[News] Eric DeCosta Sees 2017 Class As A 'Defensive Draft'

[BR News]

The draft class has depth at cornerback, safety and pass rusher, which are all positions where the Ravens could look to add prospects.

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[griffrb]

Lots of redundant news and information by the Ravens Media Staff.

[RavenRampage]

Lucky for us, edge rusher, safety, and corner are the three defensive spots we need the most. Let's hope the board fall our way. Go quarterbacks early and often please.

[Bob21043]

Of course, this means that they will do the opposite and draft a WR first. :)

[rmcjacket23]

Lots of redundant news and information by the Ravens Media Staff.

Welcome to the offseason and the calm before the storm.

Literally everything is conjecture at this point.

[Crusader]

You got to learn to read between the lines in this articles.

[omar586]

Of course, this means that they will do the opposite and draft a WR first. :)

nooooooooooooooooooooo, no WR shall be drafted by the ravens, ever. lol

[The Greek]

maybe ozzie and eric will agree it would be best to draft a kicker at #16 to challenge tucker since he missed 1 kick all season.

[KidNme]

There's so many quality starters in all our positions of need, that we could draft with the 1st pick. I think it's just going to come down to the best rated player left on the board as we usually do. Lots of impressive stock in this draft.

[OzzieBisciotti]

DaCosta hasn't seen anything good in the past five drafts based upon the players he and Oz chose

[OzzieBisciotti]

We should let Bisciotti draft- i guarantee he will draft better than Oz and DaCosta. Oz will draft two more tight ends and two more safeties and forget about the cb position altogether until the 4th or 5th round

[Adreme]

56 minutes ago, OzzieBisciotti said:

DaCosta hasn't seen anything good in the past five drafts based upon the players he and Oz chose

Its really impressive that somehow in your mind the Ravens manage to both not draft any good players but at the same time always seem to have huge pieces leave in free agency that they drafted.  Being able to pull off both is just amazing.

[bigcatfrank1]

Interesting that it is most probably for the Ravens to go with Defense, and early, however I firmly believe that the Ravens should consider Elflein C from Ohio State At #2 (48th) pick and fully solidify the front line early when they can with a 4 year All American.
It is obvious from the tape that Dallas got it right and the Ravens have a big weak spot.

As far as Defense - sure if one of the top 2 corners is not available at 16, then default to a top 2 DE, OLB or Safety. Its a mathematical fact that only 15 players can go before then so there is going to be a high ranked player- top 2 within one of the primary positions, and the Ravens will get them ! A great position for them to be in this year without posting a complete bust.

I see a WR or RB as a deep pick unless a surprise player were to slide down the player pool.

[OzzieBisciotti]

  1 hour ago, OzzieBisciotti said:

DaCosta hasn't seen anything good in the past five drafts based upon the players he and Oz chose

Its really impressive that somehow in your mind the Ravens manage to both not draft any good players but at the same time always seem to have huge pieces leave in free agency that they drafted.  Being able to pull off both is just amazing.

What are you talking about? We haven't had that many good players leave because we haven't gotten any good players.

[OzzieBisciotti]

Eric DaCosta = Ryan Grigson

[RayRayRaven]

2 hours ago, OzzieBisciotti said:

We should let Bisciotti draft- i guarantee he will draft better than Oz and DaCosta. Oz will draft two more tight ends and two more safeties and forget about the cb position altogether until the 4th or 5th round

agree. tune into the 2017 nfl draft gonna run a contest to show how bad our pickers have been. decosta sheez

[nevermorebmore]

  2 hours ago, Adreme said:

  3 hours ago, OzzieBisciotti said:

DaCosta hasn't seen anything good in the past five drafts based upon the players he and Oz chose

Its really impressive that somehow in your mind the Ravens manage to both not draft any good players but at the same time always seem to have huge pieces leave in free agency that they drafted.  Being able to pull off both is just amazing.

What are you talking about? We haven't had that many good players leave because we haven't gotten any good players.

We've had lots of *good* players. I think the complaint is that we've had a pretty long drought of home grown superstars - guys whose jersey you want to buy. Yes, we've watched pro-bowlers walk, guys that we miss, real football players for sure. But as fans, it's hard to see our rivals load-up on those marquee franchise players while we've endured some major busts with scattered blue-chip pro-bowlers leaving in free agency. Oz and DeCosta are still among the best in the game at getting value from draft classes, but it hasn't been the most exciting few years to be a Ravens fan.

[usmccharles]

1 hour ago, nevermorebmore said:

We've had lots of *good* players. I think the complaint is that we've had a pretty long drought of home grown superstars - guys whose jersey you want to buy. Yes, we've watched pro-bowlers walk, guys that we miss, real football players for sure. But as fans, it's hard to see our rivals load-up on those marquee franchise players while we've endured some major busts with scattered blue-chip pro-bowlers leaving in free agency. Oz and DeCosta are still among the best in the game at getting value from draft classes, but it hasn't been the most exciting few years to be a Ravens fan.

Good luck with that.....

[RavensDieHard21]

3 hours ago, bigcatfrank1 said:

Interesting that it is most probably for the Ravens to go with Defense, and early, however I firmly believe that the Ravens should consider Elflein C from Ohio State At #2 (48th) pick and fully solidify the front line early when they can with a 4 year All American.
It is obvious from the tape that Dallas got it right and the Ravens have a big weak spot.

As far as Defense - sure if one of the top 2 corners is not available at 16, then default to a top 2 DE, OLB or Safety. Its a mathematical fact that only 15 players can go before then so there is going to be a high ranked player- top 2 within one of the primary positions, and the Ravens will get them ! A great position for them to be in this year without posting a complete bust.

I see a WR or RB as a deep pick unless a surprise player were to slide down the player pool.
 

Only offensive players worth taking Inside the first two rounds are Feeney, Eiflein, Williams and Davis. I don't think Fournette is there and for where we are drafting the other talent will not be higher ranked at 16 or 48 imo

 

[sizzlingdoom]

  6 hours ago, OzzieBisciotti said:

  7 hours ago, Adreme said:

  8 hours ago, OzzieBisciotti said:

DaCosta hasn't seen anything good in the past five drafts based upon the players he and Oz chose

Its really impressive that somehow in your mind the Ravens manage to both not draft any good players but at the same time always seem to have huge pieces leave in free agency that they drafted.  Being able to pull off both is just amazing.

What are you talking about? We haven't had that many good players leave because we haven't gotten any good players.

We've had lots of *good* players. I think the complaint is that we've had a pretty long drought of home grown superstars - guys whose jersey you want to buy. Yes, we've watched pro-bowlers walk, guys that we miss, real football players for sure. But as fans, it's hard to see our rivals load-up on those marquee franchise players while we've endured some major busts with scattered blue-chip pro-bowlers leaving in free agency. Oz and DeCosta are still among the best in the game at getting value from draft classes, but it hasn't been the most exciting few years to be a Ravens fan.

This post is pretty spot on!!!

[sizzlingdoom]

  4 hours ago, nevermorebmore said:

We've had lots of *good* players. I think the complaint is that we've had a pretty long drought of home grown superstars - guys whose jersey you want to buy. Yes, we've watched pro-bowlers walk, guys that we miss, real football players for sure. But as fans, it's hard to see our rivals load-up on those marquee franchise players while we've endured some major busts with scattered blue-chip pro-bowlers leaving in free agency. Oz and DeCosta are still among the best in the game at getting value from draft classes, but it hasn't been the most exciting few years to be a Ravens fan.

Good luck with that.....

I thought you didn't like short lame responses to an insightful post?

[sizzlingdoom]

  7 hours ago, bigcatfrank1 said:

Interesting that it is most probably for the Ravens to go with Defense, and early, however I firmly believe that the Ravens should consider Elflein C from Ohio State At #2 (48th) pick and fully solidify the front line early when they can with a 4 year All American.
It is obvious from the tape that Dallas got it right and the Ravens have a big weak spot.

As far as Defense - sure if one of the top 2 corners is not available at 16, then default to a top 2 DE, OLB or Safety. Its a mathematical fact that only 15 players can go before then so there is going to be a high ranked player- top 2 within one of the primary positions, and the Ravens will get them ! A great position for them to be in this year without posting a complete bust.

I see a WR or RB as a deep pick unless a surprise player were to slide down the player pool.
 

Only offensive players worth taking Inside the first two rounds are Feeney, Eiflein, Williams and Davis. I don't think Fournette is there and for where we are drafting the other talent will not be higher ranked at 16 or 48 imo

 

I agree with you.
I'm 1000% in on Mr. Sidney Jones becoming a Baltimore Raven. I really hope he's there and we take him at 16.
If Freeney and Eiflen are there at 48 I think it could be tough not to take one of them. Especially if we release Zuttah.
But yeah I think there's so much more defensive talent in the first couple rounds.
Budda Baker at 48 to become our FS of the future is kinda interesting. I don't think there's any chance he goes in the first.
Barnett is growing on me, but I just can't tell if he's a much better college player than future pro, which was my initial thought. But if he drops to 16 because of "athletic limitations" like Sizzle did, and the FO is convinced he can join Suggs for a year than take over for him, that would be interesting. He's productive and violent which is nice. In that case, a combo of Barnett then Desmond King would be super interesting. I know I probably sound like a broken record but I'm stoked for the next couple months. Lots of changes to be made

[JoeyFlex5]

i think budda baker rises to the first, and i seriously hope that peppers falls to 48, i doubt it, but i would love to see him playing SS for us. i think there are at least 5 starting safeties in this class, possibly as many as seven, this safety class is just loaded. adams, hooker, baker, peppers, king and marcus smith i think are all starters by year 2, melifonwu and justin evans could be solid as well but melifonwu is a definite project and evans is a relatively safe box safety with limited upside. 

i think williams and harris both make excellent DPRs, barnett and watt are gonna be excellent 3 down edge defenders, kpassagnon has more upside as a 5T than i think ive ever seen. 

lattimore could be a first team all pro cb if hes healthy, quincy wilson could be one of the best press corners in the league, sidney jones is the type of guy who gets targeted twice a week and picks off half the balls thrown his way, i think tre'davious white is a shutdown corner in any scheme asked of him, marlon humphrey has great upside and at the worst makes a great off corner or safety, jourdan lewis and adoree jackson are project corners with ridiculous upside. 

this draft is just incredible on the defensive side. every high valued position has first round talents that could fall deep into round 2. if we go defense in the first 2 rounds and we arent stupid with it, we can get 2 franchise changing defenders.

[sizzlingdoom]

i think budda baker rises to the first, and i seriously hope that peppers falls to 48, i doubt it, but i would love to see him playing SS for us. i think there are at least 5 starting safeties in this class, possibly as many as seven, this safety class is just loaded. adams, hooker, baker, peppers, king and marcus smith i think are all starters by year 2, melifonwu and justin evans could be solid as well but melifonwu is a definite project and evans is a relatively safe box safety with limited upside. 

i think williams and harris both make excellent DPRs, barnett and watt are gonna be excellent 3 down edge defenders, kpassagnon has more upside as a 5T than i think ive ever seen. 

lattimore could be a first team all pro cb if hes healthy, quincy wilson could be one of the best press corners in the league, sidney jones is the type of guy who gets targeted twice a week and picks off half the balls thrown his way, i think tre'davious white is a shutdown corner in any scheme asked of him, marlon humphrey has great upside and at the worst makes a great off corner or safety, jourdan lewis and adoree jackson are project corners with ridiculous upside. 

this draft is just incredible on the defensive side. every high valued position has first round talents that could fall deep into round 2. if we go defense in the first 2 rounds and we arent stupid with it, we can get 2 franchise changing defenders.

Great post.
If we take Sidney Jones at 16, and King to play safety with our 2nd pick, the RAVENS defense will be back. For a long time too.
With a secondary of Weddle+King+Tavon+Jimmy+Jones......it seriously wouldn't even matter who was rushing the passer. Not to mention we still have tons of talent up front and have the rest of the draft and FA.
Jones+King is so possible and would be absurd. You're right. Time to get 2 defensive cornerstones. Not only can we not afford to not miss on the 2 picks, but we have to nail them

[JoeyFlex5]

1 minute ago, sizzlingdoom said:

Great post.
If we take Sidney Jones at 16, and King to play safety with our 2nd pick, the RAVENS defense will be back. For a long time too.
With a secondary of Weddle+King+Tavon+Jimmy+Jones......it seriously wouldn't even matter who was rushing the passer. Not to mention we still have tons of talent up front and have the rest of the draft and FA.
Jones+King is so possible and would be absurd. You're right. Time to get 2 defensive cornerstones. Not only can we not afford to not miss on the 2 picks, but we have to nail them

kings apparent lack of speed is concerning, a player at 22-23 who already plays rather slow is only gonna get slower, thats my big concern with guys like king and jones. that said, id be stoked for that pickup, id prefer baker or peppers to king, but that would give us a good 3 or so years of a hell of a secondary.

[sizzlingdoom]

  58 minutes ago, sizzlingdoom said:

Great post.
If we take Sidney Jones at 16, and King to play safety with our 2nd pick, the RAVENS defense will be back. For a long time too.
With a secondary of Weddle+King+Tavon+Jimmy+Jones......it seriously wouldn't even matter who was rushing the passer. Not to mention we still have tons of talent up front and have the rest of the draft and FA.
Jones+King is so possible and would be absurd. You're right. Time to get 2 defensive cornerstones. Not only can we not afford to not miss on the 2 picks, but we have to nail them

kings apparent lack of speed is concerning, a player at 22-23 who already plays rather slow is only gonna get slower, thats my big concern with guys like king and jones. that said, id be stoked for that pickup, id prefer baker or peppers to king, but that would give us a good 3 or so years of a hell of a secondary.

I hear what you're saying about King. I think the speed thing is a bit overblown though at times. Especially considering he's a technician and can make up for it with things like foot placement, awareness, and anticipation. I also think if he's playing safety, it doesn't matter to much at all if he doesn't run a 4.4. Or even a 4.5 I think he can play some corner, but I also think he would make a nasty Safety combo with Weddle. As much as I hated it when we interchanged our safeties between Free and Strong, I think King and Weddle can play both positions at a very high level. Which would create a lot of versatility.
I like Jones and Wilson at corner. Interested to see what Wilson runs.
Peppers scares the hell out of me. I know a lot of people love him. But I honestly wouldn't even consider taking him in the 2nd. Especially in this draft. He just shouts athlete and college player to me. Not NFL star. I'd be really surprised if he ever makes a pro bowl. We'll see though. I think it's nuts people are just assuming he can not only all of the sudden become an NFL Safety, but one also worthy of a top 10 pick in some minds.

[GENE2407]

This is a pass happy league and the corners are not going to last until #16. Ozzie better get on the horn and trade up a couple slots. He'll have to give up one of his precious 4th or 5th rounder to do it but he'd better make a move.

[JoeyFlex5]

1 minute ago, GENE2407 said:

This is a pass happy league and the corners are not going to last until #16. Ozzie better get on the horn and trade up a couple slots. He'll have to give up one of his precious 4th or 5th rounder to do it but he'd better make a move.

this is just not true. this class has depth. we will have our pick of the litter at 16 aside from one, MAYBE two. 

marshon lattimore, quincy wilson, sidney jones, tre'davious white, marlon humphrey, all very legit first round corners, and the top 2 safeties may go before any of the corners do. we can trade back and still land a first round talent at corner and that is almost certain. first round talents at corner may even fall into the second, because not only is this class absurdly deep in the secondary, but its also deep at edge rusher, where we will also have a pick of the litter at 16. 

this draft plays out quite nicely for us and we wont need to trade up in the first, maybe later on, but trading up would just be irresponsible in a draft this deep and talented at our positions of need.

[JoeyFlex5]

8 minutes ago, sizzlingdoom said:

I hear what you're saying about King. I think the speed thing is a bit overblown though at times. Especially considering he's a technician and can make up for it with things like foot placement, awareness, and anticipation. I also think if he's playing safety, it doesn't matter to much at all if he doesn't run a 4.4. Or even a 4.5 I think he can play some corner, but I also think he would make a nasty Safety combo with Weddle. As much as I hated it when we interchanged our safeties between Free and Strong, I think King and Weddle can play both positions at a very high level. Which would create a lot of versatility.
I like Jones and Wilson at corner. Interested to see what Wilson runs.
Peppers scares the hell out of me. I know a lot of people love him. But I honestly wouldn't even consider taking him in the 2nd. Especially in this draft. He just shouts athlete and college player to me. Not NFL star. I'd be really surprised if he ever makes a pro bowl. We'll see though. I think it's nuts people are just assuming he can not only all of the sudden become an NFL Safety, but one also worthy of a top 10 pick in some minds.

peppers isnt just an athlete though. his instincts are incredible and it shows on film. he was used as a LB and a blitzer/attacker in college and it didnt allow him to show any of his chops in coverage, but he is certainly athletic enough to cover in the NFL and he was the most instinctive player on the field, and that is a trait that translates to any position, if he is highly instinctive as a LB he will be highly instinctive as a SS, on tape he sniffs out the running lane before it develops, he sniffs out wr screens before the ball is snapped and covers ground in an instant. i understand the concern about switching from LB to S, but players successfully change positions all the time, and peppers has the IQ and unteachables to make it happen i think.

[sizzlingdoom]

This is a pass happy league and the corners are not going to last until #16. Ozzie better get on the horn and trade up a couple slots. He'll have to give up one of his precious 4th or 5th rounder to do it but he'd better make a move.

I hear what you're saying and in any other draft I would agree 100%. But this is the craziest corner class I've ever seen. I think DJ said he had 10 corners in his top 50 players and he wanted to add more. There are elite ones too. There are 4-6 that I would be happy if we picked them at 16. The top 2 rounds are loaded overall too. A pro bowl corner will be available at 16 imo.
However, after they not only relied on Wright, but paid him and stuck with him as long as they did, I wouldn't be surprised if they took another similar approach. Like signing Davon House who's about to be cut.
I know people that like to pick at post will do so will this statement, but jeez I think it'd be nice to have Norman. I know he's expensive and annoying, but he's BA on the field. And would Thrive on our D. We just need to get a shut down corner this off season somehow. If we do that and Jimmy stays healthy, our secondary will go from a weakness to a huge strength.