Don't forget about Christian Thompson

**GreatWhiteNorthRaven** · 03-14-2013, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by landspeed

Now that Im thinking about it, Ihedigbo wasnt really that great. I forgot about Omar Brown, he was a beast in the pre-season. And safety is deep this draft

Thought not great, I found Ihedigbo to be adequate in the time he saw. He plays a lot like Pollard

**Bigfish** · 03-14-2013, 12:43 PM

Thompson may be a diamond in the rough and we could have a few others guys already on the roster along with the picks we'll get this year. Veterans, draft picks with FAs compete in camp and you play the best you can get your hands on.

Kruger had 9 starts and Ellerbe had 14 and yet somehow they got huge deals. In today's NFL young players can't be groomed for 3+ years to start at the end of their rookie deal only to lose them as a FA to a bottom dweller with cash to burn.

A guy like Adrian Hamilton could end up being a solid pass rushing specialist and back up OLB. It's not far fetched considering how many undrafted players have cracked the line up over the years. In recent memory I'll mention Ellerbe again.

**Jsmoove** · 03-14-2013, 12:46 PM

Ok fellas i see you guys are trying to make sense of this pollard move but Ihedigbo? and Thompson?? not buying it at all, we better have fierce pass rush come training camp or this defense is gonna look even uglier than it did for much of the season.

**Justlovemybirds** · 03-14-2013, 12:50 PM

Thompson also played a year at Auburn so (like Webb) he has big school experience before doing well on the lower level.

**DrUnk** · 03-14-2013, 12:56 PM

And Omar Brown looked awesome in the preseason...we'll see.

**Iscull** · 03-14-2013, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by leachisabeast

Him and Ihedigbo can compete for the job I guess. We need a true free safety either through the draft or in FA.

Hopefully we sign a guy like Kerry Rhodes for 1 year to help give us a little more experiance on the back end. He would be a great guy to have mentor all the young guys we'll have at the safety positions.

**Iscull** · 03-14-2013, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by DrUnk

And Omar Brown looked awesome in the preseason...we'll see.

Great point. I completely forgot about this guy. He was a beast in pre-season, I'm pretty sure he had caused at least like 5 turnovers. This guy was always around the ball.

**Iscull** · 03-14-2013, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by Jsmoove

Ok fellas i see you guys are trying to make sense of this pollard move but Ihedigbo? and Thompson?? not buying it at all, we better have fierce pass rush come training camp or this defense is gonna look even uglier than it did for much of the season.

As someone wrote on another thread, Pollard has been on 4 teams in his short career. We just gave him a 3 year extension recently. That shows they were serious about having Pollard on the team for the future. Him being cut has all to do with his attitude, and I gaurentee this guy was fighting with coaches and other player (Like mentioned in the other thread). This move had nothing to do with "getting younger". Pollard is 28 and wasn't being paid that much. I am beginning to understand the move. Teams don't win championships when the lockeroom is divided. I'm glad we cut him before we brought in our influx of young guys. Were going to need good leaders in the lockeroom, not cancers.

**leachisabeast** · 03-14-2013, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by Jsmoove

Ok fellas i see you guys are trying to make sense of this pollard move but Ihedigbo? and Thompson?? not buying it at all, we better have fierce pass rush come training camp or this defense is gonna look even uglier than it did for much of the season.

I take it you were probably one of those who weren't too high on Webb before he broke out either? The Ravens know more about these small school prospects than any of us do.

**Ravenous1** · 03-14-2013, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by leachisabeast

Christian Thompson is a hybrid player between FS and SS, and is really fast, he ran a 4.46 at the combine, and is probably a better coverage player than Pollard. He has the size to be a good safety, and maybe he is part of the reason why Pollard was let go of. There was a reason we drafted him in the 4th round last year.

A link to his draft profile
http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings...2012&genpos=FS

If he and Gino do end up starting and at least do well enough to hold down starting places. The 2012 draft may be looked back on as one of the most complete drafts for a long time. Getting this amount of early production would be awesome.

Great post. Thompson is a kid who is a better fit for what they will need next year IMO.

I also like Omar Brown. Bit of a ballhawk who has some upside.

Last but not least there are some good prospects in the draft as well.

**Doctor** · 03-14-2013, 02:08 PM

I'm hopeful, because (for whatever reason) Ed Reed had been mentoring Thompson leading up to last year's draft (before we selected him), but Thompson did not make a ton of plays...even at South Carolina State (weak competition).

He ran fast in a straight line...in fact the fastest 40 of all the Safeties at the Combine last year...but, at the same time, was the slowest of all the DB prospects in the 3-cone drill (also was the lowest in vertical leap).

I'll cross my fingers, but Thompson didn't catch my eye even on Special Teams this past season. I'm going to assume that Ozzie will be bringing in at least one (or more likely two) Safeties from this year's draft class to compete with the guys we have in-house currently.