bioLarzen

Analysts tend to disagree. All three guys we picked today have a good chance to become regular starters.

... and there's just gone our future center... The Seahawks took Pocic :)

There's this cool thing called the Internet. You can learn a lot about the guy ;)

Haha, the draft days is one of those periods (together with the first 2 weeks of free agency and the final roster cuts period) when Ozzie suddenly forgets how to evaluate talent and make a decent personnel decision - at least in the eyes of half of the Ravens Nation ;)

If Allen was a top 3 pick, why was he available at 16? His shoulders are considered a risk factor. Some doctors say they are fine and should hold up well enough, others concluded they are true causes for concern. I'm quite positive this was the reason he slid and even Ozzie passed on him. I'm neither a GM nor a scout - but if Ozzie passes on an Alabama player at #16 analysts agree is a top-10 - maybe even top 6-8 - guy talent- and productionwise, I'd think twice before submitting the slip with his name... I'd surely say to myself "Hey, guys, Ozzie might know something we don't..." We'll see.

Well - if there are 4 Bama-players worthy of a #16 pick, I think we can safely assume Ozzie has all the information humanely possible to acquire on all four of them, so if there was someone who could make a genuinely informed decision on which of the four to pick, it was Ozzie. So, if he chose Humphrey, then I guess it was the best pick of the four. Now onto Day #2.

No 1st AND 2nd round pick for the Texans in the 2018 draft... Wowsers...

I'm calling it now: if Watson is still on the board at #16, we're gonna trade with Houston, scoop up their 2nd rounder and still pick a great guy at #25.

All 3 1st round WR's gone, QB's starting to get picked... So far it couldn't go much better for us... I'd say right now it's about 90% chance Ozzie trades down if he finds a trade partner. ... and still come away with a guy he'd pick at #16 - plus a 2nd or 3rd rounder...

Hasaan Reddick... Remember what the Wise Folks of Drafting say: beware of late risers.

YESSSSSSS!!!!!! No WR for us in the first round! Relieved.

I would say those who are flipping out at this point just like to flip out... Because there's not a molecule of sensible reason for anything like that...

Thank god the two top WR's are off the board so fast. At least Ozzie won't be scrutinized by half of Ravens Nation when he doesn't go with a WR in the first round... Still hoping for a RT.

And here I go having thought it was the message boards that were closed at the end of March... Silly me :)

I read an interesting mock the other day, which included trades. In that Ozzie traded down into the mid-20's for an extra 2nd rounder, picked a pass rusher there, then boundled that newly acquired 2nd rounder (or our original 2nd rounder? Can't recall) with the higher 3rd rounder to trade back into the 1st round to something like #29, and pick Corey Davis. It was an interesting mock.

On the other hand, our current roster seems to be in a bigger need at OL than at WR... Ruben Foster seems to be a pipe dream for us - but if he's there, I'd be delighted to have him in Baltimore...

I'd be totally OK with any of these picks. I do believe in the "stick to what works" approach - and what usually works for the Ravens regareding WR is to acquire proven vested veterans - often on the tail end of their careers (Quadry, Mason, Boldin, Steve Smith, Mike Wallace); what hasn't worked for the Ravens has been trying to draft a good one. So, I hope Ozzie won't go WR with his first pick, even if Williams and/or Corey Davis is still on the board. A day 2 guy (Zay Jones, Juju, Kupp etc...) would IMHO be more rasonable WR pick. That said, I hope our first round pick is gonna be 1.) a G/OT; 2.) a pass rusher 3.) an ILB In the end, of course, I'll go on trusting Ozzie, whoever and whichever position he picks.

Well he had a first round pick in Brandin Cooks, now has a top tier WR like Michael Thomas to throw to, and also played with Jimmy Graham who put up quality numbers with Seattle. As is normally the case, the real answer is in the middle. There's not a single QB in NFL history who has produced without quality talent around them. That includes Brees, Brady, and any other QB the ignorant fans think just make receivers look good. My point overall with to dismiss this notion that teams that have highly paid QBs don't need to use quality draft picks on receiving targets around them. The Saints have a very highly paid QB, and they've used a 1st (one they traded up to get) and a 2nd on receivers in recent years. The top 3 receivers on Green Bay... all 2nd round picks. That's called making a high investment in the position. Well, to be honest, Brees also had Marques Colston - and made him a hug success - who was a 7th round pick - and Jimmy Graham was picked 25 spots after our Ed Dickson... If you analyse the receiving corps Rogers and Brady have been throuwing to, you'll also find mid- and late round picks mixed in with the early round ones. Investment is one part. The second part is grooming the talent you've acquired, the third part is putting the groomed talent into an offensive scheme where they can be utilized to their strength, and the fourth paret is a QB who can execute said schemes. I don't think the question whether Flacco is on par with Brady, Brees or Rogers should even come up really, the answer is so obviously no. But he doesn't need to be. He is easily good enough to lead a successful offense if he has the guys, gets the necessary pocket time, and an OC who can create an offensive scheme and playbook which utilizes the offensive staff to their strengths. The main problem, I think is with the latter. And I've been more and more suspecting the WR coaching staff also fails to properly groom the drafted talent - but that's only a suspicion, of course...

Even my fiercestr enemies couldn't accuse me of agreeing with everything Hanseley says - but taking an ofensive tackle in round 1 would IMHO be the best case scenario. That said, if this many potential first round picks are still on the board at #16, we all know Ozzie will trade down.

Most mocks - and especially the more trustworthy ones - all have Foster taken before #16. Of course, those are mocks drafts, ans we all know how much trust to put into them - but mocks are useful to get an image of the trends. And Foster definitely trends to go somewhere 10-15. Also, analysts tend to agree that this diluted sample thing won't affect his draft case much - if at all. So, I think we should expect Foster to join Mike Williams and Corey Davis in the category "picked before the Ravens are on the clock".

Remember drafting Todd Heap in 2011? Good times. Yep - especially since it was right after drafting Jamal Lewis in 2010. Fun times.

I'm quite sure both Mike Williams and Corey Davis will be off the board at #16.

That would be a reasonabl draft - but I'm afraid Schuster at #74 and Pocic in the fourth round may be too optimistic.

But that leaves the O-line's issues un addressed. And they MUST BE addressed if we are hoping for any kind of offensive production. And the free agent market for O-linemen may even be worse than ther rookie crop... and, though there's always a chance of in-house replacements, I for one do not trust either of the Urschel/Jensen/Wesley/Hurst quartet... I haven't seen anything of them to baye any such hope on... So, I would still vote for an O-lineman. That said, I still have the suspicion that Ozie finds a trade partner to trade down 6-8 spots, and pick up Jabrill Peppers there. The Harbaugh-pipeline have provided the evaluators and decision makers with every last bit of information on him, and we all know how Ozzie and Harbaugh love versatility. And Peppers may be the single most versatile guy in this year's draft. He can be a S, a CB, a LB... Many analysts say he's a kind of "jack of all trades, master of none" typs of deal - still I would name him if I absolutely had to name a polayedr I think Ozzie will pick on Thursday.

As for "dream draft scenarios": I do hope our first round pick is going to be an O-lineman - preferably a RT - as this is IMHO our need position which we will likely only be able to effectively address in the first round, as all the probably starting caliber talent will be off the board by the tim,e Ozzie is on the clock in the second round, and the free agent mareket doesn't look like it's gonna spit out the solution for us either. Yep, we went for an offensive tackle the last time too - but then what? If we can really use a guy again and there is a guy - or there are guys - that could do the job, why not? So, I have no problem with getting one of the top O-linemen in the first round being labeled as a "dream scenario".