19 replies to this topic

[BMORE_96]

Wow, that was an eventful season. I give kudos to the players coaches and most importantly Ozzie newsome and his staff. They have allowed the ravens to go to 3 AFc championships and a Super Bowl in 5 Years(could've been 3 with Caldwell as OC in 2010 and 2011).

We have had great great drafts. The flacco rice coup in 08. Oher Kruger a Nd webby in 09. Jimmy smith( played big yesterday and is healthy again) torrey smith McPhee and quality depth guys like doss and jah Reid and chykie brown in 11. Upshaw, osemele(playing at a pro bowl level), and pierce(feature back coming sooner than later) with guys like Gino and more who will prove themselves next year.

All in all, these drafts are why we are in the Super Bowl even though they all met criticism initially. But if you have not noticed already I left out the 2010 draft.

Why you might ask? There were no impact players outside of the tight ends. I know I am using hindsight here but if we nailed in this draft like the others we'd be invincible ( but with ray Lewis we are darn close).

The later picks were fine such as harewood(average guard who you can plug in and start), reed( special trainer returner and depth receiver), the tight ends, and author jones( starting de in 3-4. But cody( a nose tackle that is developing but gets dominated by single blockers at times) and kindle ( we know the story here) have not been as strong as other or Kruger or even upshaw and OSemele .

Bottom line ravens got 2 impact players like jones and pitta compared to the other drafts that had three . Not to mention we could have got Bowman in the third instead of Dickson which would have made up for the kindle bust or even jimmy graham and geno Atkins . I understand hindsight ain't 20 20 but it would've helped.

What do y'all thing about that draft and our draft prowess in general that led to our Super Bowl berth.

Edited by BMORE_96, 21 January 2013 - 11:35 PM.

[Ravens<3]

In 2010 I'd say besides Pitta, Arthur Jones was our best pick that year. This season he has come into his own. 2010 draft was a huge miss, we could've nailed that one.Extremely unfortuanate with what happened to Kndle but what are we gonna do? Atleast we got Pitta & Jones! 5th best duo/combo of players drafted for us the last 5 year but it's certainly not a bad thing!

I think we nailed last years draft. Pierce has looked amazing, I spent alot of time today thinking about it. He's played in huge role this season for us, what a steal! Upshaws had an pretty good rookie year. He's played really good against the run. K.O. has played great.

It's amazing how late round guys like McPhee & Jones are key parts to our superbowl team right now. McPhee when healthy has been beastly.

What do you think our best draft has been since 2009? I'd have to say 2011. We've had great drafts though 4/5 years. Lucky us.

Edited by Ravens<3, 21 January 2013 - 11:48 PM.

[SecretAgentMan]

I like the Pitta pick and Harewood pick.
The rest of that draft, it could have gone like this
2a. Daryl Washington
2b Carlos Dunlap
3 Jimmy Grahm
4. Geno Atkins
5. Harewood here
5. Jones.
6. Antonio Brown

That's how I would've done it

[Ravens<3]

I like the Pitta pick and Harewood pick.
The rest of that draft, it could have gone like this
2a. Daryl Washington
2b Carlos Dunlap
3 Jimmy Grahm
4. Geno Atkins
5. Harewood here
5. Jones.
6. Antonio Brown

That's how I would've done it

Yeah, in hindsight!

[SecretAgentMan]

Yeah, in hindsight!

That's not how Madden Works
But seriously, I hated the 2010 draft. I wanted Atkins and Grahm soooooooooo badly.

If oz did that for our draft, we'd be freakin unbeatable

[redrum52]

That's not how Madden Works
But seriously, I hated the 2010 draft. I wanted Atkins and Grahm soooooooooo badly.

If oz did that for our draft, we'd be freakin unbeatable

Atkins, Ngata in the middle and McPhee would be a nightmare 3-4 d line. Pitta and Graham with Boldin and Torrey. The league wouldn't want that. Cam probably would've have Jimmy running end arounds though.

[Yatagarasu]

Yeah 2010 was a brutal year when we missed out on a lot of talents. At least we found couple serviceable players in Cody, Pitta, and Jones.

[indianstick]

That's not how Madden Works
But seriously, I hated the 2010 draft. I wanted Atkins and Grahm soooooooooo badly.

If oz did that for our draft, we'd be freakin unbeatable

Yeah I was high on atkins and Graham too. I remember hearing after the draft that we were targeting gronk with our second but the pats picked him right before us so we went with kindle.

[BloodRaven]

I don't think Atkins or Dunlap would be starters for us, they're not scheme diverse and would likely be rotational pass rushers.

Not that I would complain if they were.

[Dudeman]

Yeah, in hindsight!

Hindsight is always perfect. At the time when we picked Kindle he HAD to have been the highest on our board and he was projected to go as high as the 14th pick.

That was also our first time trading out of the first round, so I think we learned something from this draft even if Kindle didn't pan out.

Edited by Dudeman, 22 January 2013 - 09:31 AM.

[msufan]

Yeah that draft ended up bad but what happened to kindle was a freak accident if he would have ended up being what he was projected and not injured that draft would look fine.

[GrimCoconut]

You can say Kindle is a bust, but it's hard to say. How can you say a career-ending or life-threatening injury sustained by a player we drafted makes that player a bust? I understand the circumstances surrounding it, but still. You can't predict the injury or its effects. Cody, well, it takes time to be a complete NT, it's true. I'm not happy with his production, but if he turns on the jets next year and kicks his end into gear, what will you say then? Kruger looked like a bust until late last year, late this year. Granted, Kruger has had less opportunities than Cody.

As for Dickson & Pitta, I like those two players regardless. Dickson was a good prospect coming out of college. Would I like more out of him? Sure. But he hasn't been bad. Just underwhelming. As for Pitta, he's a baller. I'm glad we got him. Arthur Jones has been a beast. He's the second best pick we had that year. David Reed was looking really good as a KR, but we know what happened there. Harewood showed promise but has a fit earlier this year when he was passed on the depth chart.

It wasn't a great draft, but not bad.

[Hardbaugh]

I remember hearing Eric Decosta speak on that draft last year stating something to the effect that it seemed like many times during that 2010 draft players they had pinpointed were picked by other clubs right before they got on the clock. Also adding that sometimes the draft falls your way and you get all the players that are targeted and sometimes it doesn't.

Highlighting any one draft is not fair to the front office types they have to be judged by their whole body of work. Top the bottom the Ravens front office does fantastic. Of course I'm a believer their mindset is they want to hit on 100% of their picks and invest plenty in time and assets seeking that goal.

Edit for Kindle---- Many teams took him off their draft board because of red flags, the Ravens gambled and lost. It's debateable whether he was in a drunken stupor at the time he reached the top step but what isn't debatable is his other achohol related missteps including the "texting" while driving.


That said even with the occasional bad pick the Ravens front office is fantastic.

Edited by Hardbaugh, 22 January 2013 - 09:46 AM.

[Inqui]

The Jags drafted a punter in the third round last year, with Russell Wilson still on the boards. I think their fans would give anything to have Ozzie's 2010 draft. We're just so used to seeing wizardry from the FO that we're getting spoiled, but you can't expect every draft pick to be amazing.

And while it's one thing to look at the players we might have had, we're judging them based on how they've gone in their current schemes with their current coaching staff and current teammates. Jimmy Graham's great, but the Saints have a different passing and running scheme to us so he might not have been as good if he went somewhere other than NOLA. Then again, he might have been better if he came here - it's all speculation.

[msufan]

We are spoiled most GM's would be extremely lucky to draft one HOF Ozzie has drafted at least 3. Not every draft pick is going to be a all time some great the strength that Ozzie has is that every draft pick can be a starter he rarely misses on draft picks looking at other teams drafts just shows how good he truly is we almost never have to go out and spend a bunch on FA our biggest problem is that he hits on so many picks we can't pay them all.

[PuRock]

We can always play the 'what if' game. But I'm guessing if we did, and compared it to the 'what if' games of other Front Offices. We'd find that they are switching out more busts than we are.

This team could not predict Kindle's downfall.

[BloodRaven]

Since Harbaugh took over we've targeted high character players and I used to rip Ozzie Newsome for taking blue collar guys while bigger names and more athletic players were still on the board... yet here we are 5th playoff season in a row, 2nd AFC game in a row and now going to a SUPERBOWL. So what if we don't have a 1200yd receiver, two double digit pass rushers, look at us! the intangibles have held strong and we have more hunger, heart, determination and mental toughness than any other in the league.

Off topic:I predicted this time last year that Mike Martin was the next Geno Atkins, he ended up having a monster rookie season especially rushing the passer and is likely to break out next season.

[jdynamite]

I like the Pitta pick and Harewood pick.
The rest of that draft, it could have gone like this
2a. Daryl Washington
2b Carlos Dunlap
3 Jimmy Grahm
4. Geno Atkins
5. Harewood here
5. Jones.
6. Antonio Brown

That's how I would've done it

okay so if you had the chance to redraft that knowing what we know now..
You wouldn't draft Navaro Bowman Pick #91 overall 3 RD
I'd take Bowman over Washington and any other MLB not named P.Willis for the future.

Here's how I would do without elevating people into a different round.
2010 draft :
RD2 #43 - C.Dunlap ( orig. 54 overall)
RD2 #57 - B.Spikes (orig 62 overall) - could play inside or outside
RD3 #70 - N.Bowman (orig 91 overall) - would be MLB of future
RD4 #114 - D.Pitta (keep) I thought about Atkins but he would have to play DE for us would impact change?
RD5 #156 - R.Jones SS (orig 163 overall)
RD5 #157 - A.Jones (keep)
RD6 #194 - A.Brown (orig 195)

if it were just random picking across the board then
RD2 N.Bowman LB
RD2 J.Veldheer OT - has really been great for OAK considering he was 3rd pick
RD3 J.Graham TE
RD4 G.Atkins DT (DE for us)
RD5 G.Hardy DE
RD5 A.Jones
RD6 A.Brown WR

[jdynamite]

Yeah I was high on atkins and Graham too. I remember hearing after the draft that we were targeting gronk with our second but the pats picked him right before us so we went with kindle.

I never saw any reason to be high on graham for that season as a hurricane. The saints just maximized his potential and put him in positions to showcase and utilize his talents. And he sat and learned most of his first year behind shockey.

Although I'd like graham it wouldn't have matter while Cameron was OC because he rarely utilized seam routes down the middle which is what the saints love using graham for.

[indianstick]

I never saw any reason to be high on graham for that season as a hurricane. The saints just maximized his potential and put him in positions to showcase and utilize his talents. And he sat and learned most of his first year behind shockey.

Although I'd like graham it wouldn't have matter while Cameron was OC because he rarely utilized seam routes down the middle which is what the saints love using graham for.

He was a 6'7 260 former basketball player who played one season of football at miami and he had 5 TDs. I was high on him because of his athleticism and ceiling of being a really good TE after he learned the position more. He would of sat and learned most of his first year behind todd heap if he came here and yeah cam prolly wouldn't have utilized him correctly but he still would of been a 6'7 target for flacco which he would of loved since flacco likes to throw it up for his receivers to go get.