 years over 1000 yards in San Francisco

Agree with this. Just go look at New England's draft history in recent years. Finding the late round gems is much more important than missing on a few early round picks. The reason is VALUE. First, the early round picks don't get paid as much any more and second, the later round picks get paid low. So if you succeed with some late round contributors, you get great performance for low pay but when you miss in the early rounds, you get low performance for reasonable pay. The risk/reward formula is in our favour. I'd be more concerned if we missed in a Top 10 scenario, but we don't suck that bad regularly so that isn't a problem.

They are looking for Joe Flacco. It looks like he went missing in the regular season.

If we expect January Joe to be Pro Bowl Joe in the regular season, we are being a bit optimistic. He is 0 - 9 in that regard. And if we are going to rely primarily on his arm and his decision-making to get us in the playoffs, we are asking way too much based on past experience. He is not that type of QB. The solution is to surround him with better players, where those ''better players'' are primarily carrying the load. He is woefully inconsistent in the regular season and expecting him to change suddenly in his 10th year is wanting at the very least. As stated before, Joe is part of the solution but him ''upping'' his game in the regular season is not one of them. We need to get some playmaker's on offence and rely less on our franchise QB who only acts like that maybe 4-5 games a year when those big games get his juices going. The problem is there is something called a "regular season" where he needs to show up for.

And because he has not demonstrated this, we need to find other players that can "carry the team". I hope that clarifies. The fact that this is the hottest topic AND the fact the Head Coach also called out Flacco, should say it all. If you guys read my position, I believe Flacco is a part of the solution. But we have to get off this notion that he will be the type of QB that is the MVP of the offence just because he is paid like it. Stop expecting him to play like his salary and start building an offence to compensate for his inconsistencies/weaknesses.

"Carry the team" does not mean do it by themselves. Don't think anyone can literally do it by themselves in football. "Carry the team" in the context is to lead the team and be the most significant reason why the team makes the playoffs. I would think this is obvious but apparently it isn't. When you have a top 10 defence and are surrounded with a solid supporting cast and are deemed and paid as the FRANCHISE QB, and have one of the best special teams in the league, you should make the playoffs if you can "carry the team" as defined above.

Experience says Not Joe Flacco.

My point is the REGULAR season. It would be nice to read the actual post.

We are expecting him to play up to his salary and to the salary as other QBs in that class. It's pretty clear you did not read that. FLACCO is NOT a QB that can carry a team to the playoffs. So knowing that, then surround him with player's that can carry the load.

Ten years = 0 Pro Bowls. And now in his 11th year, we are expecting him to play to the level of a Pro Bowler that can carry the team. My point is Flacco needs MORE good players than other QBs that we are expecting him to play to. The reality is at some point, Flacco supporters need to call a spade a spade and stop expecting him to be THAT type of QB. We need to surround the team to compensate for his weaknesses. And to mention him in the same breath as Rodgers especially in the regular season is a joke. Here's my question then, why does he play so well in the big games as opposed to the less meaningful regular season games? Is it because he has better players surrounding him in the playoffs? The player's surrounding him are the exact SAME.

The reality is if Joe played like a Pro Bowler in the regular season and plays like Joe does in the playoffs, he would be one of the best players in the league. I think that is asking a bit much. His durability, however, is under appreciated as we have been quite fortunate to have him play 10 years and he has missed only a handful of games. I think the mistake is that we are wanting and expecting him to be THAT type of quarterback, when he just doesn't have the IQ and accuracy to be THAT QB. Based on his skill set, it is better to surround him with a dominating OL and superstar RB, and less importantly though still necessary with guys who can stretch the field. We just need player's who can stretch the field to keep defence off balance. We then have to add guys who can break the game open from the backfield and the slot with YAC (i.e. a RB who can break it open (i.e. Dalvin Cook). Although I am optimistic with Perriman, we have had a horrendous history of drafting WR's. Our WR scouting department needs to really be reviewed. The Steelers on the other hand have had great success picking guys who can stretch the field without paying them much. They know how to scout their WR's. In an ideal situation for the offence, we cut Pitta post June to create cap space to re-sign Wagner. Dalvin Cook drops to 16 in the 2017 NFL draft or we trade up to get him. Adoree Jackson drops to round 2 and we pick him and put him the slot. B. Watson gets healthy and comes back as our receiving TE to replace Pitta and be a downfield threat. We tender RFA T. West with original tender and someone picks him up giving us an additional 3rd rounder. We then use our three 3rd round picks and 4th round picks to address Center, Cornerback, Guard. So then we surround Joe with Wallace and Perriman on the outside, with Dalvin Cook/Dixon in the backfield, and Adoree Jackson in the slot. (We drafted Wagner with a 5 round pick, so if we can get an upgrade a Center w/ Zuttah as a restructured backup). Then we have B.Watson who can stretch the field and lead our young TEs (and cheap) into the future. Then we accept our defence will be a Top 10 -15 with minor upgrades and hope any combination of Correa, Kaufusi, Davis, Henry can contribute next year. But we then get a better offence and running game that will dominate Time of Possession and help our defence out. Rather than expect Flacco to play up to his salary and pull an Aaron Rodgers, I think this would best provide Flacco with an environment for success. One that would counter his inherent deficiencies and allow us to get to the playoffs where he plays his best.

He is a game changer. His feet are amazing.

I'd go: Round 1: CB Sydney Jones (starting CB w/ Jimmy Smith and Tavon Young) Round 2: CB Adoree Jackson (use as a scatback, slot receiver, punt returner- develop as a CB that can fill in as a slot CB for depth) Round 3: Oline Center Round 3: Oline Guard Re-sign Wagner at RT, restructure Dumervil, hope one of Correa and Kaufusi develop as a pass rusher. Address Pass Rusher in 2018 or sign a situational pass rusher. I'm really tired of hearing and seeing DB as being an area of concern every year. With this year's crop of CB's, we should target this position specifically. There are so many of them. What proves to be true is that you have to draft a CB or overpay them in Free Agency. Few if any of our CB's signed as free agents have turned into much. Better to draft the DBs and go the free agent route for WR's.

I like Jones; I think he will be a stud. He is a plug and play corner with no visible weaknesses. He's light but he can tackle. The only X factor is his speed, but judging from the tape he is probably 4.45'ish. Long, patient and is a student of the game. All great attributes. I believe he might not be there at 16.

Way too early to assess the 2016 draft. I'm optimistic that we can get 1 or 2 more starters out of that draft class. Besides we got Judon late and he had 4 sacks in limited playing time.

But give credit to Harbaugh for riding his butt into the off season, because it's not okay for Flacco to underperform like that.

I'm sorry but expecting Flacco to be a franchise quarterback and playing up to his contract is really setting ourselves up for disappointment. You're not going to get it. It's time to own up to the fact that we overpaid after 1 great post season run. With this personnel, Harbaugh needs to realize that it can only be RUN first and then PA off that (like Kubiak's system). Flacco being nothing more than a good game manager that can throw the deep ball. He just does not have the IQ to take this team on his shoulders. I find Flacco's and Harbaughs post game interviews almost nauseating.

With Tennessee and Tampa Bay winning today, we are at #17 slot. If Denver beats Oakland, we get at least the #16 slot for the 2017 draft. TIE-BREAKING PROCEDURE FOR SELECTION MEETING Clubs not participating in the playoffs shall select in the first through 20th positions in reverse standings order. The Super Bowl winner is last and Super Bowl loser is next-to-last. The losers of the Conference Championship games shall select 29th and 30th based on won-lost-tied percentage. The losers of the Divisional playoff games shall select 25th through 28th based on won-lost-tied percentage. The losers of the Wild Card games shall select 21st through 24th based on won-lost-tied percentage. If ties exist in any grouping except (2) above, such ties shall be broken by strength-of-schedule. If any ties cannot be broken by strength-of-schedule, the divisional or conference tie-breakers, if applicable, shall be applied. Any ties that still exist shall be broken by a coin flip. With Minnesota and Indianapolis winning, they finished 8-8 tied with us. If New Orleans wins, they will also finish 8-8 tied with us The tie breaker is based on Strength of Schedule (however, not sure if this is 2015 strength of schedule or 2016 strength of schedule). http://www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/201479/2016-nfl-strength-of-schedule Theoretically, we will pick as high as #13 and as low as #17 depending on how strength of schedule is determined. If it is determined by this link, I have us picking at the #14 slot if NO wins and #15 if NO loses, as only Indianapolis has a worst strength of schedule.

I say trade up because we had a good 2016 draft. That said, we got starters not game changers. With a solid 2016 draft, if KC or Kaufusi can turn into a contributing starter for us, and one of Henry and Cannady be a rotational player, we knock that draft out of the stadium. This let's us go for a home run with this 2017 draft as we get a comp 3rd for Osemele and we should trade up and go for it.

2 and 4 would be nice. I say trade up and grab one of them.

Did they use this year's (2016) SOS? Looks like it if we are picking 16.

I'd be surprised if Elam is back. I think Pitta stays if we can restructure his contract to a more decent number. With the #15 pick, we need a playmaker/cover corner in the secondary. We tried to get Ramsey this year and given how ''meh'' our offence was this year, I think that was the difference between making the playoffs and not. I like Stanley though.

The bottom line is that when you are the highest paid player on your team, you bear the most responsibility for the team. The fact the we haven't heard the "Elite" debate all year is because frankly there is no debate. Flacco at his current cap hit is simply poor value. Expecting him to be Matt Ryan or Aaron Rogers is just setting ourselves up for disappointment. What we learned the last few years is that he cannot make that next step. He is, however, a solid, durable QB who can throw the long ball and plays well in games that matter. I would say that I would rather have him at the QB position than 90% of the QB's in our league, but from a value standpoint, he is just not earning his keep. It almost seems as if we can structure his contract to one that is more performance based, it is likely he would play better. Coaching needs to ride him to get performance if that is what is needed in the regular season. I have seen these personality types before--make him prove himself and he will.