The Announcement of the Draft Season!!!

[PalladinInNC]

I have complete my analysis of the first wave of CBs in the upcoming draft.

In all honesty, I don't see one sure fire first round worthy CB in this draft. Tre Waynes is being touted as the best of the bunch, but he is being pumped by his athletic potential, more than anything. He is still worth a high round pick, but he is not a top 15 talent by any means. Scouts are looking at his size and athleticism, in an effort to predict his press coverage ability. However, Waynes lacks the physicality. He does a good job of tracking the ball in the air and can hang with WRs on the deep routes. He's always in the picture and that is good. However, he lacks the ball skills on the back end and can get out-muscled up front. He's the sort of guy that will get eaten up by a physical route running technician.

Kevin Johnson is undoubtedly the most polished cover CB of the top names and is a good off coverage prospect who uses his instincts to offset his lack of athleticism. Every once in a while, you get a CB who can do that. Revis became another example. Sherman is one as well. However, there are two things that those players possess that Johnson doesn't. 1.) Press coverage skills and tackling ability. Johnson's instincts are very good. As a result, he gambles. Occasionally, he can guess wrong and be completely out of the play. That can be taken care of with coaching. However, Johnson has a really bad tendency to drop his head when he tackles. It's like a really bad missile technique and unless you have the potential to be Deon Sanders, I can't tolerate that in my defense.

Ronald Darby has the physicality for the outside, but he is a better fit for the slot. He is the type of guy who can match up with those slot WRs with his short area quickness and athleticism. He has a lot of potential.

Marcus Peters probably has the best ball skills of the top names being mentioned, but he does not want to be involved in the run game at all. It shows on film. If you take Jimmy Smith's tackling ability and physicality in run defense away from him, and give him top notch ball skills, you will essentially have Marcus Peters.

There are two CBs rated high that I like over the rest: Jalen Collins and PJ Williams.

Jalen Collins, in all honesty, should have stayed in school another year. Had he done so and stayed healthy, from what I see on tape, he would have been a top 15 pick. He flashes every skill that you would want to see from your CB on tape except top notch ball skills. Firstly, he is physical and shows good technique when he tackles. He can play press. He can play off. He can play inside and outside. He shows decent play recognition and does a good job of taking angles to the football. He has the size and the athleticism. Again, none of his skills are great yet, but he clearly shows the potential for them to become great. Collins is not a day 1 starter by any means. He is the sort of player who gets more time as the season progresses and likely starts in year 2.

The day one starter of the bunch, for me, is PJ Williams, who is a more polished version of how I described Jalen Collins, with ball skills to boot. He's not uber athletic and that's the only thing holding him back. However, he's still athletic enough and polished.

I like Jalen Collins too, Sir Swordship! However, the new allegations about him failing multiple drug tests causes me to say: PASS! However, I do like Byron Jones a great deal and think he might be a good selection instead.

I also like your royal pimping of TJ Yeldon too. I think he would be a real steal in the 3rd round.

I, like many of us, love DeVante Parker and wish the Ravens could take him (the stuff Dreams are made of). However, your analysis of WRs does not mention Devin Smith at all who I also think would be an excellent choice.

As you look into your crystal ball (or if you drop your pants I should say "Balls") what say you about Byron Jones and Devin Smith?

[The Excellector]

Devin Smith is somewhere between Kevin White and Torrey Smith. He is a better pass catcher than Torrey, but still uses his body too much to catch passes. He plays with more physicality, but not by a significant margin. His lateral quickness is slightly better, but he's still not going to make anybody miss. When he runs shorter routes, he focuses so much on making sure the route is correct, that he does not catch the ball in stride. It's like he has to stop to catch the ball, without giving thought to anything else. The one thing that he does significantly better than Torrey is play the ball in the air.

I would consider him in the mid rounds. I do think that if you pair him with a WR Coach like what the Ravens have now, compared to what Torrey had to work with coming in, you could see better development in him. However, because he'll likely be asked to do more different things early on, it could reel the other way. Personally, I think Nelson Agholor can provide the Ravens with plenty of vertical ability.