Alabama Raven

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Posts posted by Alabama Raven

  2. Posted · Report post

    23 minutes ago, Cillmatic said:

    Well it looks like Rueben Foster is on our radar now.

    I agree. We were obviously thin at LB, but we could rely on Mosley & Orr. Without Orr, I think we're in a terrible spot, arguably worse here than we are at CB. I think this opens up our board to selecting Foster/Cunningham in round 1 or hope that Davis/McMillan are around in round 2. 

     

    We have so many holes to fill, it's daunting. 

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  3. Posted · Report post

    18 hours ago, allblackraven said:

    Since I was the one to bring up Allen, Jackson and Foster, I feel obliged to respond :)

    Completely agree on Foster and Jackson. As far as Allen goes, I think it's very hard to gauge Alabama defensive front and who benefited the most being around the other guys. I really like him as a prospect but I think as much as he helped Reed and Robinson, help came back his way equally. I also believe that A'Shawn Robinson was one of the steals of '16 draft going in 2nd round.

    I left Tim Williams out of the list because I'm not entirely sold on him as a match for Ravens, as you pointed out but will be very interested to see what he does this season.

    I'm a believer in Allen's repertoire. He's plus in all phases of the game: Pass rush, run defense, athleticism, tackling, edge sealing, you name it. His versatility and strength allowed less talented players (all completely my opinion of course) like Reed make names for themselves. I could see him being a great fit in Baltimore, but problematically I could also so Baltimore's needs not aligning with Allen's draft stock. In all likelihood we'll need to address ILB, Safety, or Corner in the first next year if the roster stays the same (It won't). 

    Agree on Williams. He's a freak rusher that I'll enjoy watching but I'm skeptical of his fit with us until he proves otherwise. 

    On a side note: I'm assuming your name is a reference to the All Blacks. Rugby is my life. Play it, Coach it, Work in it. Alabama, Baltimore, and Rugby. We seem to have a lot in common. 

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  4. Posted · Report post

    6 hours ago, Maryland said:

    @Alabama Raven

    I really enjoy your info on Bama players, very insightful. You don't seem like an unrealistic homer, which I guess is a compliment :lol: 

    Thanks! I'll keep weighing in when people bring up Alabama players. I think it's difficult for Alabama fans to admit that a handful of our players have been products of Nick Saban's process, and likely won't produce similarly at the next level. As a Raven's fan I hate to see us invest in those players (Terrence Cody) just to have it bite us. Disconnecting from Alabama in the name of Baltimore is fairly easy for me. 

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  5. Posted · Edited by Alabama Raven · Report post

    On 4/23/2016 at 6:33 PM, GrimCoconut said:

    Yeah, I really like Allen a lot. He was the best player on the Alabama DL when I watched them and constantly pressured the QB. They seemed to bring him in whenever they needed a guy to get to the QB. Great use of hands and good jump off the ball. 

    Allen is a better pro prospect than either Reed or Robinson from this year's draft (even though the comparison to Robinson is difficult across positions). He's a perfect mold 3-4 DE. It was surprising that he even decided to come back to Alabama for another year, but it will likely benefit his draft stock barring a catastrophic year on the field for him. He was a massive difference maker on Alabama's 2015 team. While we're on the topic, there's a few other Crimson Tide players being discussed. I've seen Tim Williams, Eddie Jackson, and Reuben Foster mentioned in this thread. 

     

    Eddie Jackson is a Safety (Converted from Corner last season) who had a promising 2015, consistently flashing plus ball skills. His ability to cover ground and create turnovers is a plus. However, he lacks ideal size as an NFL Safety, and is an inconsistent tackler. That said, he isn't a bashful tackler either. He's physical for his size, but this doesn't always translate well to the NFL. Matt Elam had a rap as a big hitter in College, and struggled to tackle consistently in the NFL. I think Eddie Jackson is certainly somebody to keep an eye on, as he could have a big year. I'm not 100% convinced he would be a fit for our defense at this juncture though. His stock will fluctuate between the 1st and 3rd rounds depending on his performance. 

     

    Reuben Foster is a thumper of an ILB with plus athleticism. He needs to show improved form to allay serious injury concerns in 2016. He will undoubtedly be Alabama's go-to LB, and whether or not he can fill McClain, Hightower, Mosley, or Raglands shoes is yet to be seen, but it will show itself in 2016. In my own opinion, he's not yet showed the proper instincts to play ILB at a high level, and has made up for it with pure physicality. He's been helped out by high level talent around him, but I think this year he'll be the talent others will hide behind. He's a great downhill LB, but actually showed some ability to range. Just watch his kickoff coverage highlights. I think he's a more physical, less cerebral version of CJ Mosley, which I think would make a good compliment to CJ. He'll be a first round pick next season. If we haven't addressed ILB by this time next year, I think I'm in favor of this pick. My only reservation is his health. This dude loves to destroy human beings and take on blockers. He's going to have a big year. 

     

    Tim Williams is scary. This is a good thing. He was a one trick pony in 2015, but teams still struggled to stop him on 3rd down. He's a faster version of Noah Spence. If he explodes in 2016 I expect he'll come off the board very early in next year's draft. That said, of all of these Alabama prospects Tim will be the most volatile. Like I mentioned earlier, he was a one trick pony in 2015. He will have to show an ability to stay on the field in run situations this season, and he'll get his chance. This kid is a freak pass rusher, no doubt. But he's never shown an ability to do anything other than come off the edge, which makes him a questionable fit as a 3-4 OLB. 

     

     

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  8. Posted · Edited by Alabama Raven · Report post

    I'm thrilled with our last few picks. I think we're doing very well here late. 

     

    That said, there's one exception. I don't like the Alex Lewis pick at all. It boggles the mind that we're willing to take him on after preaching character and pushing talented players down, or all together off our board for less. I'm not commenting on Lewis the player, maybe he's talented. I just don't see why.

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  11. Posted · Report post

    I don't have feelings on the Correa pick. I hope he pans out. I would say that I'll always remember what could have been but I won't. There's the same outrage every year when we draft who we were projected to draft. You guys should let up on Ozzie though. These guys haven't even hit the field yet. Let's wait and see what we do with all these picks. 

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  13. Posted · Report post

    1 minute ago, rmw10 said:

    Pass rusher is also a present and future need.  Although I think a little more of a shift has been present over the past couple of drafts, the Ravens have never been a team that drafts purely based on what they need now.  CB has been a present need for the past few years and that still hasn't been addressed.  I don't disagree that we could and should draft a CB, but if we do, it's going to be because it's one of the top players on our board, not because we need a guy there.

    That makes more sense to me. I actually agree with you, If I had to put money on our pick I would lean heavily towards Spence. My own personal preference is Alexander. I'm fine with Spence if he's the pick. Either way I'll be hoping that we find a way to trade back in to the 2nd round. We need to address both CB & Pass Rush in the 2nd round. The quality drop off is significant later, specifically at the positions we need to address. 

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  14. Posted · Report post

    2 minutes ago, rmw10 said:

    You don't draft based on present need.  You draft based on future need, which both pass rusher and CB are.  I'm not saying we will or won't go pass rusher, but they aren't going to bypass one because we have Suggs and Dumervil.  That's still a huge need for the future.

    This is overstated. You absolutely draft on present need. CB is both present and future need. The FO has been pushing the narrative of 'Instant Coffee' all off-season in regards to the draft. They're looking for contributors. I'll readily admit that CB & Pass Rush are needs 1A and 1B currently. I think you can get more bang for your buck drafting CB at #36. 

    Of course, my ideal scenario is that we select Spence and then trade back in to take Alexander who some (GrimCoconut) think will fall down the draft. I'm 100% behind that. I'd love to address both needs 

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  15. Posted · Edited by Alabama Raven · Report post

    Mackensie Alexander. We're overvaluing pass rush because of our struggles last year, but discounting Suggs return. I'm not pretending he's got tons of gas in the tank, but they're (Suggs & Dumervil) better at what they do than Shareece Wright is at what he does. Ultimately, I think Spence is the obvious selection for us, but Alexander could plug and play week 1. 

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  16. Posted · Report post

    31 minutes ago, VeiledPsychosis said:

    I'm really pulling for Alexander, the swagger is infectious. Of course he's not a finished product and will benefit from taking a year to back up Wright but his ceiling is very high, stays clean off the field and talks mad trash on the field, for a CB I love that. But I wouldn't be opposed to a trade back or an edge rusher of course, I do really like Dodd.

     

    As far as the third rounder goes, I think we'll just take whoever falls to us like last year when Carl Davis fell into our lap. Who will it be? I'm not sure at this point.

    The more I think about this, the more I wanted Alexander over Spence. That's not a knock on Spence, but Alexander's cover skills are absurd. We need a shutdown man corner. We haven't had that in forever. He's the prototype. 

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  17. Posted · Report post

    16 minutes ago, Jaybirds said:


    I think DE, ILB, and OLB need instant coffee because of the roster holes (Canty, Smith, Upshaw-but-really-McPhee).  Technically CB would start the season as a backup to Smith, Wright, and whoever is healthy that week.  So I'm somewhat okay bumping that down to fourth and taking a prospect/ST guy.  Cyrus comes to mind. 

    So I'm counting on that high fourth round pick to grab a starter.  Defensive Line seems like the most likely because of the depth there, but maybe a tweener like Schobert or Ochi at OLB.  I know that's a high-risk move.  We're not exactly going to get a pro-bowler there.  But we do tend to get some value out of our late picks.  So I'm hoping for a role player at least. 

    So I guess the real difference is I'm rolling the dice with one starter anyway.  So I'm keeping the extra 4th round picks to fill in with depth and prospects, especially in the secondary. 

    That's logical. I think everyone knows we have issues at both the places we're talking about. Ultimately, I'm comfortable picking BPA at either position. 

     

    By the way, don't touch Cyrus Jones. He's not a good CB. 

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  18. Posted · Report post

    Just now, Jaybirds said:

    Good point about Tapper in the 3rd. 

    My concern is that it looks like you traded away picks in the fourth to get back into the second round.  I know it's very difficult to find starters in the fourth round.  But trading up like that pretty much means sacrificing a position at this point.  We could still sign someone before the regular season.  But I'm very reluctant to lose picks because of the holes we seem to agree on. 

    That's a legitimate concern, I think. In my mind, we're trying to find those "Instant Coffee" guys that the FO is referring to. We know we have to have Instant Coffee at Pass Rush, CB, ILB, and DE right? Well, problematically we wont find 4 starters with the picks we have remaining. I think the talent falls off sharply after round 2. There's legitimately 7 guys that would start for us at positions of need on the board right now. We know we'll get one of them at #36, but after that we'll be waiting until #70 to pick another one up. Let's assume that we find starters at both of those selections, which is possible! I don't have any faith that we can address the other half of our problems with how top heavy this draft is. I'd give up any number of our 4th round picks to move back in between #40-#50. 

     

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  19. Posted · Report post

    8 minutes ago, Jaybirds said:

    You're not worried about the depth on our defensive line?  There's even a small chance we could still get a DE late that can pass rush, like Tapper. 

    I'm worried about numerous problems with our roster presently. We lack a Pass Rush and CB are problems 1A & 1B. With Darryl Smith's release, we're projecting starting a career backup next to Mosley, which won't do him any favors either. To me, we don't have an option but to address those three positions with our next pick. I don't believe Tapper, or anyone of that caliber, is available in the 4th. Dodd, Ogbah, Calhoun are going to come off the board in the 2nd IMO, and Tapper in the 3rd. That leaves us with mediocre options at DE. Meanwhile guys like Charone Peake, Aaron Burbridge, Demarcus Robinson should all be available in the 4th. 

    The alternative is that we don't address ILB in the draft, which would be a huge mistake IMO. We know we're going to address Pass Rush & CB, but I don't think our ILB problems can be overstated.

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  20. Posted · Report post

    2 minutes ago, GrimCoconut said:

    I can't take an ILB over an OLB for this team at this time. We need a guy who can cover, and I don't think Ragland is the best at that, but we absolutely need an outside pass rusher and I don't think Ragland is that guy. 

    He's neither of those guys, you're correct. He's a Darryl Smith true ILB replacement/CJ Mosley 3-4 compliment. If we are implementing more 4-3 philosophy (I'll believe it when I see it) then I don't think Ragland will be necessary. However, with our rich history of choosing BPA I won't write Ragland off as a possibility. I still think it will be Spence. The FO has been enamored with him throughout the process, and it's a big position of need. 

    In regards to Henry, I don't see why we should worry. We have 6 RBs competing for 3 spots as it is. I just don't believe with all of our current holes at OLB/DE/CB/S/WR that we would consider another RB. 

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  23. Posted · Report post

    1 minute ago, GrimCoconut said:

    I wouldn't touch an Alabama player until the 3rd. I want Spence or Dodd and then trade up for Cravens, Fuller, or Alexander with our 3rd. 

    I would prefer Spence/Alexander over anything at this stage, but if Reggie Ragland is available when our pick rolls around, we need to think long and hard. He's the only Alabama player left on the board worth considering in the second. The only other player I want is Drake, but with all of our priorities, RB has to be down our list. We need to address Pass Rush/CB. 

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  25. Posted · Report post

    12 minutes ago, JoeyFlex5 said:

    Yay Alabama raven. Finally someone else can back me up on Cyrus Jones being a horrible corner. If he was beaten so easily and consistently every time he played man up in college what makes one think he could just magically be good in the NFL?

    You can't fool a 3 year sample size. Cyrus Jones struggles in coverage. I'd be more than happy to take him in the 5th round, but no sooner. He lacks recovery speed, and is deficient at locating the ball in the air. He's made a name for himself as a press specialist physical corner who is good against the run game - undoubtedly true. However, he's all of 5'10 and a 195 lbs. I don't see his game translating well at the next level without at least two years (or more) polish on the bench. I'm comfortable granting a 5th round pick that time, but not a 3rd round pick (Which is where he's rumored to be heading at this point). Return guys are a dime a dozen. Pass.

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