graveyard shift way too early flex's mock draft

[JoeyFlex5]

i have us picking in the late teens or early 20s after either barely missing the playoffs or going one and done. so lets go. 

ROUND 1: 

 

Quenton Nelson, C, Notre Dame. 

a name that hasnt gotten much play around here, but looking around at scouting reports he seems to be the new hot name and almost unanimously the top C prospect, and ive caught on. at a quick glance he looks like an absolute monster, he could stand to lose a bit of gut but he is absolutely rock solid everywhere else and throws that weight around very well. easily the best mean streak of any OL player this draft, a true road grader and a high IQ player who brings an instant improvement in the run game for all blocking schemes, good vision and awareness as a pass protector, elite anchor, blasts defenders off the line and gets to the second level and latches on to guys putting them out of the play. could stand to develop his footwork a bit more but he is pretty close to being the perfect center. 

ROUND 2:

Demarcus Walker, edge, FSU. 

does anyone else think Walker is very reminiscent of Dumervil in his prime? built like a tank, uses it well. he has a solid get-off, its not elite but he makes up for it in other areas. he plays inside and out, as an OLB he sets the edge with the best of them, he holds down the point of attack and influences the run when they go his way, also moves well in space for a man his size and sheds in traffic, could strike fear in teams who run a lot of screens. in pass rushing, he gets off the ball at a respectable speed, and engages very well, he shortens the path to the pocket by re-routing OT's, think youre just gonna anchor down and push him past the pocket? good luck, he swats long arms like second nature and gets in close for a good violent punch to stagger the blocker and then dips the shoulder to bend inside, never loses leverage, keeps his balance, can play with a good side lean to get under and around the tackle after winning with his handfighting. also plays inside very well, gets up close with blockers and uses many moves well, rips, swims, or flat out overpowering his guy, sheds well to the inside whether playing DT or playing the edge. gamer, shows up in big moments, nose for the ball, finisher, and a type-A personality who will be a natural emotional leader in no time. 

ROUND 3: 

 

Cameron Sutton, CB/RS, Tennessee. 

an ankle injury likely ending his season will cause him to drop, he was a mid to late 2nd round prospect prior, due to lacking ideal size and having given up yards in run support as a hesitant tackler, but missing a majority of your final season is devastating for a prospect who isnt a clear-cut first rounder, mid 3rd round is possible, if not likely. Cameron Sutton is very much in the mold of a vernon hargreaves. hes a physical corner, gets good press coverage, and has supreme athleticism to recover when given up space, good awareness and gets to the ball well by many means, whether by great ball skills or having the anticipation and explosiveness to cut under receivers and beat them to the ball. also is our day 1 return specialist and health willing we never again have to worry about it until 4 years later at the least, he is elite in that category. 

ROUND 4: 

ill assume we have multiple 4th round picks like always, brandon williams inevitable exit basically guarantees this, if not a 3rd. 

 

ejuan price, total sparkplug edge rusher. undersized, but great explosiveness and great "wiggle" to keep guys away. if schemed he could really do some damage, he also has an obvious nose for the ball as he never seems to lose track of it and always finishes the play when given the opportunity. will need to add weight, as he is 6-6'1" and around 220-230, if he can get up to 240 and use that low center of gravity without losing a step of burst, he is just some handwork away from being a nice rotational piece. great hustle player. if correa gets it together and plays to his potential, this could be an exciting duo as a 4-3 OLB tandem. 

 

Deatrich Wise Jr, Edge/34DE, Arkansas. 

upside pick. he has been maddeningly inconsistent, sometimes looks sloppy, sometimes looks like a prototype player, sometimes flies off the ball and sometimes looks sluggish, sometimes he can absolutely blast upper echelon tackles backwards and sometimes he is wiped out of the play, the point is that the potential is there, it needs to be harnessed, maybe we are able to. he is a long and tall prospect, at 6'6" and 270+ with very good athleticism, he has obvious upside, he also flashes good functional strength at times. however, he needs to be coached up, maybe even a redshirt year or 2 is necessary, but this is a pass rushing project that absolutely could pan out, he does nothing with his hands except extend and shove, he eats up space  in the pass rush with good strong strides and little wasted motion, but like i said needs a lot of refinement.  

 

ravens have a tendency to get fed up with certain positions failing and then overdraft the hell out of them. this year they could do it in many spots that we need improvement in. edge rusher, interior OL, and cb are all deep and loaded groups. kareem are and jordan guillermo are real options in the 3rd or 4th if we wanna address the OL more, and we can stock up on cb's from the first all the way to the 3rd with guys like king or white in the first, the weird named guy from colorado or tankersly in the 2nd, and more.

Edited October 22, 2016 by JoeyFlex5

[ravefan52]

I like the players, but I think you're living in fantasy land. Also, we don't get anything for Brandon Williams this year, but KO should net another 3rd.

Edited October 22, 2016 by ravefan52

[Davesta]

No WR makes me sad

[Jacquouille]

I thought Nelson was a G 

[GrimCoconut]

First, as stated above, free agents who leave this year don't count as compensatory picks in the same year. We will be awarded compensatory picks from our 2016 free agents lost vs. acquired, which likely means a 3rd round compensatory pick for KO due to his contract, playing time, and possible Pro Bowl honors that may come as he's playing at a very high level. 

Second, I really like Nelson and Walker. Sutton is a guy I liked but he hasn't really looked good since his sophomore year. He seems to have regressed every single year, which does not bode well IMO. Now with the injury, I'm not sure he's worth even a 3rd. I still like him, but in what appears to be a loaded CB class at present, I don't think I would take him so early. We'll see, though. As for Nelson as a center, I like him better as a guard but I suppose he could play center. He's definitely a LG for the Irish, so I am not sure if we would put him inside or not. Maybe we just put him at LG and call it a day after shifting Lewis over to RT when Wagner leaves to make an all-Irish left side in Stanley and Nelson? Whoa! Nelson is so physical and nasty that he could eventually move to RG and replace Yanda, which makes him a top choice selection for me. Nelson is one of my elite prospects right now.

[ravensnation5220]

I dont see walker in the second round ? hes a first rounder MAYBE early second. 

[JoeyFlex5]

2 hours ago, ravensnation5220 said:

I dont see walker in the second round ? hes a first rounder MAYBE early second. 

He's widely regarded as a mid second and I don't think the combine does him any favors. Of course this is based on outlets and not really NFL sources

[hn68wb4]

I'm not a fan of Walker to be completely honest, to be fair I haven't watched a ton of him, but from what I've seen I just haven't been impressed at all.

[Jacquouille]

43 minutes ago, hn68wb4 said:

I'm not a fan of Walker to be completely honest, to be fair I haven't watched a ton of him, but from what I've seen I just haven't been impressed at all.

I'll be on board with that. I want to love Walker but when I watch the tape, there's just a great swim move and that's it. Apart from that, he's a non factor on too many plays tbh.

Edited October 24, 2016 by Jacquouille

[ravensnick]

You really think we are going to let Williams walk? He's by far the best player on our defense, I'd be pretty disappointed if they let him go.

[Prino61]

41 minutes ago, ravensnick said:

You really think we are going to let Williams walk? He's by far the best player on our defense, I'd be pretty disappointed if they let him go.

we may not have a choice

[Jacquouille]

1 hour ago, ravensnick said:

You really think we are going to let Williams walk? He's by far the best player on our defense, I'd be pretty disappointed if they let him go.

He's not the most important. Pierce is already a better pass rusher and as good a run stuffer, when he gets in NFL shape and can play for the entirity of a game and season, I wouldn't mind letting B-Will go and get a 3rd or 4th comp pick, knowing that Pierce is there to replace him.

Edited October 25, 2016 by Jacquouille

[GrimCoconut]

16 minutes ago, Jacquouille said:

He's not the most important. Pierce is already a better pass rusher and as good a run stuffer, when he gets in NFL shape and can play for the entirity of a game and season, I wouldn't mind letting B-Will go and get a 3rd or 4th comp pick, knowing that Pierce is there to replace him.

I get the idea of next man up and 80/20 rule, and if Pierce can truly replace Williams then why not? That said, there is no guarantee at all that Pierce can replace Williams. Williams has been a very steady player for this team and has gotten better every single year. Yeah, we could use a comp, but part of the problem with this team is not retaining its quality free agents. I understand that Jernigan is approaching free agency soon, but I'm not sure you can just arbitrarily allow Williams to go because Jernigan is coming due on his contract and we have Pierce, a rookie undrafted free agent who has flashed serious potential. This is coming from a very big fan of Pierce, too. I love Pierce and was calling for him to make the team shortly after the second preseason game after really being impressed in the first. 

[Jacquouille]

33 minutes ago, GrimCoconut said:

I get the idea of next man up and 80/20 rule, and if Pierce can truly replace Williams then why not? That said, there is no guarantee at all that Pierce can replace Williams. Williams has been a very steady player for this team and has gotten better every single year. Yeah, we could use a comp, but part of the problem with this team is not retaining its quality free agents. I understand that Jernigan is approaching free agency soon, but I'm not sure you can just arbitrarily allow Williams to go because Jernigan is coming due on his contract and we have Pierce, a rookie undrafted free agent who has flashed serious potential. This is coming from a very big fan of Pierce, too. I love Pierce and was calling for him to make the team shortly after the second preseason game after really being impressed in the first. 

It's not just Jernigan. It's also Mosley and Orr. Basically our 3 pillars on the next gen defense, that we have to build around. They're the key because we're in rebuilding mode and I don't mind if we have to let go some starters, we have to keep our stars and draft well. I believe we've drafted better the last 4 years and we have to capitalize on that and build around those guys.

Letting Williams go means being freeing up some cap space and lets us concentrate on other areas.

Edited October 25, 2016 by Jacquouille

[Cillmatic]

Williams is 100% a luxury, his Ron defense is great but we CANT justify paying a NT elite $$$ when we have multiple other contract years coming up. It's gonna suck having him leave but it's for the best.

[ravensnick]

7 minutes ago, Cillmatic said:

Williams is 100% a luxury, his Ron defense is great but we CANT justify paying a NT elite $$$ when we have multiple other contract years coming up. It's gonna suck having him leave but it's for the best.

He, like Ngata, makes our defense work. He is the key cog in our run defense and a disruptive pass rusher.

[jdynamite]

Fellow Graveyard guy... I'm a blackjack dealer on Graveyard shift at the casino.. Get the super drunks at those times

[jdynamite]

Have to admit I've been too lazy to look into o-linemen thus far. Really been hoping that with all our o-line issues a few people would post some top linemen prospects so I would have some guys to check out.

Well to be honest I'm slacking in my draft talk period, I used to be on WalterFootball viewing all the various mocks and read ups, I've always liked reading some of Mayocks reports because I know they will differ greatly from CBS draft & ESPN. Also ESPN don't even update their draft pages regularly anymore, along with a few of the old features nonexistent now. 

It used to be nice to have the Scouts Inc draft list the grades weren't important but having that many names and positions made it easy to just look up youtube videos

[ravensnation5220]

20 minutes ago, jdynamite said:

Have to admit I've been too lazy to look into o-linemen thus far. Really been hoping that with all our o-line issues a few people would post some top linemen prospects so I would have some guys to check out.

Well to be honest I'm slacking in my draft talk period, I used to be on WalterFootball viewing all the various mocks and read ups, I've always liked reading some of Mayocks reports because I know they will differ greatly from CBS draft & ESPN. Also ESPN don't even update their draft pages regularly anymore, along with a few of the old features nonexistent now. 

It used to be nice to have the Scouts Inc draft list the grades weren't important but having that many names and positions made it easy to just look up youtube videos

Dan feeney from indiana is probably the highest graded gaurd in the draft class and lsu has a 6-7 center in ethan pocic. Feely has a mean streak to him while pocic is a guy who can get to the second level as a blocker. Does have some leverage issues though. Elfain is the most talked about guy but i think hell go late first or early second round, his best attribute is his versatility, and experience

Edited October 25, 2016 by ravensnation5220

[Cillmatic]

1 hour ago, ravensnick said:

He, like Ngata, makes our defense work. He is the key cog in our run defense and a disruptive pass rusher.

Williams isn't a pass rushing threat, he may get one or two coverage sacks a year but he's pretty much only useful as a run stuffer. 

Prime Ngata>>Prime Williams

Edited October 25, 2016 by Cillmatic

[ravefan52]

8 hours ago, ravensnick said:

You really think we are going to let Williams walk? He's by far the best player on our defense, I'd be pretty disappointed if they let him go.

Weddle is easily the best and most impactful defender. And Williams is less valuable than Jimmy, Mosley and Jernigan imo.

I think giving Williams a top DT contract would turn out to be yet another debilitating contract. He's a great run defender but we really need to focus on defending the pass. We have a good replacement who's extremely young and cheap. The run D should still be great without him.

[ravensnick]

9 minutes ago, ravefan52 said:

Weddle is easily the best and most impactful defender. And Williams is less valuable than Jimmy, Mosley and Jernigan imo.

I think giving Williams a top DT contract would turn out to be yet another debilitating contract. He's a great run defender but we really need to focus on defending the pass. We have a good replacement who's extremely young and cheap. The run D should still be great without him.

In my opinion, Michael Pierce is talented, but we really don't have anyone behind him. I wouldn't feel comfortable letting Williams walk and just having Pierce and a possible draft pick at NT next year. I agree that we might not be able to keep him, but I don't think Pierce is the be all, end all either.

Edited October 26, 2016 by ravensnick

[ravefan52]

3 minutes ago, ravensnick said:

In my opinion, Steve Pierce is talented, but we really don't have anyone behind him. I wouldn't feel comfortable letting Williams walk and just having Pierce and a possible draft pick at NT next year.

It's Michael Pierce and he's a stud. I'd feel a lot better letting Williams go and signing a veteran run stuffer, which aren't very expensive.

Edited October 26, 2016 by ravefan52

[ravensnick]

On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 1:55 AM, JoeyFlex5 said:

ravens have a tendency to get fed up with certain positions failing and then overdraft the hell out of them. this year they could do it in many spots that we need improvement in. edge rusher, interior OL, and cb are all deep and loaded groups. kareem are and jordan guillermo are real options in the 3rd or 4th if we wanna address the OL more, and we can stock up on cb's from the first all the way to the 3rd with guys like king or white in the first, the weird named guy from colorado or tankersly in the 2nd, and more.

Big fan of Quinton Nelson in the first. With the lack of tackles, I think Nelson could be mentioned as a top lineman in this class. He is certainly versatile.

I don't see Walker being a OLB in the pros. His build and play style scream 4-3 SDE, but I'm not quite sure he has the athleticism to play there. I definitely don't see a Dumervil comp at all. Walker is big and physical, while Doom is much smaller and uses speed and his low center of gravity, even when Doom played 4-3 DE.  He lines up a lot with his hand in the dirt and a lot in the inside as well as the outside .

Really like the Sutton pick, but I don't think he goes that low. Second round at worst IMO.

Not a Price fan at all. He's 6'0", barely and too light. At this point, he will get bullied by NFL caliber tackles.

Wise is very inconsistent but I like the pick and think its realistic.

 

[jdynamite]

3 hours ago, ravensnation5220 said:

Dan feeney from indiana is probably the highest graded gaurd in the draft class and lsu has a 6-7 center in ethan pocic. Feely has a mean streak to him while pocic is a guy who can get to the second level as a blocker. Does have some leverage issues though. Elfain is the most talked about guy but i think hell go late first or early second round, his best attribute is his versatility, and experience

Thanks... definitely want to hear about guards and versatile players that can possibly play center, Zuttah has had several games where he's looked about as inept as Gino Gradkowski.  Center position has been in shambles sink Birk retired. 

Mcclendon just bench pressed the guy into Flacco on multiple running plays. Looked like an 8th grader playing against Senior lol

Edited October 26, 2016 by jdynamite

[PurpleCity5]

Love Nelson. One of my favorite players in the draft. If we're picking outside of the top ten than he's my #1 guy. 

[January J]

On 10/25/2016 at 5:23 PM, ravensnick said:

He, like Ngata, makes our defense work. He is the key cog in our run defense and a disruptive pass rusher.

And he, like ngata, we can live without.

[Wildabeast88]

On October 22, 2016 at 5:39 PM, JoeyFlex5 said:

He's widely regarded as a mid second and I don't think the combine does him any favors. Of course this is based on outlets and not really NFL sources

Williams would be a comp pick for next year. We should get a 3rd for KO and that is it. Overthecap.com said just 3rd or KO i thought Possibly a 7th for Schaub or Upshaw. 

[ravensnation5220]

I like the idea of getting cook or fournette in round one and beefing up our oline in the offseason. Get a consistent ground game that way our play action pass can be relavent again

[reed20]

Nelson in the first? No. We could get him in the second. Look for a true #1 for flacco in JuJu.