Ravens 08 draft: Your thoughts....

[jonboy79]

You realize almost noone can agree with you on this. Even those in the media, INCLUDING guys like Mel Kiper don't have us touching a QB in early going. Heck, Kiper has us taking a DT, which made me scratch my head.

A QB in the first round isn't happening. You may as well strike the champaigne bottle to that boat and let it sail.
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OK if it's a dead issue, what kind of odds are you giving me? 10-1? I'll take that in a heartbeat... I'd say if either Brohm or Ryan are available at 8, the odds ARE we take them... We almost traded up for Quinn last year. Neither Boller nor McNair will be on the team in '09.

More than 60%? I want to see that statistic play out. If you go by the 2003 draft alone, out of first 4 QB's taken (Palmer, Leftwich, Boller, Grossman), which one has really worked out for their respective clubs? Carson Palmer, and he's only gotten his team to the playoffs once. Other than that he's no better than an 8-8 QB
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First, you use one of the worst QB drafts ever, 2nd Boller and Grossman were hardly at the top of the first. So that's 1/2. Manning, Rivers and Big Ben were all hits. Alex Smith sucks. Leinart, Cutler and Young have added up to AT LEAST 2 solid starters. The last few drafts have been kind with top 15 or so QB's taken.

I'll wait and let our new head coach and offensive coaches tell us that. I'm not ready to pat Troy Smith on the helmet just yet and say "Well son, at least your Heisman Trophy looks good on your mantle".
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I'm not there yet with Troy either... but I'm that way with Both Boller and McNair... I DO NOT want any part of either of these guys in '09. With this draft, my eye is firmly on '09 and beyond. This year, to me is already gone. Whatever we get from it, is a victory. New coach means new outlook. The idea is for Harbaugh to be here a decade. I'm thinking along those lines.
SO to me, IF Troy gets it with Cam Cameron's new offense and LIghts it up, and becomes our QBOTF, then we'll should have a solid option at Backup that could easily become a VERY valuable tade token. See the theoretically great, but realistcally horrible Matt Schaub trade. ATL got quite a load for a QB with potential. So if we moonwalk into a Gem with Smith then Great, but what if we don't? There would be nothing better for the Ravens then for Him to get into camp this year and light it up, show enogh to get McNair cut and Boller relegated to backup, push my new draftee to third, and become a Probowler on our way to a Super Bowl. I'm just trying to have a fallback option in case that doesn't happen. We need two QB's heading into '09 that we can count on. I hate FA retreads...

In the meantime what good is that top QB if you don't have a defense that can hold an opponent.
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OH you mean one that despite injuries to pro bowlers at Both corner spots, our best pass rusher, one of the best defensive players ever, a handful of top backups, and bumps and bruises to other important players, yet still managed to finish 6th in Yards Allowed? Second in Rush Yards allowed, Sixth in Pass Yards Allowed? Damn, can't hold anyone. THere was quite a lot of scoring allowed. Steve McNair had plenty to do with that.

Maybe you should ask that same guy Carson Palmer what it's like to play on a team where they constantly lose despite his good QB play.

Right now I put rushing the passer WAY ahead of new QB. So far ahead you can stick Cornerback and Wide Receiver between them
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Cincy has No Defense.
When Healthy, we have a pair of the best Bookends in football. Same can be said of our pair of Corners. We have 3 reasonable NEL starting wr's. We certainly lack an Elite game changing receiver, and if there were a Calvin Johnson, Braylon Edwards, or even Larry FItzgerald type player I'd be with you. But there are no top 10 WR's in this class. Chris Long would be an instant pick, Calais Campbell wouldn't be a horrible pick, even as depth options. Leodis Mckelvin, MIke Jenkins, and Aqib Talib all wouldn't be horrible either, but the point is, we can get high quality prospects at those positions later in the day as well. Brohm and Ryan, IMO, are a fair bit better then all other QB's/ The next 5 are a SERIOUS step up from everyone else. After the 7 elite prospects, all are longshots of Smith's level or worse. I don't want to go into '09 with tow recent day 2 QB's. I've never seen a team do that.

As for the offensive line, I don't agree the problem is the talent not working out. I watched enough of Marshal Yanda to see that he's developing, but while he is he has been pretty solid. Adam Terry will be more than capable at LT (although of course not like JO). Ben Grubbs has already proven himself. That leaves Center and another guard spot to round out. As far as I am concerned what they need to do is politely tell JO and Mike Flynn it is time to retire gracefully, and then let the young line play EVERY GAME together this year and learn and grow.
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We finally agree... The talent is there, it needs to be coached up, seasoned and comfortable as a unit. I'm not opposed to Flynn as the cagey Vet on the sidelines, his contract isn't Huge. JO has no place on the newstyle Ravens. IMO, if an upgrade is to be made, it would be trading a late day pick for Vet Center to fill out the line, but I'm more then ready to walk into 08 with Chester penciled in as the starter. Trial by Fire...

I'm split between wanting to see a DE or a CB, either of which I think we could trade back for. McAlister and Rolle aren't going to play 16 games anymore, and we are going to need someone better than David Pittman and Derrick Martin covering their spots and eventually taking them over. On the other hand, we need another young stud on the line opposite Suggs to actually get at the passer next year. Our sacks and hurry percentages were just sorry considering the year before that.

I think those are definately the 2nd and 3rd most importnat needs. They should both be drafted by round 4 or 5... I thinkt he top of the 2nd will provide GEREAT value at CB and our comp third will hopefully yield a DE, WR or some other potential impact player.
If For example, someone trades ahead of us and snags Brohm, with Ryan gone. I do not advise reaching for a QB then. If a trade back is unable to be made, then I would pick Ellis, or Calias Campbell. I would then really hope to be able to stay pat at 39 and select Henne, and then look for scraps at CB on day 2... Martin and Pittman have some potential IMO. CMAC and Rolle are much more then capable when healthy, and day 1 CB's, when drafted properly, are Plug and Play almost to the level of RB's. If we really get burned out, CMAC and Rolle both end their career this season, and Martina dn Pittman both stink again, then next year we'll draft Corners with both day 1 picks and have a fairly solid seconday by week 4.