law215

Ravens have a great start Stanley and Lewis could be book end tackles for years. Strong up the defensive middle in Williams (DT), Mosley (ILB) and Jefferson (SS). Speed at WR in Perriman and Wallace. Depth at TE and RB What they need from this draft are play makers. Whether it be at Wr, RB, TE, Pass rusher, CB, S. If they avoid the temptation to follow analytics and 'value' , trust their scouts and select BPA, one of those playmaking positions will be there at #16 and possibly #47. In 2011 they got J Smith and T Smith. Torrey allowed Bolding to play one on one. J. Smith covered the big receivers. Huge role in championship run.

OK, and what if all 7 of those players are on the board, and lets say for sake of example, Detroit (I picked them simply for easy math) wants to give us a 3rd rounder to move back 5 slots, as the draft chart says is approximately even.... you say we don't do it? That doesn't make ANY sense, because you can still get choice of 2 of those 7 AND another player in the top 100. First, It's highly unlikely that ALL 7 will still be on the board. But I'll play along. It's still gamble that not needed. What if we move back 2 spots? And Mike Williams turns out to be a beast. He goes to Titans who then would be another AFC team competing for a playoff spot with Ravens. Also, What if the Broncos trade with Skins. Now there are 2 AFC teams picking a player higher than you. IMO, trading back works when you already have a good team and need additional picks for depth and future. A team that missed the playoffs and have not won the divison should play the percentages and take the BPA Look at mock drafts all over the web. Go to #16 to see who they give the Ravens. Then go look at #26-32. Every time there is someone there I bet you would be happy to take. So we could still get someone very good & pick up another 2nd or 3rd. Think what we could do with two 2nd's & two 3rd's! We have two many holes to fill & a great opportunity to do so. We need a great player. And MOST of the time, the ones at the lower part of the draft are not as certain of a pick as the higher rated players. For example Perriman, on paper looked like a beast. BUT he was available at 26. Why? health concerns, hands, etc.. Elam was a top 5 safety available at #32. The further you move down the more risk you take. My point is with so many needs, why take on risk?

The logic of your statement may fail for this reason. Why in such a deep draft would someone give up picks to us? Wouldn't they use their picks to obtain many players too? And if they did, who is this great player they are willing part with picks to secure ? He could be the next AJ Green, Patrick Peterson , T -Sizzle and what would you have? The next Matt Judon, Correa, Alex Lewis, Dixon? The difference in a lot of the Ravens games are we had average to good players and other have good to great players.

OK, and what if all 7 of those players are on the board, and lets say for sake of example, Detroit (I picked them simply for easy math) wants to give us a 3rd rounder to move back 5 slots, as the draft chart says is approximately even.... you say we don't do it? That doesn't make ANY sense, because you can still get choice of 2 of those 7 AND another player in the top 100. First, It's highly unlikely that ALL 7 will still be on the board. But I'll play along. It's still gamble that not needed. What if we move back 2 spots? And Mike Williams turns out to be a beast. He goes to Titans who then would be another AFC team competing for a playoff spot with Ravens. Also, What if the Broncos trade with Skins. Now there are 2 AFC teams picking a player higher than you. IMO, trading back works when you already have a good team and need additional picks for depth and future. A team that missed the playoffs and have not won the divison should play the percentages and take the BPA

The 2012 Superbowl Champion Ravens was in large part a team that was 13-3 in 2006 before Harbs and Flacco, close to winning the Division in 2008, won the division in 2011 and 2012. This is not that team. This is a team that missed 3 out of the last 4 playoffs and have not won the division in 5 years. What they need are playmakers : Based on chance of availability 1. OJ Howard –BPA if he’s there at 16. I doubt it though 2. Mike Williams – Miss match, will win ball similar to Boldin, Evans, Benjamin, can make Flacco better 3. Barnett – loss Dummervil, Suggs is older 4. McKinley – speed rusher 5. Corey Davis – route runner, size, RAC 6. Peppers – If the above guys are gone, he’s BPA IMO, will always be around football 7. Cook – home run RB, running and catching out of backfield Trading back is gambling when you are already behind. Yes, the Ravens can play Steelers, Patriots, and a lot of teams close, but moral victories do not win games. This is a deep draft so the teams already ahead of the Ravens will get better too. Stay put and select BPA. No need to wheel and deal with a team that has been 3rd in the division for years.

Unless the positional coaching develops the player we have, play calling gets better, and in-game decision improves, I don't think the Ravens will be a playoff no matter who they bring it. Brining in Jefferson is a good start, but Weddle and Carr are older players so the secondary, pass rush IMO is still the top priority. Not ILB, RB, Wr. I don't trust the Ravens to use a 1st round pick on Wr. What I keep in mind is that other teams are drafting and bringing in free agents too. When you are behind , you need to do more to catch up. Steelers - have a dominant offense, they only need a pass rusher and DB Patriots - have reloaded during free agency Raiders - only need a RB, CB Bengals - have dominated the Ravens and Ravens don't have an answer for their receivers. Being realistic it's going to take young guys stepping up, a great draft, and better coaching to compete.

Opinions: Peppers may be a Troy Polamalu type safety. Constantly around the football but much better in the box than center field. OR he is more ILB than safety. Since there is value in rounds 2-3 at safety, they could get a center field type later since that player would learn behind Weddle, Jefferson, and Webb without the risk. If Perriman, Correa, Maxx Williams, Gilmore, Moore, Dixon, Kafusi, Young can improve and contribute, they would be a better football. My concern is Ravens are always putting veterans ahead of young guys. Until they learn to develop young players, old men like Boldin, Mangold always seem appealing, but are short-term answers to mask a coaching issue.

This makes me laugh...you might want to use two other teams as examples than the Raiders and the Chiefs. Granted the Raiders went 12-4 last year...but you do realize they missed the playoffs the previous 13 years! Of those 13 years, the Raiders lost 10 or more games 10 times, with two 8-8 seasons and a 7-9. The Chiefs? Well, they have been in the playoffs 3 of the last 4 seasons, but the Chiefs have won one (1!) playoff game since 1993 (the 2015 wild card game vs. the legendary Brian Hoyer-led Texans). In the 19 years since 1998 the Chiefs missed the playoffs 13 times, and 9 of those were with losing records. You making my point. The Raider got their act together because they CHANGED drafting every fast player from the combine in the first round to getting a solid coach like Del Rio and evaluating talent. The Raiders are trending up. They are doing a better job ' today' than the Ravens.

How often does Suggs go down and we are left scrambling for pass rush depth? Hint, it happened once how many times have our cbs went down and we watch an otherwise solid team become abysmal because of practice squadders starting in the secondary? Literally every year IS Webb at this point in his career worth spending money on with so many holes at Wr, OL, Pass rush? IMO no.

Well, I don't see why getting a hometown favorite (except for you of course), the 16th rated safety in the NFL, and a good guy for CONSIDERABLY less money than he made last year, is so hard to get. Makes perfect sense to me. If Webb was any good some other team would have picked him up. The fact that in a passing league he was available after being cut should say its time to move on.

suggs was part of a pass rush that routinely surrendered 4th quarter leads, guess we should cut him? Suggs brings more to the table. You already have Young, Smith, Carr, Jefferson, and Weddle in the secondary. Who do Ravens have if Suggs is gone? To put Webb in a category of Suggs is ridiculous.

Sounds like excuses or an attempt to justify. If it's a level playing field how are the Raiders and Chiefs stocking team with talent while still making the playoffs? How are the Steelers able to add quality receivers every draft? Maybe what they been doing since 1996 needs to change? I don't think the Ravens are necessarily bad at drafting, I think other teams are doing a better job of drafting and developing. I also believe the FO lacks confidence in their ability to draft and coaches ability to develop. Why else would they resign Webb in a draft that's deep in secondary? Why sign Watson last year with 4 TEs already on the roster?

Webb was part of the secondary that routinely surrenders 4th quarter leads. I don't get how adding him makes the Ravens better or add quality depth. What happened to getting younger and faster?

Yeah. There's definitely a long list of WRs who came here, sucked, and then played well elsewhere. O wait... That just shows how poorly they draft receiver. They are not stars here and drop off shortly after.

Why even consider bringing back Webb? He's old and slow. What young player do you not develop to give Webb snaps? Makes zero sense. Draft a Wr in the first round and then keep bring in vets to start ahead of him. No wonder Wr never develop under Ravens.

OZ said himself that recent drafts have not met expectations so there no need for fans or media trying to defend the obvious bust in recent drafts. The pitchforks are out per Steve B. So no need to defend anything when your boss put it out there you are on notice. A GM is successful if he can not only draft but also retain top talent. This article points out Eric and OZ failure to do both in recent years. For example, Webb accounting for 8.5 million against the cap was a joke. If you make those types of decisions then of course you can't pay KO. So they can try to justify letting good players go because they are 'too expensive', but then paying guys like Webb who are average at best.

IMO it's never been more clear on what the Ravens need and what is available at pick #16. Just the watch replay of Ravens vs Steelers 2016, Ravens vs Patriots 2014, or any game versus the Bengals. Those games scream the need for CB, S, Pass rusher OLB. In other words skill position in the pass defense. To do anything else is absurd and will not improve their chances of beating the team they need to get to playoffs. How many times can this defense be exposed or abused late in the game? How many 10 to 14 point leads gets wiped away cause the CB can't cover and not enough pass rushers. If they want to compete with Bengals, Steelers, Raiders, Patriots, Chiefs, they better address the pass defense. And Brandon Carr and Weddle are over 30 and not enough especially since it's a coin flipped if Jimmy Smith will be healthy. Pick the BPA at one of those positions end of story. They can get WR, OT, RB, C, G in the 2-3 rounds with quality. It's a weak OT class and Ravens, for whatever reason, are never successful at drafting Wr in the first round. In a draft where they can't afford to miss, why go there?

What gets lost in all of this is another high round pick of OZ that , for whatever reason, did not make it pass rookie contract or failed to live up to expectations. Elam, Kruger, Oher, Kindle, Cody, Travis Taylor, Upshaw, KO, Torrey, A Brown, M Clayton (who he drafted with A Rod on the board and Kyle Boller as the QB). There were a lot of key free agents (Boldin, Pollard, Leach, McCrary, Adams, Sharp, Woodson, Birk, McKinney, etc...) on the Ravens 2 super bowl teams. OZ does a really good job, if not the best job, at filling the pieces within a budget and drafting value in mid-late rounds. Drafting skill positions which is what the Ravens always seems to lack, not so much, at least not in the last 8 years. Until I see consistent drafts at those positions, I am not that excited about number of picks or where we pick. It's hard to image with the depth of talent in this draft that the Ravens somehow miss on any player in the top 3 rounds, but lately, missing on at least one player in rounds 1-3 has been routine. For the fans that will argue that's every NFL team, fair enough, but stop the blind Wizard of OZ and in OZ we trust rhetoric no matter what he fails to do.

Ravens were never going to be able to keep Jernigan and Mosley and B Williams. They value Mosley more and will pick up 5th years and sign him long term. Jernigan is a casualty of keeping Williams now and Mosley later. I like the move. Either let him play this season, lose him for a comp pick or in a deep draft move up to increase likelihood you get a player you value. I do think Jernigan will be better in a Philly where he can penetrate in a 4-3 and not try to eat blocks in a 3-4. It suits his style more.

I think the difference makers that may be available at 16 are: Offense: Wr Williams, Wr Davis, TE OJ Howard - Flacco needs a big body sure-handed target and these are the top 3. They have enough speed. They need a physical mismatch receiver. Defense: CB Conley, OLB Harris, OLB Barnett, McKinley I am not sold on Peppers, Ross and Cook. I agree with the comment at the end. There is no need to draft another ILB with Mosley on the team and the holes still in the secondary and offense.

Ravens need a playmaker at pick 16#. To do anything else is very questionable. I expect Ravens to slide Lewis to RT and draft interior linemen in the mid rounds and add depth after June 1.

'Surrounding Flacco with the right tools' is another way of admitting the $120M QB has not lived up to the contract. The number one problem with the offense was not the lack of playmakers. In fact , going into last season, this site talked endlessly about how Flacco has 'so many weapons' and how the returning o-line along with addressing LT would be a much better offense. The problem isn't the right tools, it's the coaching staff that did not know how to use them. They barely ran the ball and made boneheaded calls that cost the Ravens at least 2 games (Raiders, Redskins). If those things changed, the Ravens would have been 10-6 and in the playoffs. The defense lacks speed in the secondary and a consistent pass rusher. That BPA will be there at #16. My concern with drafting offense is the offense had weapons (Smith Sr, Pitta, Wallace, Dixon, Juice, West) , a 1st round LT, a HOF Guard (Yanda), and a top 10 RT (Wagner) and still looked pathetic. Ravens need the right coaching since you can only draft and pay so many players.

I like Williams more than Davis. Flacco is not that accurate and Williams can just bully the ball away from defense like Boldin did. Either are playmaker though.

I like the idea of the Ravens taking the BPA at a position of need at #16. I think the mistake Ravens made in the past few drafts is to assign a draft position to a player and move back or pass on a position of need expecting blue chip talent to at the next pick. If Charles Harris is the BPA at pass rusher and there are no CB, S, Wr rated higher, then take him at #16. The players I would consider ahead on him are Wr Mike Williams, RB Fournette, CB Conley, Humphrey. S J. Peppers could be a dime LB and safety once Weddle gets too old. I think he can grow into the position down the road, but is a guy that can be a playmaker and add speed to the defense right away. Definitely will add swag and alpha persona to the defense. Then Harris or Tak who I think will grow into pro bowl pass rushers. They would be worth a little reach now for a beast by next year. From what I hear, this is a weak Oline class, so I am thinking they are looking for a playmaker at pick #16. If Ravens don't pick secondary in round 1 , then it becomes a need in round 2. I think the draft is deep at pass rusher and secondary , but at #16 they need an immediate impact.

Hope this team can stay healthy and drama free. The team will be better than last season.