[News] Late For Work 2/10: ESPN's Crystal Ball Says Ravens Bounce Back With Rookie Of Year

[BR News]

5 reasons to select Ramsey. Deepest RB group in recent memory. Forsett show off picture with Obama.

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[Tenacious Faulker]

Wait. Was it 4 or 5 reasons to draft Ramsey if available? Sometimes in an effort to seem clever, writers get confusing. Not that I need a 5th reason for Ramsey, but let's just keep it simple here. It's football...not exactly a Pulitzer Prize category.

There is only one real scenario why the Ravens don't draft at #6 and that's if one QB or less is drafted in the top 5 and Bosa, Tunsil, Hargreaves, Treadwell and Ramsey are all gone. The only thing that changes that is if a team gives up a stupid amount of picks that Ozzie would be foolish to turn down.

[TheKingFlip31]

IDK if I would say this is the deepest RB group we've ever had. I would give that to the 2000 Ravens of Jamal Lewis, Priest Holmes, Obafemi Ayabadejo, Sam Gash, and Chuck Evans....

[respecttheRaven]

Please....no predictions for next year....not yet anyway. Is it promising?? Yes, but after last year's predictions, and how the year turned out.....please just stop. Let's at least wait until after the draft, training camp and pre-season before any are made. Can I wait?....not really, it's gonna be a long off season fellow Ravens fans. Can't Wait!!!!!

[Bat-mite]

33:1 odds at the casinos for the Ravens to win the SB. $100 now could get you $3,300 in a year! I am tempted.... :)

[JoeyFlex5]

i dont see us rebounding that quickly. our defense is so far in the hole, we are looking at the same situation the steelers were looking at 5 years ago, i dont think its quite as serious because we still have a young foundation that they were lacking when the "rebuild" began, and i think we can rebound in 2 years rather than 5, but for 2016 i think we may be looking at a 7-9 or 8-8 season

[Smoke0121]

IDK if I would say this is the deepest RB group we've ever had. I would give that to the 2000 Ravens of Jamal Lewis, Priest Holmes, Obafemi Ayabadejo, Sam Gash, and Chuck Evans....

Ray Rice, Willis McGahee, Ricky Williams was pretty good too...

[budman]

  1 hour ago, TheKingFlip31 said:

IDK if I would say this is the deepest RB group we've ever had. I would give that to the 2000 Ravens of Jamal Lewis, Priest Holmes, Obafemi Ayabadejo, Sam Gash, and Chuck Evans....

Ray Rice, Willis McGahee, Ricky Williams was pretty good too...

Agreed

[billiejean]

30 minutes ago, Smoke0121 said:

1 hour ago, TheKingFlip31 said:

IDK if I would say this is the deepest RB group we've ever had. I would give that to the 2000 Ravens of Jamal Lewis, Priest Holmes, Obafemi Ayabadejo, Sam Gash, and Chuck Evans....

Ray Rice, Willis McGahee, Ricky Williams was pretty good too...

that year (2011) we picked up ricky williams because we let mcgahee walk (he signed with denver). Williams and Mcgahee never played together.

Edited February 10, 2016 by billiejean

[jravens13]

Deepest RB class was definitely the 2008 Ravens when we ran heavy because Flacco was a rookie: Le'ron McClain, Willis McGahee, and Ray Rice. I loved that team. We were so physical on both sides of the football...We lost our physicality ever since the SB, and the retirement of Ray Lewis.

Our defense will not be good enough unless we address it heavily through the draft, FA, and underperforming players are willing to take pay cuts, which is unlikely. I think the Trestman offense is all about stats, and does little for the win column because we fail to control time of possession. I think we are somewhere around 8-8, but we get the easy NFC East which could propel us to 10-6, only to get bounced out of the playoffs quick.

[jravens13]

Wait. Was it 4 or 5 reasons to draft Ramsey if available? Sometimes in an effort to seem clever, writers get confusing. Not that I need a 5th reason for Ramsey, but let's just keep it simple here. It's football...not exactly a Pulitzer Prize category.

There is only one real scenario why the Ravens don't draft at #6 and that's if one QB or less is drafted in the top 5 and Bosa, Tunsil, Hargreaves, Treadwell and Ramsey are all gone. The only thing that changes that is if a team gives up a stupid amount of picks that Ozzie would be foolish to turn down.

Treadwell no thanks. We can find value at WR in the 2nd and 3rd Round. Ozzie has failed at WR too many times to take a risk this high and WR isn't a top priority with Smith coming back, Aiken developed into a starter, and Butler looking like he can hold it down in the slot. I think we should sign a Veteran WR if we want to add depth.

Hargreaves is too small for me to take that high, and he got smoked in his bowl game by a speedy WR. I think physical WR's will take advantage of him. And he doesn't have great recovery speed/length.

Now Bosa, Tunsil, Jack, Ramsey, or Jaylon Smith is what I'm rooting for. Those guys will bring attitude to this team. And they are freaks.

[Raven_Don]

Deepest RB class was definitely the 2008 Ravens when we ran heavy because Flacco was a rookie: Le'ron McClain, Willis McGahee, and Ray Rice. I loved that team. We were so physical on both sides of the football...We lost our physicality ever since the SB, and the retirement of Ray Lewis.

Our defense will not be good enough unless we address it heavily through the draft, FA, and underperforming players are willing to take pay cuts, which is unlikely. I think the Trestman offense is all about stats, and does little for the win column because we fail to control time of possession. I think we are somewhere around 8-8, but we get the easy NFC East which could propel us to 10-6, only to get bounced out of the playoffs quick.

I beg to differ I think the trio of Rice... McGahee... and Ricky Williams was a better trio... Just my opinion of course..

[billiejean]

  12 minutes ago, jravens13 said:

Deepest RB class was definitely the 2008 Ravens when we ran heavy because Flacco was a rookie: Le'ron McClain, Willis McGahee, and Ray Rice. I loved that team. We were so physical on both sides of the football...We lost our physicality ever since the SB, and the retirement of Ray Lewis.

Our defense will not be good enough unless we address it heavily through the draft, FA, and underperforming players are willing to take pay cuts, which is unlikely. I think the Trestman offense is all about stats, and does little for the win column because we fail to control time of possession. I think we are somewhere around 8-8, but we get the easy NFC East which could propel us to 10-6, only to get bounced out of the playoffs quick.

I beg to differ I think the trio of Rice... McGahee... and Ricky Williams was a better trio... Just my opinion of course..

again we picked up Ricky Williams in 2011 because we let Mcgahee walk (he ended up in denver). Williams and Mcgahee never played together.

[sami]

I don't know why so many people think Ramsey is a play maker. He didn't have very many picks during his college career...something like 4. Hes a good corner and safety but a playmaker??? don't think so.

[PolishRifle]

Do we know, that BP can stay healthy at this point? I certainly hope our 1st round draft pick works out, but there are athletes who just can't seem to get healthy. Adressing the WR position will be more important than ppl like to think, even after we spend a first rounder on a WR last year. Yet, here we are putting all our hopes on him and that he'll do great.

[ellicottraven]

If SSR retires now, he'll still be a HOFer. He's done enough, nothing left to prove.

[rmcjacket23]

20 minutes ago, PolishRifle said:

Do we know, that BP can stay healthy at this point? I certainly hope our 1st round draft pick works out, but there are athletes who just can't seem to get healthy. Adressing the WR position will be more important than ppl like to think, even after we spend a first rounder on a WR last year. Yet, here we are putting all our hopes on him and that he'll do great.

True, we don't know.

But generally speaking, one season-ending injury to a player isn't enough of a sample size to determine that we can't count on him long term.

I mean at this point Perriman is as injury plagued as Flacco is...

[ellicottraven]

I have begun to cool off on Treadwell as well just because good receivers will be available later. Also, I am of the same opinion regarding DBs. I think there is enough talent out there that we'll be able to get a good DB in the later rounds. I think we need to focus squarely on improving the pass rush in the first. In my opinion 2 players fit the #6 spot currently prior to the Combine and they're Bosa and Buckner. If both are gone, then we must find a trade partner to trade back and land one of Myles Jack, Noah Spence or Jaylen Smith and get an extra 2 and 3rd depending on how much we trade back.

[RavensBaltimore]

One major reason for optimism that they left off the list is that Jimmy Smith should be at full strength next year. He was out of shape and slow in the first half of last season, but played much better in the second half. Even with everything else being the same, if Jimmy doesn't get torched in all of those close games, a few of those close losses would have been wins, and we would have been right in the playoff race before Joe got injured.

[RavensBaltimore]

Do we know, that BP can stay healthy at this point? I certainly hope our 1st round draft pick works out, but there are athletes who just can't seem to get healthy. Adressing the WR position will be more important than ppl like to think, even after we spend a first rounder on a WR last year. Yet, here we are putting all our hopes on him and that he'll do great.

We don't know that anybody can stay healthy, but BP never got injured in college, and it would be completely unprecedented for a PCL sprain to ruin someone's career, so I don't see any reason to believe he can't put his injury behind him once he's finally 100% and stay on the field.

[The Greek]

if bosa, tunsil, buckner and ramsey are gone by #6 than the fo will trade back hopefully not too far so we could grab noah spence whom i feel will be a star. the big question is if ronnie stanley is available than does the fo take him assuming we lose osemele or do they still trade back. i wish i could see their draft board.

[PolishRifle]

44 minutes ago, rmcjacket23 said:

True, we don't know.

But generally speaking, one season-ending injury to a player isn't enough of a sample size to determine that we can't count on him long term.

I mean at this point Perriman is as injury plagued as Flacco is...

Joe has a long history of being durable, though. I just hope we're not doing the same we did last year and assume, that everything is okay, because we have BP. Having Perriman back this year is like having two 1st round draft picks? No, it's more like hopeing that last years draft pick wasn't wasted. I still believe, that 1 of our first 3 draft picks needs to be a WR.

[The Greek]

even if perriman is 1000% he is still considered a rookie imo because he didnt play one snap. yes he will have a headstart on understanding the playbook and schemes which will be an advantage for him but i do not expect him to blow it up and go to the pro bowl his 1st season plus having a 36 year old on the other side makes for a weak wr duo imo. sss belongs in the slot and we still need a receiver opposite of breshad not named aiken, camponaro, butler, waller, givens, brown, matthews. im sure we will sign a free agent but it needs to be one that has the same impact as boldin had for the offense. $$ is tight and we have needs to fill which make the front office nailing this draft even more important.

Edited February 10, 2016 by The Greek

[RavensDieHard21]

One major reason for optimism that they left off the list is that Jimmy Smith should be at full strength next year. He was out of shape and slow in the first half of last season, but played much better in the second half. Even with everything else being the same, if Jimmy doesn't get torched in all of those close games, a few of those close losses would have been wins, and we would have been right in the playoff race before Joe got injured.

I agree, I defended Jimmy all year because every one was saying he lost a step and wasn't going to return to form. When you hurt your foot, there goes all your burst of speed and ability to change direction when you cannot apply pressure to it. I think he will once again be a top 5 corner next year. he just needs a running mate next to him.

[billiejean]

1 hour ago, ellicottraven said:

I have begun to cool off on Treadwell as well just because good receivers will be available later. Also, I am of the same opinion regarding DBs. I think there is enough talent out there that we'll be able to get a good DB in the later rounds. I think we need to focus squarely on improving the pass rush in the first. In my opinion 2 players fit the #6 spot currently prior to the Combine and they're Bosa and Buckner. If both are gone, then we must find a trade partner to trade back and land one of Myles Jack, Noah Spence or Jaylen Smith and get an extra 2 and 3rd depending on how much we trade back.

you really can't go into a draft intent on taking a certain position in a certain round. You really have to let the chips fall where they may and take the BPA. There isn't a GM in the league who assigns a position to each round. You get pigeon holed into taking someone that is not the BPA  if you are forced to pick a certain position. Lets say its our turn to draft and there is an OLB who is number 6 on our board. And lets assume a safety is also still on the board and he is number 4 on the board. It would be insane to take the OLB just because you have forced yourself in that position. I know its popular in the forum to assign a position for each one of our draft picks, but that is pretty ridiculous. As I said no GMs do that because it is too restrictive. And in many cases you would have to take a guy who is not the BPA. Luckily we have a lot of needs, In the first we could take a LT, OLB, Safety, or cornerback which are all positions of need.  

Edited February 10, 2016 by billiejean

[billiejean]

I have begun to cool off on Treadwell as well just because good receivers will be available later. Also, I am of the same opinion regarding DBs. I think there is enough talent out there that we'll be able to get a good DB in the later rounds. I think we need to focus squarely on improving the pass rush in the first. In my opinion 2 players fit the #6 spot currently prior to the Combine and they're Bosa and Buckner. If both are gone, then we must find a trade partner to trade back and land one of Myles Jack, Noah Spence or Jaylen Smith and get an extra 2 and 3rd depending on how much we trade back.

I would also argue that CB as priority number one. The only starter we have as of now is Jimmy Smith. So it would behoove us to take one that will be able to contribute right away. And those types of CBs are not going to be there in later rounds. Impact pass rushers are easier to find in later rounds than impact corners. But just because CB is our priority doesn't mean we have to take one in the first. Our first round pick is not set in stone. The players that are taken 1-5 will dictate who we take.

[billiejean]

if bosa, tunsil, buckner and ramsey are gone by #6 than the fo will trade back hopefully not too far so we could grab noah spence whom i feel will be a star. the big question is if ronnie stanley is available than does the fo take him assuming we lose osemele or do they still trade back. i wish i could see their draft board.

AS of now we would have to trade way way back in order to justify taking spence. However his stock could rise after the combine.

[RavensDieHard21]

I have begun to cool off on Treadwell as well just because good receivers will be available later. Also, I am of the same opinion regarding DBs. I think there is enough talent out there that we'll be able to get a good DB in the later rounds. I think we need to focus squarely on improving the pass rush in the first. In my opinion 2 players fit the #6 spot currently prior to the Combine and they're Bosa and Buckner. If both are gone, then we must find a trade partner to trade back and land one of Myles Jack, Noah Spence or Jaylen Smith and get an extra 2 and 3rd depending on how much we trade back.

I am on board for Bosa, Buckner or Ramsey, in my mind Ozzie will take whichever one is left.

[The Greek]

does anyone know if there is a way to delete the notifications? thanks in advance

[ravenwildman]

I would be tickled pink if the Ravens grab Ramsey in the 1st round! GO RAVENS!