How did we do?

**pickles** · 04-30-2012, 08:11 AM

Originally Posted by wickedsolo

No, but (IMO) it would appear that (judging from the number of teams that took an interior OL'man in the 4th or early 5th) that teams like Houston [took Ben Jones directly after], Denver [took Phillip Blake 9 picks later], and possibly San Francisco [took Joe Looney 18 picks later] could have all had Gradkowski rated pretty well.

I can't remember correctly if he or someone else insinuated that teams like Pittsburgh, New England, etc had Gradkowski rated pretty well.

Considering there was a bit of a run on interior OL'men between the mid4th through the 5th round [including 5 in the 5th round and 3 back-to-back selections of guard prospects] it was a good time for the Ravens to get who they wanted.

I don't have a problem w the pick. Shit, what do I know? I'm just talking w a Steeler fan friend of mine, who's making the same kind of Ozzie reached arguement, when I told him that the Steelers, Pats, and Ravens had Gradowski ranked first, and he question the source. I read it here quite a few times, but I was just trying to track down the original source.

Thanks for the reply.

**blah3** · 04-30-2012, 08:17 AM

[QUOTE=Raven Maniac;451262]

Originally Posted by Boulderraven

IMO, the outcome of this years draft has more to do with simple economics than it does with other teams catching up to us and decoding our draft strategy. Maybe it's the price of success that we are witnessing?

What I think happened was teams, in general this year, targeted specific guys they wanted, and if they got near to them, did what it took to get them. The Ravens did not. They sat at their position and did the best they could.

**blah3** · 04-30-2012, 08:24 AM

Originally Posted by pickles

Appreciate it. Hate to ask, but did he specifically say that the Ravens, Pats, and Steelers had Gradowski #1?

His tweet said that Gradkowski had 3rd round grades from smart teams.

**B-more Ravor** · 04-30-2012, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by ActualSpamBot

In what universe does "adjust and make decisions on the fly" equal "panicked and reached"?

:word

**Terpsfan82** · 04-30-2012, 08:29 AM

[QUOTE=blah3;451305]

Originally Posted by Raven Maniac

What I think happened was teams, in general this year, targeted specific guys they wanted, and if they got near to them, did what it took to get them. The Ravens did not. They sat at their position and did the best they could.

I also believe that because of the rookie wage scale as defined by the new CBA this is going to be the norm going forward. Hopefully they will modify their approach and this won't happen again.

**pickles** · 04-30-2012, 08:33 AM

Originally Posted by blah3

His tweet said that Gradkowski had 3rd round grades from smart teams.

So nobody actually said the Steelers, Ravens, and Pats had him as the #1 ranked center on the board?

**pickles** · 04-30-2012, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by Terpsfan82

I also believe that because of the rookie wage scale as defined by the new CBA this is going to be the norm going forward. Hopefully they will modify their approach and this won't happen again.

Eh. I don't think it's so black and white as that. That's only true if the Ravens go into a draft, or round, with one specific guy they want. I don't think anybody believes they do that. If there are several guys they are satisfied w at a pick, and they can trade down, and still get one, like what happened in the first this year, then that's exactly what they should do.

**JAB1985** · 04-30-2012, 08:41 AM

I think we had a solid draft when looking at it alone we did very well. I think the doubt starts to set in with some when you compare us to the other top dogs of the AFC and our own division. Pats, Steelers, and Bengals all had really really good drafts as well. Im not sure you can say we got better per say, which is what a lot of analysts are saying, but we did win the division last year. although, our rivals did get better and probably narrowed that gap.

Missed Targets

I think even Eric and Ozzie are down on this draft somewhat. They missed out on their targets and drafted lower on their board than usual. I think thats adding to what people are feeling.

**pslholder96** · 04-30-2012, 09:42 AM

Ozzie admitted in his presser that this is the first draft in quite some time where the top players they targeted were not there so they had to get "creative" per Eric Decosta but in no way does getting "creative" equate to "reaching". I think as fans we've been accustomed to some great drafting in the past and frankly somewhat spoiled. Sometimes a little luck is involved so the chips didn't fall our way this year. I give the ravens draft a B-. It was a little underwhelming but a lot of that is because all of our desired sexy picks came off the board. I'm confident this draft will yield some gems and even more confident that the ravens will continue to upgrade the roster before the start of the season.

**The Excellector** · 04-30-2012, 09:45 AM

They can't modify their approach, if they don't have the picks to make the moves. New England has been stockpiling picks for years. They had the picks to make the moves.

**Beau Petard** · 04-30-2012, 09:51 AM

Excell-
I'd add that they also can't modify their approach if they don't have the CAP space, either! ;) Trading up into the first round, for example, to get the player du jour has to be considered in light of how much the team has to spend, the new CBA, etc.

**The Excellector** · 04-30-2012, 09:55 AM

For example, they were well aware of New England's desire to move up and take Hightower. They also knew what it would take to do that. However, at the time, they only had one fourth round pick and it was a compensatory pick. They couldn't trade it. So, even if they wanted to, it would have taken a third. A fifth and a sixth wouldn't have done it. That's why DeCosta said that it would have been too expensive.

Trading picks in next year's draft would have left them vulnerable to the same situation next year.