BigUgly

Of course Harbs expects the 2017 Ravens D to be great. After the massive investment over the last 2 years in Weddle, B Williams, Tony Jefferson, Carr, and 11 draft picks in the last 2 years, it had darn well better be. The cupboard is pretty bare on the other side of the ball, where OCs have been fired like Browns' QBs, partially due to coaching ineptitude and certainly due to a lack of talent. There is precious little cap space to shore up the offense, so I'm not sure what to expect the TEAM to do in 2017.

I'll pass. If the creative offensive geniuses in Arizona and then New England - the latter with the GOAT QB - couldn't make use of him, I give him no shot here. The off the field stuff is merely the nail in the coffin. Would rather take a flier on V Jackson, Boldin or Cruz.

The Ravens have signed the back up QB, dont think they will not sign a no.3. its a waste of time and effort. let alone that Kaepernick cant push his wifes cart around the Safeway. I think Charles is a fine idea, the question is how affordable? At this point I think the Ravens are pretty certain that they wont add a TE, why pass on the best TE of the year if the team felt there was a need at all? Since Charles signed with Denver, looks like we are all-in on West (and Dixon, eventually). Howard may have also been the best WR available when the Ravens were on the clock; he's taller and faster than Williams. The Ravens could then cut Watson, Pitta, and one of the other small army of guys they need to keep on the roster to try and get a couple of average guys on the field. Also wonder where the Ravens had JuJu and Godwin on their board.

I know the Ravens drafted BPA, and have some of the best scouts and relationships with college programs to build their board, so I'm sure this draft class will be successful. I do wonder what a draft that emphasized offensive playmakers a bit more may have looked like. Assuming no trades, we could have had the following in the first 3 rounds (pretty happy with the 4th and 5th, and the 6th is a ST player at best): 1. OJ Howard - Bigger and faster than the WR Williams, and he can block 2. JuJu - Compares to Boldin as a receiver who can run great routes and win contested catches, and he can block 3. Tim Williams or Chris Godwin (the latter if you really wanted to emphasize the O; though he seems a poor man's Perriman) 3. Fabian Moreau - fill our CB need later in a very deep class Be interesting to see which set of picks will look better 3 years from now.

Free agency may be the only way to improve the offense, but we have very little cap room to do so. Even if one presumes we cut Watson and Arrington when they are declared healthy enough, we still have to sign all of our draft picks. We have plenty of bodies but no clear answer at WR, C, and RT and could probably use a faster RB.

Humphrey, Williams, Wormley and Siragusa look to have a good shot at contributing right away. Williams could be special, if he can stay out of trouble.

Exactly the type of tough possession receiver we need, but not sure he'd want to come back after the way he was kicked to the curb after the SB season and I suspect there was some friction between his leadership style and that of Harbs.

The head coach is responsible for hiring & firing his staff. Harbs has, in his time in Baltimore, surrounded himself with very experienced coordinators and one of the largest (and presumably most expensive) staffs in the NFL. Harbs is a great head coach in nearly every area, but game-day decision making and selecting coordinators (especially on offense) isn't his strong suit. On defense, the inability to hold a lead is a hallmark of the Pees defense, regardless of players. Can't be any excuses for the D after this draft, that's for sure. On offense, we have migrated from a power running, deep pass attack of Cam to the zone-blocking, play-action pass style of Kubiak to whatever the hell Trestman and then Marty tried to Frankenstein together. Firing OCs in mid-season has become a disturbing trend. Not sure what the identity of the offense will be now, but it seems as though the talent is lacking in many areas to execute much of anything very well. It all circles back to Harbs. His coordinators and his staff are a reflection on him, and he doesn't have any room to make yet another major shift.

Bowser and Williams could really become playmakers, though it looks as though each guy could benefit from a full offseason workout program and someone will have have to make sure Williams doesn't hang with the same crowd that led to his multiple issues.

Sure tackler with decent speed for special teams and an outside shot at plugging in on defense in the future. Not a bad pick per the board perhaps, but certainly not one tied to a position of need which has most folks upset. Reality is, a WR, RB, or OL picked in the 6th likely wouldn't make the roster at those positions, and would probably be a lesser ST contributor. Hey may have been the best ST-er available on the board.

None that made what Ozzie considered a fair offer. We aren't the Bears (aka the new-Browns).

After the way in which we unceremoniously dumped him, why would Boldin want to finish out his career here?

flacco needs to make the players around him better like $25 million qb's are paid to do Logically, yes, but he is what he is. A durable QB with not-quite-average accuracy and decision-making skills who got hot at the right time enroute to a super bowl MVP. He got hot because he had a dominant O-Line, game-changing running back, and a mix of proven possession and deep threat receivers. In other words, he needed to be surrounded by excellent talent. Same is true today, but I don't see much offensive excellence on the horizon.

Gotta admire Ozzie for not panicking and sticking to his board. I have no doubt he'll go all defense if the board falls that way, and I don't see many plug and play WRs or OL left (weak class for the latter anyway). Unfortunately, we are strapped for cap space to add pieces to the offense.

Orr was far from an "ok" MLB. In fact, one could argue he outplayed the pro-bowler Mosley. Of course, he had several years to grow and develop into the position, and the same may be true of Correa. The difference is, Orr (and Onwuasor) was an undrafted free agent, whereas Correa was taken with a high 2nd rounder when more proven guys were on the board. We all assume/hope that the scouts and Ozzie have for more valuable insight into the value of a pick than the conventional wisdom of all the draftniks. That has certainly been true in the later rounds and the undrafted guys, but for some reason they seem to be reaching in the higher rounds with disappointing results.

He was given the chance last year at ILB and was beaten out by Orr and McClellan. I think the walk-on Onwuasor beat him out in the pre-season as well. Hope he can pick up the position. May be tough for an under-sized OLB/DE who played in a smaller conference in college. Seemed like a reach at #2 last year (sound familiar?), and I have no reason to think differently now. We'll see.

If you wanted evidence of Ozzie sticking to BPA philosophy, this was it. One can only question how they assembled the board, and time will tell. I thought they got boxed into taking Humphrey in the 1st after trying to move up and down, and picked the best Bama player on their board. So be it. Bowser seemed a bit of a reach with the #2, but still not too crazy. Wormley was actually good value at where he was selected, as was Williams, but the latter has some major character red flags (guess Harbs was out of the draft room at the time). I was expecting to see JuJu or Godwin at WR and Elflein get nabbed by the Ravens, and Willis ahead of Bowser. Oh well. In Ozzie we trust.

So lets review the bidding. Coming into the draft, the Raven's needs were EDGE, WR, OL, CB, ILB, DL (in roughly that order). We came out with CB, EDGE, DL, and EDGE. Really concerned about the offense at this point. I expect some guys on the squad to step up on the OL, but dynamic WRs aren't growing on trees. This draft seems like an vote of no confidence on some recent D-heavy drafts (Z Smith, Judon, Henry, Correa, Davis...)

Nah. Reuben Foster is the next McClain.

Actually, Wormley might be the most on-target pick Ozzie has had so far relative to the pundits' expectations.

Really surprised they didn't nab Godwin with the 2nd pick in the 3rd. Here's to hoping they can at least fill the OL holes in the 4th, as they did last year with Lewis. Guess this means Mangold and either Boldin or V Jack will be Ravens.

Williams is an excellent, but one-dimensional pass rusher. Ravens passed on Godwin (WR from PSU), several remaining OL, and even some other Edge rushers (Lawson, etc.). Hope Ozzie has some good inside info on this kid, because Bowser looks like another "too cute, too soon" pick in the 2nd.

Zay Jones, JuJu, and Dawkins will go in the 2nd.

Trust Ozzie to take the best Bama player available. Would've loved to have seen what the trade (up and back) options were. Probably would've meant Barnett had we traded up, and still Humphrey or maybe Take had we traded back.

Though I liked the thought of Davis falling to us, there is still a risk with all of the top-flight WRs. Better that we make a safer pick at an enduring position of need, and the #2 overall CB at 16 isn't too bad. I'm thinking Ozzie has some dirt on both Allen and Foster to let them slide, and he must not have been as impressed with Howard at TE as the rest of the pundits. I won't ever doubt Ozzie's ability to select the Best Mama Player Available. That said, tonight will be where we win or lose our 2017 draft.