Be Ozzie. Tell me which of these SEC juniors you pick at 32.

[Shas]

I was noticing there are five underclassmen who played in the SEC andwho could be a fit with the Ravens with their first round pick.

Pretend you know that these players are all going to be available when the Ravens are on the clock. Which one would you want Ozzie to take?

If you absolutely don't want one of these players I've given you other options of trading up or down, as well.

[alien bird]

I am trading five spots back. Since there are five guys available there and I have no strong feelings about any one of them over the others, one of them would still be available five picks later, as would another player or two that would be a good fit for the Ravens.

I might have chosen trade up, but that depends on which player was sitting there at #27. If it's one of the big 3 LTs or Tavon Austin, I move up. Otherwise, I'm moving back.

[ursula]

Interesting thing about Ozzie and the Ravens love of SEC draft picks: it ain't true. In fact, according to this NFP/Draftmetrics article, the Ravens draft a lower percentage of SEC players than all but two other teams. Ravens rarely draft Big 10 players also.

What conferences do the Ravens draft a relatively high percentage? Big 12 and non-BCS schools. For both they draft at the fifth highest rate of all NFL teams.

[Shas]

Good find, Ursula. Of course I didn't mean to imply that Ozzie wants to take a SEC guy...I was just observing that there seemed to be a number of SEC Juniors who people project to be taken around the spot the Ravens will select, if they stay put at 32.

I would add one caveat to the Draftmetrics piece you cite. They make a very generalized and even misleading statement about the Ravens draft philosophy when they lump the entire draft history into one pile.

The team's (stated) philosophy to targeting players changes as they move through the draft. Yes, they have recently put more emphasis on scouting non-BCS schools or non-powerhouse programs. They believe that scouting has gotten so good throughout the league that you can't out-scout teams when it comes to the big-name players at the big programs, but you can outwork other teams in finding the diamonds in the rough that other teams don't spend the time on.

However...that really only applies to the mid-to-late rounds of the draft for the most part. Last year in rounds 3-5 they took players from Temple, Delaware, SC State, and Cal Poly. Jah Reid was a third rounder from Central Florida and Webb from Nicholls State.

But they've also said that they boost their first round grades on players who have faced the very best competition in college. If you look at the last five years, first rounders from the SEC do show up with regularity.... Courtney Upshaw, Michael Oher, Ben Grubbs.

[JoeCool5]

We will trade back. Book it.

[ursula]

Excellent reply Shas. Besides the caveat you cite, which is important, I would like to see not only the full range of teams, not just the top and bottom five but also tendencies by draft round. As you say the Ravens have drafted SEC players in round 1 often. More often than most other teams? I dunno. More info would be good.

And I'd pick Ogletree.

[Shas]

If I had to pick one I think it's Elam. But my preference is to trade back out of 32 (and then also trade back up to get one or two extra 2nd and/or 3rd rounders.

By the way I almost added another SEC Junior to the poll list: Alabama OT D.J. Fluker. He's probably ten spots out of the Ravens reach however -- the type of guy they'd have to move up to get if he fell to the mid-twenties. And, he's not a left tackle, so I don't know if he's a fit. Oher and Osemele both provide what he provides as a RT. Too bad Oher can't nail down the LT spot, because Fluker at RT and Yanda and Osemele at guards would make this a pretty devastating run blocking team.

[stevez51]

I still think if there are QB's still on the board a team in need would move ahead of another to get theirs. Unless of course the Pat's trade back, which is more likely.

[bmore finest]

I choose trade up if that was Austin there. If he not there then for sure trade back and grab A. Brown if there or Armstead LT.

I can't wait for the draft, it's going to be crazy.

[leachisabeast]

The Ravens don't draft a lot of SEC players because a lot of the best players from that conference go way before the Ravens can pick them, they just get the prospects that weren't quite dominating from that conference that fall to them that aren't usually worth late first round picks. Upshaw last year was kind of the exception.

[PGCountyRaven85]

I said "Trade back..." but if Arthur Brown is still on the board when we're on the clock, I'm the pulling the trigger!!! However, with the trading back option, I'd just go down and take Robert Woods.

[bmorecareful]

The order would be: 1) Ogletree 2) Elam 3) Minter 4) Hunter 5) Reid. But if they're all there, and you CAN trade back 5 spots, that seems like a no-brainer to me.

Minter, Hunter, and Reid would all be reaches at #32. Ogletree grades out as a top 20 player on the big board WITHOUT consideration of the off-field issues, but how much that stuff will drive down his on-field stock will vary too much from team to team to be quantifiable. Elam grades out right around #30 or so so he fits the range perfectly.

I wouldn't be heartbroken to see them trade back 5 spots and miss out on both of those 2 guys, though, because there's not a big difference between each of them and the next rated player at their positions. I think Elam is the 2nd best safety in the class, but he's not really far ahead of guys like Jon Cyprien and Phillip Thomas. Ogletree is the "best" ILB in the class, but I would prefer Khaseem Greene or Arthur Brown in the 2nd rather than Ogletree in the 1st, in all likelihood.

Trading back looks like a great option if it's there.