[News] Alex Lewis A 'Wild Card' In Offensive Line Competition

[BR News]

Baltimore has holes at starting center and right tackle. Head Coach John Harbaugh said he thinks the Ravens will 'try to be' aggressive in the draft, but likes the competition shaping up as of now.

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[GoingSouth2019]

It gives me no comfort to think that the fortunes of our O-line next year could rest on possibly putting Alex Lewis at C or RT. I am sure Ozzie has a better game plan than this, and Harbs is simply not tipping our hand, but I would guess Flacco is not sleeping well at night until the O-line is fixed.

[mendii]

Lewis v Hurst for RT will be a good battle in camp, the "loser" could potentially become the starting LG. A stud center in the draft is more important to me than a stud tackle considering our depth chart, and we can find that on day 3 instead of worrying about it day 1 or 2.

[CaliRavenFan]

1 hour ago, mendii said:

Lewis v Hurst for RT will be a good battle in camp, the "loser" could potentially become the starting LG. A stud center in the draft is more important to me than a stud tackle considering our depth chart, and we can find that on day 3 instead of worrying about it day 1 or 2.

Concidering how bad the Oline is in this draft if we really want someone to improve our line it will have to come with our 1st or 2nd pick. I would love Taco Charlton with our 1st pick so that will leave Dan Feeney with our 2nd pick and he will play Center. That makes RT our only weakness on our line and I have faith we can find someone to step up for that position, either someone already on the roster or a cheap vet pick up after the draft. We learned last year with Zuttah that if the middle of your line is weak then your entire line falls apart. We can always put Crockett on the right side to help with the RT if needed. I just dont want to put our faith in a 3rd day player that will be playing the hardest postion of the line in a hard hitting run first division.

[BiggMack91]

  2 hours ago, mendii said:

Lewis v Hurst for RT will be a good battle in camp, the "loser" could potentially become the starting LG. A stud center in the draft is more important to me than a stud tackle considering our depth chart, and we can find that on day 3 instead of worrying about it day 1 or 2.

Concidering how bad the Oline is in this draft if we really want someone to improve our line it will have to come with our 1st or 2nd pick. I would love Taco Charlton with our 1st pick so that will leave Dan Feeney with our 2nd pick and he will play Center. That makes RT our only weakness on our line and I have faith we can find someone to step up for that position, either someone already on the roster or a cheap vet pick up after the draft. We learned last year with Zuttah that if the middle of your line is weak then your entire line falls apart. We can always put Crockett on the right side to help with the RT if needed. I just dont want to put our faith in a 3rd day player that will be playing the hardest postion of the line in a hard hitting run first division.

taco charlton dont fit our system and is no better than Judon and not worthy of first round pick 2nd round sure but at 16 you craz

[BiggMack91]

lewis starting RT C will come from the draft and we will pick up a vet lineman after the draft

[bigcatfrank1]

Lewis at RG that is his Natural position and he can be our lead rushing guard we need him at his strongest position. Yanda and Stanley were the wall on the left side, why even mess with that.

Nembot looks to take over the RT job he is a beast!

And if the Draft falls right the Ravens should have a pick at one of the top Centers in Pocic or Elflien who would be great additions for now and the future but could stagger at Center with Urschel, Jensen even Skura to get acclimated.

[757RavensFan]

With Yanda out until training camp, the coaches will be able to evaluate talent/play at the LG, C, RG, and RT positions during OTAs and minicamp. 

[billiejean]

Lewis v Hurst for RT will be a good battle in camp, the "loser" could potentially become the starting LG. A stud center in the draft is more important to me than a stud tackle considering our depth chart, and we can find that on day 3 instead of worrying about it day 1 or 2.

Although unlikely I am hoping one of the OL on the roster is this year Zach Orr. Hopefully the OL can stay healthy this year. Losing a starter O linman could spell disaster.

[Halshayeji]

21 minutes ago, mendii said:

Lewis v Hurst for RT will be a good battle in camp, the "loser" could potentially become the starting LG. A stud center in the draft is more important to me than a stud tackle considering our depth chart, and we can find that on day 3 instead of worrying about it day 1 or 2.

That would be a disaster waiting to happen lol

Hurst at LG and a rookie day 3 C?

just theoretical here but let's say Stanley catches a virus and misses preseason game 1. So you'd probably haveYanda LT, Hurst LG, Rookie 5th round C, Urschel RG, and Lewis RT starting that game.

would you play Flacco? 

 

[sizzlingdoom]

  10 hours ago, mendii said:

Lewis v Hurst for RT will be a good battle in camp, the "loser" could potentially become the starting LG. A stud center in the draft is more important to me than a stud tackle considering our depth chart, and we can find that on day 3 instead of worrying about it day 1 or 2.

Concidering how bad the Oline is in this draft if we really want someone to improve our line it will have to come with our 1st or 2nd pick. I would love Taco Charlton with our 1st pick so that will leave Dan Feeney with our 2nd pick and he will play Center. That makes RT our only weakness on our line and I have faith we can find someone to step up for that position, either someone already on the roster or a cheap vet pick up after the draft. We learned last year with Zuttah that if the middle of your line is weak then your entire line falls apart. We can always put Crockett on the right side to help with the RT if needed. I just dont want to put our faith in a 3rd day player that will be playing the hardest postion of the line in a hard hitting run first division.

No way Dan Freeney gets anywhere near our second pick. He's going in the first

[mendii]

7 hours ago, Halshayeji said:

That would be a disaster waiting to happen lol

Hurst at LG and a rookie day 3 C?

just theoretical here but let's say Stanley catches a virus and misses preseason game 1. So you'd probably haveYanda LT, Hurst LG, Rookie 5th round C, Urschel RG, and Lewis RT starting that game.

would you play Flacco? 

 

i guess in that situation you'd use hurst and lewis as your tackles, yanda at guard, and then hope jenson and urschel will be okay in the middle. I see the issue here. I'm not opposed to bringing a veteran in by any means, but I still like the perimeter talent in this draft too much to go with OL with our first 2 picks. Our CB depth also leaves us with a disaster waiting to happen if an injury occurs, same with the WRs, DE, and OLB.  

I forgot about Nesbot and Wesley, if either of them can play we can move Lewis inside and have them at RT, still not great, but better. 

Edited March 29 by mendii

[Halshayeji]

7 hours ago, mendii said:

i guess in that situation you'd use hurst and lewis as your tackles, yanda at guard, and then hope jenson and urschel will be okay in the middle. I see the issue here. I'm not opposed to bringing a veteran in by any means, but I still like the perimeter talent in this draft too much to go with OL with our first 2 picks. Our CB depth also leaves us with a disaster waiting to happen if an injury occurs, same with the WRs, DE, and OLB.  

I forgot about Nesbot and Wesley, if either of them can play we can move Lewis inside and have them at RT, still not great, but better. 

I agree 100 percent with the amount of perimeter talent in the top end of this draft.

i also agree that if we lose a WR or OLB then we're in a pickle. But keep in mind that Judon is not too shabby himself and Suggs is still a baller. We're not where we want to be but it could be a lot worse. Also when it comes to WRs, we have a 1000 yard receiver and a 1st rounder that picked up really well last year. We also have a few good pass catchers in our TEs so it's not horrible. Yes it could be better and injuries could make it harder but at least we have a starter and a #2 guy

i completely disagree in terms of CB. If we draft a CB in the first round, there's no guarantee he even starts because of the depth we have. Call me crazy but I think we have one of the best secondaries in the NFL and thus we can draft someone to develop. If Jimmy goes down it'll hurt for sure but Carr can handle his own without having to change our scheme to help him. Young is also a stud so it's not like we'll have young on #1 WRs and Shareece on #2s

DE also a position of strength on this team if we keep Jernigan.

now let's look at our line. We were already bad as a unit and lost 2 players that each made a pro bowl the past two years. We all remember how bad it was when we lost 2 or 3 guys last year so let's not start next year at our worst. Heck Ducase who our FO decided wasn't worth keeping actually beat hurst and urschel to the starting lineup. It would terrify me if Hurst and Urschel are anything better than 7 and 8 in the depth chart (they are currently 4 and 5). I see OLine as the priority right now because both the passing and run game will fail unless we fix this. 

im not calling for a lineman in the first two rounds but if we don't get a lineman then I hope we take two linemen in the next 3 picks.

also as you mentioned. I really hope we sign at least one good FA lineman before the draft and I'd prefer that be a C. I remember like it was yesterday how bad our line was when a rookie made the calls up front. 

Oh and you probably forgot about Nesbot and Wesley for a good reason lol

[mendii]

18 hours ago, Halshayeji said:

I agree 100 percent with the amount of perimeter talent in the top end of this draft.

i also agree that if we lose a WR or OLB then we're in a pickle. But keep in mind that Judon is not too shabby himself and Suggs is still a baller. We're not where we want to be but it could be a lot worse. Also when it comes to WRs, we have a 1000 yard receiver and a 1st rounder that picked up really well last year. We also have a few good pass catchers in our TEs so it's not horrible. Yes it could be better and injuries could make it harder but at least we have a starter and a #2 guy

i completely disagree in terms of CB. If we draft a CB in the first round, there's no guarantee he even starts because of the depth we have. Call me crazy but I think we have one of the best secondaries in the NFL and thus we can draft someone to develop. If Jimmy goes down it'll hurt for sure but Carr can handle his own without having to change our scheme to help him. Young is also a stud so it's not like we'll have young on #1 WRs and Shareece on #2s

DE also a position of strength on this team if we keep Jernigan.

now let's look at our line. We were already bad as a unit and lost 2 players that each made a pro bowl the past two years. We all remember how bad it was when we lost 2 or 3 guys last year so let's not start next year at our worst. Heck Ducase who our FO decided wasn't worth keeping actually beat hurst and urschel to the starting lineup. It would terrify me if Hurst and Urschel are anything better than 7 and 8 in the depth chart (they are currently 4 and 5). I see OLine as the priority right now because both the passing and run game will fail unless we fix this. 

im not calling for a lineman in the first two rounds but if we don't get a lineman then I hope we take two linemen in the next 3 picks.

also as you mentioned. I really hope we sign at least one good FA lineman before the draft and I'd prefer that be a C. I remember like it was yesterday how bad our line was when a rookie made the calls up front. 

Oh and you probably forgot about Nesbot and Wesley for a good reason lol

I guess I see Carr as an upgrade over Shareece but I not as a huge upgrade in general. He is a good player, and solidifies the position, but if Jimmy gets hurt and he's our #1 guy for multiple weeks I'm less confident than you are. As for DE, I'm pretty sure we only have two on the roster as of right now, Kaufusi and Urban. We can play Timmy out there, but he's naturally a DT. 

I was surprised we didn't make an attempt to keep Ducasse as well, I thought he was really solid guard depth for us, especially considering the fact that the FO seems to like the idea of Lewis at tackle to replace Wagner. I would be very okay with your draft strategy on offensive linemen, 3rd/4th/ and 5th round offensive linemen is where our scouts make their money.

I also remember Gradkowski at center... never again.  

[Halshayeji]

1 hour ago, mendii said:

I guess I see Carr as an upgrade over Shareece but I not as a huge upgrade in general. He is a good player, and solidifies the position, but if Jimmy gets hurt and he's our #1 guy for multiple weeks I'm less confident than you are. As for DE, I'm pretty sure we only have two on the roster as of right now, Kaufusi and Urban. We can play Timmy out there, but he's naturally a DT. 

I was surprised we didn't make an attempt to keep Ducasse as well, I thought he was really solid guard depth for us, especially considering the fact that the FO seems to like the idea of Lewis at tackle to replace Wagner. I would be very okay with your draft strategy on offensive linemen, 3rd/4th/ and 5th round offensive linemen is where our scouts make their money.

I also remember Gradkowski at center... never again.  

I still think Carr is a huge upgrade as he could start on 30 other NFL teams while Shareece will struggle to make a squad. But we can agree to disagree

amen to a lineman 3rd 4th and 5th. 2 can pan out and the third can jump off the highest building for all I care. Absolutely agree on our scouts doing great with late picks on the line. But they're not 100% and Gino was the evidence lol

regrding DE, we also have Davis and Henry who we took in the third and 4th rounds. I'd also like to see Judon play DE on obvious passing downs. I think he'd have a McPhee kind of effect inside on passing downs.

Edited March 30 by Halshayeji

[mendii]

3 hours ago, Halshayeji said:

I still think Carr is a huge upgrade as he could start on 30 other NFL teams while Shareece will struggle to make a squad. But we can agree to disagree

amen to a lineman 3rd 4th and 5th. 2 can pan out and the third can jump off the highest building for all I care. Absolutely agree on our scouts doing great with late picks on the line. But they're not 100% and Gino was the evidence lol

regrding DE, we also have Davis and Henry who we took in the third and 4th rounds. I'd also like to see Judon play DE on obvious passing downs. I think he'd have a McPhee kind of effect inside on passing downs.

When you put it like that the upgrade seems more obvious lol. You are right, Carr sees the field for the vast majority of NFL teams, and Shareece should be more of an emergency option for anybody. 

I also can't wait to see what Judon will do this year, but again if he or Suggs goes down, it's gonna be the Zadarius Smith show, and I'm not too keen on that. 

The thing is, if we're looking at the line, or the linebackers, or the receivers, we're only one good player away from good depth at these positions. It's funny how one guy can really make the difference between a position being shallow and a position being loaded.