CAMP NOTES August 5: Defense stepping up, WR concerns continue

**alien bird** · 08-06-2013, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by wickedsolo

Another thing folks aren't taking into consideration is how the D is impacting all of this; not because of price, but strategy.

This D has the makings of being dominant. As in, possibly the best overall D we have seen in years. The offense may not have to score a ton of points for this team to win and get to the playoffs.

Whereas some posters are beating up the Ravens' front office for not drafting Cordarelle Patterson, the fact is that trading to that spot cost the Vikings much more than Arthur Brown, Brendan Williams, Kyle Juszczyk and Aaron Mellette combined. Patterson might turn out to be great, but he's raw and unproven, and the focus of the Ravens' draft was to get better up the middle defensively. Making that trade might have made the WR corp better (not a given), but it would have made the team weaker overall.

**wickedsolo** · 08-06-2013, 03:46 PM

Originally Posted by alien bird

Whereas some posters are beating up the Ravens' front office for not drafting Cordarelle Patterson, the fact is that trading to that spot cost the Vikings much more than Arthur Brown, Brendan Williams, Kyle Juszczyk and Aaron Mellette combined. Patterson might turn out to be great, but he's raw and unproven, and the focus of the Ravens' draft was to get better up the middle defensively. Making that trade might have made the WR corp better (not a given), but it would have made the team weaker overall.

Yea. Sometimes being conservative in the draft pays off more in the long run.

**RavensRule21215** · 08-06-2013, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by alien bird

Whereas some posters are beating up the Ravens' front office for not drafting Cordarelle Patterson, the fact is that trading to that spot cost the Vikings much more than Arthur Brown, Brendan Williams, Kyle Juszczyk and Aaron Mellette combined. Patterson might turn out to be great, but he's raw and unproven, and the focus of the Ravens' draft was to get better up the middle defensively. Making that trade might have made the WR corp better (not a given), but it would have made the team weaker overall.

I'm not sure you're talking about apples and apples here. The Vikes didn't have another first round pick to trade. They picked at 23 and 25, and still wanted to get Patterson at #29. The Ravens HAD the 32nd pick in the first round, so there's no way they would have had to give up all those other players just to move up a couple of spots. Other than that, your point makes some sense; it just would never involve all those players.

But it's moot, because the Ravens have already stated that Elam was their guy, they're thrilled to have gotten him at #32, and that's pretty much the end of the story. They made their choices, and they'll reap the benefits and/or the consequences.

**srobert96** · 08-06-2013, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by RavensRule21215

I'm not sure you're talking about apples and apples here. The Vikes didn't have another first round pick to trade. They picked at 23 and 25, and still wanted to get Patterson at #29. The Ravens HAD the 32nd pick in the first round, so there's no way they would have had to give up all those other players just to move up a couple of spots. Other than that, your point makes some sense; it just would never involve all those players.

But it's moot, because the Ravens have already stated that Elam was their guy, they're thrilled to have gotten him at #32, and that's pretty much the end of the story. They made their choices, and they'll reap the benefits and/or the consequences.

They would have had to give up Elam and taken a chance on a wr when at the time wr was not an issue. Safety was most certainly an issue. Had Pitta been injured before the draft maybe things shake out differently. It is easy to go back and say the Ravens made a mistake not taking a receiver early after they lost their to pass catcher. Maybe the Packers should have drafted a LT with their 1st pick.

**Ravenswintitle** · 08-06-2013, 04:58 PM

They're covering the Ravens on SiriusNFL today (Movin' the Chains) and Pat is raving about Flacco. He said he thought he could complete 100 in a row. Doesn't seem to matter who lines up as receiver ;)

**wickedsolo** · 08-06-2013, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by RavensRule21215

I'm not sure you're talking about apples and apples here. The Vikes didn't have another first round pick to trade. They picked at 23 and 25, and still wanted to get Patterson at #29. The Ravens HAD the 32nd pick in the first round, so there's no way they would have had to give up all those other players just to move up a couple of spots. Other than that, your point makes some sense; it just would never involve all those players.

But it's moot, because the Ravens have already stated that Elam was their guy, they're thrilled to have gotten him at #32, and that's pretty much the end of the story. They made their choices, and they'll reap the benefits and/or the consequences.

Of course that is what they are saying after the fact. I'm sure Elam was high on their draft board, but who really knows?

**RavensRule21215** · 08-06-2013, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by srobert96

They would have had to give up Elam and taken a chance on a wr when at the time wr was not an issue. Safety was most certainly an issue. Had Pitta been injured before the draft maybe things shake out differently. It is easy to go back and say the Ravens made a mistake not taking a receiver early after they lost their to pass catcher. Maybe the Packers should have drafted a LT with their 1st pick.

Yes. They would have had to give up Elam, obviously, and at least one other player to move up 3 spots. But that's not what the person to whom I was responding said. He said the Ravens would have had to give up:

"Whereas some posters are beating up the Ravens' front office for not drafting Cordarelle Patterson, the fact is that trading to that spot cost the Vikings much more than Arthur Brown, Brendan Williams, Kyle Juszczyk and Aaron Mellette combined."

**RavensRule21215** · 08-06-2013, 05:16 PM

Originally Posted by wickedsolo

Of course that is what they are saying after the fact. I'm sure Elam was high on their draft board, but who really knows?

Why would you doubt what they're saying?

**alien bird** · 08-06-2013, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by RavensRule21215

I'm not sure you're talking about apples and apples here. The Vikes didn't have another first round pick to trade. They picked at 23 and 25, and still wanted to get Patterson at #29. The Ravens HAD the 32nd pick in the first round, so there's no way they would have had to give up all those other players just to move up a couple of spots. Other than that, your point makes some sense; it just would never involve all those players.

But it's moot, because the Ravens have already stated that Elam was their guy, they're thrilled to have gotten him at #32, and that's pretty much the end of the story. They made their choices, and they'll reap the benefits and/or the consequences.

Considering the Vikings wanted to move into that spot and were willing to give up that much, it's logical to conclude that New England would have asked for similar compensation from the Ravens. If that included a first rounder, it could have easily also included a third and fourth round pick. I'm not so sure Patterson would be worth Elam, Juszczyk and Williams, either. Like I said, he might be awesome, but the Ravens had bigger holes to fill on defense.

**Money227** · 08-06-2013, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by alien bird

Considering the Vikings wanted to move into that spot and were willing to give up that much, it's logical to conclude that New England would have asked for similar compensation from the Ravens. If that included a first rounder, it could have easily also included a third and fourth round pick. I'm not so sure Patterson would be worth Elam, Juszczyk and Williams, either. Like I said, he might be awesome, but the Ravens had bigger holes to fill on defense.

Patterson wasn't worth the 32nd pick let alone moving up to #29. There was only one 1st-round worthy WR in the 2013 draft and that was Austin.

**RavensRule21215** · 08-06-2013, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by alien bird

Considering the Vikings wanted to move into that spot and were willing to give up that much, it's logical to conclude that New England would have asked for similar compensation from the Ravens. If that included a first rounder, it could have easily also included a third and fourth round pick. I'm not so sure Patterson would be worth Elam, Juszczyk and Williams, either. Like I said, he might be awesome, but the Ravens had bigger holes to fill on defense.

There are formulas to balance out fair trade values. So it's unlikely that it could have been anything outside those balanced values. The Vikes got 640; the Pats got 647. That's the way it goes.

**Ravenswintitle** · 08-06-2013, 05:32 PM

If I can find the replay I will post a link. Biscotti just did a very good job on SiriusNFL of talking about why they let some of these guys go and why they want young at WR position. He also is lobbying for 50 active on game day instead of 45.

Side note: he said all the players wanted the Pats in the playoffs last year and he was pretty worried about it, he wanted to play Houston :)