BigUgly

18 hours ago, Halshayeji said:

hes definaty here to mentor Tim Willams along with a few more young guns. Great hire. Best of luck Jameel

In order for that to really work, Tim Williams will have to be willing to spend more time around the Castle and away from the people and environment that increase the risk of him getting into trouble.  Once these guys leave the tightly scheduled, insulated world of a college campus and are given large sums of money and more free time, bad things can happen.

The only issue I have with Bowser and Williams is that they are both similar type players - 6'3, under 230lbs.  I don't think they can hold up as every down players, at least not in their rookie seasons.  But Lord help an opponent's offense on 3rd and long.  They will need bodybags for their QBs.

17 hours ago, rmcjacket23 said:

Best guess based on draft chart is a 3rd round pick.

So at the end of the day, you'd have to ask whether you think Humphrey + Williams is a fair trade for Barnett?

And again, we're just assuming that Philly would be OK with that kind of deal. I would assume its far more difficult and pricey to trade with another team so you can select a player that they like themselves.

No real knowledge behind this, but I assume most of the times these trades go through, the team moving up isn't selecting a player that the other team likely would have taken.

Philly targeted Barnett.  The guy that scouted Suggs for Baltimore now works in the Eagles FO, and he saw the similarities immediately, and Jim Schwartz, another former Raven coach and now D Coordinator for the Eagles, knows exactly what to do with a guy like Barnett.  No way would Philly have traded out of #14.

I don't blame the Ravens for not trading away their entire draft to move up in the 1st for a WR. If they were committed to a playmaking pass catcher, I wonder why they didn't grab OJ Howard at #16, to trade back in the 2nd for JuJu, or pick up Chris Godwin in the third. That's 4 opportunities (if you count the 2 picks in the third) to land a pass catcher.

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.

7 hours ago, J.O.14 said:

I'm not sure how this will sit with many of you or what your opinions are, but what about Michael Floyd? I know he has been in some trouble, and is currently in jail I believe, but he will be out before the season. He definitely has the talent, size, but obviously there are concerns. He hasn't been as productive as he was expected, but if he gets it together and focuses on just football, he could be great again. We could use a WR like that...but he would definitely have to get his life together first and prove hes reliable. He is also only 27 years old...

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.

25 minutes ago, bigcatfrank1 said:

43 minutes ago, burnstr19 said:

Would love to see Kaepernick brought in to back up Joe and push him throughout the year. Would also like to see us give Jamaal Charles a look, work him out at least. Barnidge would also make sense to gander at a la Dallas Clark role. Any updates on Watson?

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.

22 minutes ago, The Mom Gene said:

probably not, but it's a fun thought..

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.

1 hour ago, GENE2407 said:

My beef with Harbaugh would center around the coordinators, not players. I'll always reference the Cam Cameron situation as an example of John being way WAY too loyal and stubborn to coord's that suck. Right now we can do a lot better than Morningwig and Pees, but he won't make a move until they fall flat on their faces and the backlash from the fans grows to a revolt.
 

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.

7 minutes ago, Raven in ATL said:

Ozzie is just getting played, no trade partners to move up to get the guy we want?

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

7 minutes ago, bioLarzen said:

Since it's wiser not to count on day 3 rookies making significant impact in their rookie seasons, I wonder if, after an all-defense first two days of the draft it is time to start the Boldin/Mangold to Baltimore bandwagons.

... and that would still leave the vacancy at the RT position unaddressed... But at least the late-free agency priorities are now clear: offense, offense and once again, offense...

Plus a true ILB when one becomes available...

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

  4 hours ago, mc_red23 said:

I love how the defense is going to be insane for the coming season, thank you, thank you, thank you Ozzie for picking Tim Williams!

On the other hand, I'd be raging if I was Flacco. Apart from picking up Woodhead we've done nothing to help him do his job to a good enough level.  There's no reason why we couldn't have gone Ardarius Stewart/Chris Godwin & Tim Williams (in any order) in round 3. Perriman best be the crap this season or else we could be in trouble. 

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.

7 hours ago, Ravensfansince03 said:

I think you guys are mistaken, badly. Correa was dealing with injuries. I watched him in practice and he looked good. I think we had a bunch of "ok" MLB's and the coach just gave the nod to guys like Orr, guys who needed to prove they could be starters. I felt this way before and I still feel it now...Correa is the true underdog

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.

6 minutes ago, RavensBaltimore said:

The team has said that Correa will be given a chance to move to ILB and start next to Mosley.

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.

7 minutes ago, designermaryland said:

I am extremely underwhelmed by all the picks thus far. Lukewarm on Humphry, and the others have the look of mediocre role players. The front office is getting out game planned in the early rounds every year since the arrival of Harbaugh. Bowser just looks raw, and although we need pass rush, we do have several guys on the roster including suggs, zadarius, judon while we are passing over tackles and centers. why are we wasting a pick on a DE when you need o line? The ozzie draft selection and philosophy never makes any sense to me because you are devaluing the positions you need most to fill. No need for more defensive in this draft.

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...)

Joe Flacco is gonna need life insurance......and apparently the Ravens don't have much confidence in Correa. I hope Williams doesn't become the next Rolando McClain.

Nah. Reuben Foster is the next McClain.

8 minutes ago, BiggMack91 said:

so guess we have no faith in the guys on our roster Williams is a good pick but Chris Wormley was a big time reach I'm disappointed

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.