Retooling for a dynasty (Luke's 2020 dream draft)

I do this every year and once in a while this blind squirrel finds a nut (I got the Terrence Brooks/Brent Urban picks exactly right in the 2014 draft)

Should be fun discussion with so many of us around the house with nothing to do...


With the 28th pick the Ravens take.....

NOBODY

In my humble opinion, aside from a stud WR or OT sliding down into the low teens or 20s, this is not the draft to be trading up. Trading back makes more sense. The talent is so evenly distributed from 15-50 that it just makes the most sense in my estimation. Furthermore, teams in the low 20s should be more motivated to trade back into the 2nd round more than ever, now that the 5th year first round option year looks far worse than in past seasons.

The New York Giants need to get Daniel Jones some weapons and with Tee Higgins sitting there undrafted after pick 27, they just can't resist that option.

Giants get: Pick 28

Ravens get: Pick 36 Pick 110 (4th) Pick 183 (6th)

With the 36th pick, the Ravens select...

LB Patrick Queen, LB, LSU. Queen has been projected as high as the early-20s, but he does play a position that has been decreasingly devalued on draft day, leaving him in a small slide than ends at pick 36. Queen is viewed as a 3 down, plug-and-play type of rangy backer, and the match is perfect for the Ravens, whose only remaining unfilled starting position is at ILB.


Another Trade!

The Ravens trade pick #55 and pick # 110 (freshly acquired from NYG) to Tampa Bay for pick #45.

With the 45th pick, the Ravens select...

WR Chase Claypool, WR, Notre Dame There have been a lot of great wide receiver names thrown around for the Ravens in the 2nd round. Claypool makes the most sense. He's massive at 6-5/230, extremely physical, great after the catch, and an active blocker. Tack that on to a 66/1039/13 2019 slash line at run-heavy ND, and he is the complete package. When he ran 4.43 at that size at the combine, the odds of him falling to the late 2nd round shrunk, and the Ravens make the necessary move to get him before Denver likely took him at 46. He is a perfect fit for our offense, and a great compliment to what Hollywood Brown brings.

With the 60th pick, the Ravens select...

Jon Greenard, OLB, Florida Edge rusher is, aside from ILB, probably the 2nd largest need on the roster, and Greenard fills it well. He projects exclusively as an Edge in our system. He is not overly big, fast, or flashy, but it's hard to argue with his production in two separate major college programs. He was a teammate of Lamar Jackson with Louisville in 2017. He projects somewhere in the 40-70 range and the Ravens are lucky to find this value at pick 60.

With the 92nd pick, the Ravens select...

Cesar Ruiz, C, Michigan Of all the incumbent starters from 2019, Patrick Mekari is the one whose play left quite a bit to be desired. At times, he looked like a diamond in the rough, but the larger percentage of the time he played exactly like you'd expect from an undrafted rookie. Cesar Ruiz would be a welcomed addition to compete with Mekari for the starting role, and the favorite to probably overtake it. This move both improves quality and depth. Ruiz's name had been floated as a mid-2nd rounder earlier in the offseason, but now I'm seeing most mocks have put him in the mid-3rd to mid-4th range. Frankly, very few teams need a starting center, which should cause a bit of a slide and leave Baltimore as a mutually-welcomed home for Cesar.


With the 106th pick, the Ravens select....

Troy Dye, ILB, Oregon This might seem like a peculiar pick, since the Ravens already drafted significant draft capital in another ILB in Queen. However, as we've seen in years past, the Ravens are happy to double dip at a position if the value is there. It's here in spades with Dye. Dye is probably a top 75 pick in terms of on-field performance, but again might be a slide candidate due to his position. Most drafts I've seen have him as a mid-3rd rounder, so this is a reasonable range for him. He is not the side-to-side rover that Queen is, but is a 3 down backer. The current Raven LB corps of Fort, Olaka, and Board is quite dismal, and the infusion of two young LBs who are both competent in pass coverage gives a complete overhaul to the position. Fort is a useful player, but shouldn't be on the field for more than 40% of your snaps. Dye allows Fort to be used more to his strengths.


With the 129th pick, the Ravens select....

Logan Stenberg, G, Kentucky This is a pick that I would really like. Everyone is operating under the assumption that the RG spot is Ben Powers' for the taking. I think that's an ambitious hope for him after he was inactive 15 games of last year, and his one effort (a very good one) was in week 17 against a Steeler defense that had nothing to play for. Here's a little competition for that spot, and a really solid depth addition. There's a ton to like about Stenberg. He's 100% guard. He's not one of these G/C or G/T type players. He's a guard and very good at it. He's 6-6/320 and a mauler as a run blocker with respectable pass protection skills. I'm a big fan of O-lineman from the SEC, because they are given a weekly test against a variety of top-notch DL talent. Kentucky's success over the past two seasons wasn't all just Bennie Snell. If we took this dude in the 2nd round, I'd still be tickled, but of course, this is my "dream draft", I'm gonna be greedy.

A trade!

I think the Ravens want to continue to stock up on picks in a deep 2020 draft. There are a high number of players on 1-year contracts and I think the Ravens will look to add a few more late rounders, more for 2021 purposes than anything. As a result, the Ravens have made the following trade:

Ravens trade pick 134 to Miami and receive picks 154 and 185.


With the 154th pick, the Ravens select....

Khalid Kareem, OLB, Notre Dame Kareem is just a Raven-type pick. He had a very nice career at Notre Dame. There isn't one thing that he does that jumps out at you, but he is competent in all facets. He's decent as a pass rusher, and is a plus run defender. The Ravens are looking at potentially losing Bowser and Judon in the next 12 months, so replenishing the stables with Greenard and Karim makes a lot of sense.

With the 170th pick, the Ravens select....

Lavert Hill, CB, Michigan Tavon Young is the biggest unknown on the roster headed into the 2020 season. We have no assurances that he will be able to play. Given that factor and Jimmy Smith's injury history, adding more talent in the secondary is sensible. Hill is really well cut out in terms of size and quickness to be a solid NFL slot corner. He saw significant time for 3 seasons at U of M and passed the eye test consistently.

With Pick 183 (from NYG), the Ravens select....

Stephen Sullivan, TE, LSU The #3 tight end spot is still a need and the 2020 draft is pitifully lacking in top-end talent and depth. The Ravens avoid an overdraft by taking Kmet or Moss, and smartly add the OTHER LSU tight end in Sullivan. He was underutilized in Baton Rouge, and that makes him a nice under-the-radar addition to fill in for Hurst.

With Pick 185 (from Miami) the Ravens select...

Lucas Niang, OT, TCU I think it's highly iffy if Niang is still here in the early 6th round. He has high upside, but is a bit of project and those type of players do tend to slide a bit, since OT is not typically viewed as a learn-on-the-job type of position. The Ravens have an obvious need at OT. Andre Smith is their only backup, and he has always, even in his best years, a RT.

Final pick is in. With the 225th pick in the 2020 NFL draft, the Ravens choose...

Javon Leake, RB, Maryland In every draft, there are 3-4 RBs that seem to slide for no reason. With that in mind, I was very tempted to put Anthony McFarland at this spot, but I think that would be a little too hopeful. However, his college teammate, Leake, would be a reasonable pick up in round #7. All you need to know about him is that he averaged 7.2 YPC in 2020 and 7.9 for his career. I probably don't watch as much UMD football as a lot of you, but I think this is a great late round gamble.


So here is the Raven projected roster as of the day after the draft:


1) QB Jackson
2) QB Griffin
3) QB McSorley
4) RB Ingram
5) RB Edwards
6) RB Hill
7) RB Javon Leake 7th round Maryland
8) FB Patrick Ricard
9) LT Stanley
10) LG Bozeman
11) C Cesar Ruiz 3rd round Michigan
12) RG Logan Stenberg 4th round Kentucky
13) RT Brown Jr
14) C/G Mekari
15) G Powers
16) OT Lucas Niang 6th round TCU
17) T A.Smith
18) TE Andrews
19) TE Boyle
20) TE Stephen Sullivan 6th round LSU
21) WR Brown
22) WR Snead
23) WR Chase Claypool 2nd round Notre Dame
24) WR Boykin
25) WR Scott
26) WR/ST Moore

27) KR D. Thomas
28) K Tucker
29) P Koch
30) LS Cox

31) DE Campbell
32) DT Williams
33) DT/DE Brockers
34) DT Ellis
35) DT Mack
36) DT/DE Ward
37) OLB Judon
38) OLB Bowser
39) OLB Jon Greenard 2nd round Florida
40) OLB Ferguson
41) OLB Khalid Kareem 5th round Notre Dame
42) ILB Fort
43) ILB Patrick Queen 2nd round LSU
44) ILB Troy Dye 3rd round Oregon
45) ILB/ST Olaka
46) ILB/ST Board
47) CB Humphrey
48) CB Peters
49) CB Smith
50) CB T. Young
51) CB Averett
52) CB Lavert Hill 5th Round Michigan
53) CB Marshall
54) S Thomas
55) S Clark
56) S Elliott
57) S/LB/CB/ST Levine
58) S/CB/ST Richards

That's obviously 5 over the max, but I think it represents the roster well. I did not put Skura on the list, because I think it's unlikely he breaks camp on the active roster. So there is two hours of my life on a boring, rainy Wednesday. Let me know your thoughts?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LukeDaniel

In my humble opinion, aside from a stud WR or OT sliding down into the low teens or 20s, this is not the draft to be trading up. Trading back makes more sense. The talent is so evenly distributed from 15-50 that it just makes the most sense in my estimation. Furthermore, teams in the low 20s should be more motivated to trade back into the 2nd round more than ever, now that the 5th year first round option year looks far worse than in past seasons.

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I agree with this. I think this is a trade back draft - I like rounds 2 and 3 a lot and 4 to an extent - and I'd be happy to get 2 more picks in that range.

I don't really agree that, if we do that, we should also try to acquire more late picks too. With less off season practice time than ever we would either dilute the chance to get the higher picks ready or need to release some of the later players without ever giving them a proper chance. A slightly smaller, high quality draft class might be the best plan this year.

Flip Claypool and Ruiz and this feels a lot more realistic. I’d be very surprised if Ruiz slid that far. This would be a pretty amazing haul though

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NjRavensFan

Flip Claypool and Ruiz and this feels a lot more realistic. I’d be very surprised if Ruiz slid that far. This would be a pretty amazing haul though

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That's the beauty and frustration of this draft all rolled into one. 60 days ago, Ruiz was looked at more in that mid-2nd round range and Claypool was probably in the mid-3rd range. Fast forward and you can make an argument in either direction. I would bet you a $2 bill that Claypool goes closer to 45 than 92 though.

If we took Ruiz with our natural 55th pick, nobody in the world would bitch about it. If we took Claypool at 92, I'm extra sure nobody would bitch about that either!

With all the picks we have and how good this team is built.. we better not be trading back. Quality over quantity this time

Quote:

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Originally Posted by QtR Nevermore

I agree with this. I think this is a trade back draft - I like rounds 2 and 3 a lot and 4 to an extent - and I'd be happy to get 2 more picks in that range.

I don't really agree that, if we do that, we should also try to acquire more late picks too. With less off season practice time than ever we would either dilute the chance to get the higher picks ready or need to release some of the later players without ever giving them a proper chance. A slightly smaller, high quality draft class might be the best plan this year.

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I think your comments are pretty well spot on, but let me add one thing...

With Hump, OBJ, Stanley, and Andrews all closing in on getting considerably more expensive and Lamar closing in on being $35m more a year expensive, I think the Ravens must grow their depth through the draft and this year they have the pick ammunition to do this. This year they could afford to be more active in free agency thanks to having so much of their star talent be 1-2 years away from big paydays, but they need to develop the next wave of depth.

Of those 11 names above, there are bound to be 3-4 who turn into underdrafted gems like Andrews, OBJ, Judon, Tavon, etc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Culex

With all the picks we have and how good this team is built.. we better not be trading back. Quality over quantity this time

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I think trading down with our first pick makes a lot of sense unless a Lamb/Ruggs/Jeudy/Kinlaw happens to have an unexpected fall.

Nice job, but I'll play devil's advocate a little bit :
Let's say DeCosta only likes two ILBs (Murray and Queen), but Murray is gone by our #28 pick, would he risk losing Queen for a couple more picks since we already have 9 in the first four rounds?

Second, I agree with Nj as I’d be very surprised if Ruiz slid to the 3rd round (#92). He is considered by many to be the best IOL in this draft.

Anyway, I give you a BIG :thumbup: for the time and effort you've put into this Luke... Bc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BcRaven

Nice job, but I'll play devil's advocate a little bit :
Let's say DeCosta only likes two ILBs (Murray and Queen), but Murray is gone by our #28 pick, would he risk losing Queen for a couple more picks since we already have 9 in the first four rounds?

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That would certainly decrease the scenario I played out above. I think Murray and Queen are about interchangeable in talent. I actually have a very small preference for Murray.

The Ravens actually have 7 in the first four rounds. One in round one (28). Two in round two (55,60) Two at the end of round 3 (92,106). Two in Round 4 (129, 134). They have 9 overall.

good stuff Luke !

At this very moment , i am in the trade UP camp NOT trade back camp

we are already in our Super Bowl window these next 2 years - so i say GO FOR IT and draft a Legit number 1 WR for Lamar

and then fill in LB / Edge / OL with the rest of the picks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LukeDaniel

That would certainly decrease the scenario I played out above. I think Murray and Queen are about interchangeable in talent. I actually have a very small preference for Murray.

The Ravens actually have 7 in the first four rounds. One in round one (28). Two in round two (55,60) Two at the end of round 3 (92,106). Two in Round 4 (129, 134). They have 9 overall.

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LOL Luke my math was off. Yes, 7 in the first 4 rounds. However, that doesn't diminish my previous post. I don't see any way EDC drafts two ILBs with our first two draft choices, especially not trading up for one.

BTW, I do agree that I like Murray better than (the undersized) Queen... Bc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BcRaven

LOL Luke my math was off. Yes, 7 in the first 4 rounds. However, that doesn't diminish my previous post. I don't see any way EDC drafts two ILBs with our first two draft choices, especially not trading up for one.

BTW, I do agree that I like Murray better than (the undersized) Queen... Bc

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Eh, Ray Lewis was "undersized" as well. The only reason we got him so late.