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  1. #1

    An early look-back at draft day decisions

    I thought I'd revisit our perceptions of the draft as it was happening in April.

    There's been no preseason and we are only two games in, against two teams who have had some turmoil, so it is still premature. Not much to go on.

    Still, on the plus side, to the degree that Ravens rookies have been able to contribute at all makes it even more encouraging than in past years. On the other hand, when we compare these picks to the other options available to them in the draft, it's even more premature than normal to draw any conclusions. There is still time for players taken around the Ravens picks to emerge.

    That said, here's what we know so far:

    Round 1, pick 28, Queen

    We haven't seen much from him dropping in coverage, but all in all this has been a great pick at a position of need from the bottom of the first round. As an instant starter and three down LB, he's fifth on the defense in snaps (96) and leads the team in tackles (11).

    • Jordyn Brooks, who somewhat surprisingly went one pick ahead of Queen to Seattle, has only seen 8 snaps with 1 tackle. Now that Bruce Irvin has gone down for the season, Brooks becomes a starter, so we'll see how he compares as the season progresses.
    • Kenneth Murray, who was linked to Queen, went to LAC five spots ahead of the Queen pick. He's taken 126 snaps and has 18 tackles for the Chargers. Queen has a forced fumble and sack; Murray has neither.
    • Some fans viewed Brooks or Logan Wilson as a better-value fallback at linebacker so the team could focus on WR with the first pick. Wilson ended up as the first pick of the third round to Cincy, where he is #2 on the depth chart behind our old friend Josh Bynes (16 tackles, 1 sack). Wilson has still been on the field for a third of defensive snaps (3 tackles)

    Some wanted the team to trade up for a WR. Realistically that might have been:

    • Reagor (Eagles, 21), tore his thumb up after racking up 5 catches, 96 yards and a fumble.
    • Jeffereson (Vikings, 22), has five catches (3 for first downs) for 70 yards.
    • Aiyuk, (25), who the Niners traded up for, in 44 snaps has 2 catches for 10 yards.

    The WRs they passed on:

    • Tee Higgins (33) who has been on the field for half of Bengals snaps and has one catch for nine yards.
    • Michael Pittman (34) who has six catches, 47 yards in Indy
    • Laviska Shenault (42) was considered damaged goods, but he has six catches for 72 yards and a TD for the Jags
    • KJ Hamler (46) the speedster with questionable hands has 3 catches for 48 yards and has not found a returner role
    • Chris Claypool (49) also had questions about his hands, has just five catches, but has averaged 25 YPC with a TD for the Steelers


    There was some buzz about trading from 55 in round to to go up and grab one of those receivers.

    But it looks like Dobbins is going to be a solid second round pick that allows them to move on from Ingram and spread the cap room around going forward.

    Durvernay (pick 92), who has 2 catches for 15 yards apiece, as a late third rounder seems like he will prove to be a better value than moving up to draft one of these other receivers would have been, as I see it (then...and now).

    As for their other picks:

    • Madubuike (71) has been dealing with a knee, so we can't judge that.
    • Harrison (98) has played in 25% of their defensive snaps
    • Phillips (106) has played nearly 100% of offensive snaps, ahead of the veteran Fluker
    • Bredesen (143) represents cheap depth.
    • Washington (170) doesn't get talked about, but has been productive filling for Madubuike, and has played 25% of defensive snaps as part of Wink's heavy rotation
    • Proche (201) earned the punt return job and will allow them to move on from Moore next year
    • Stone (219) may have benefited from Thomas's exit, but the fact that he made the team as a seventh rounder is something, and the bar is low to be the best seventh round Ravens pick ever (Michael Campanaro?).





  2. #2

    Re: An early look-back at draft day decisions

    Yeah, simply put, let’s not discredit these guys around Queen already 2 games into their rookie season.

    Not that hard to see that a large majority of those guys weren’t coming into their season and given a spot like Queen had here at MLB. Out MLB were not good at all.

    At least give it a full year. Posting stats about WR’s two games into their rookie season is just dumb to me. Every single one didn’t have training camp to get prepared and most of them are hardly seeing the field as WR3/4’s.





  3. #3
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    Re: An early look-back at draft day decisions

    I like it, early returns look good.





  4. #4

    Re: An early look-back at draft day decisions

    Quote Originally Posted by Ravens4Real View Post
    Yeah, simply put, let’s not discredit these guys around Queen already 2 games into their rookie season.

    Not that hard to see that a large majority of those guys weren’t coming into their season and given a spot like Queen had here at MLB. Out MLB were not good at all.

    At least give it a full year. Posting stats about WR’s two games into their rookie season is just dumb to me. Every single one didn’t have training camp to get prepared and most of them are hardly seeing the field as WR3/4’s.
    Pretty sure Queen is younger than all of those other Rookie draft picks at LB.





  5. #5

    Re: An early look-back at draft day decisions

    Quote Originally Posted by Ravens4Real View Post
    Posting stats about WR’s two games into their rookie season is just dumb
    Fair enough. In the future when I feel the need to preface my post with, "it's premature," I will just refrain from posting altogether.

    (I'm not saying you're wrong, but if my post is dumb, what does that make the 1,000 "Draft Grades" stories that come out on the Monday after the draft? And for the record, I wasn't "discrediting the other picks," just attempting to compare their early returns to the early returns on Queen and Dobbins. A lot of fans seem to have a positive opinion on these two Ravens picks, but perhaps you're right and they are just being dumb to do so this early.)





  6. #6

    Re: An early look-back at draft day decisions

    I don’t think it’s dumb. While it might not mean a whole lot before there is a clearer picture of what their career in their first two or three seasons will end up being, it does as a comparison illustrate what kind of beginning that they had, and were they immediate contributors. Queen is cool I like the pick.





  7. #7

    Re: An early look-back at draft day decisions

    Hey Shas... Thanks for the review. Early returns seem positive. Would love to see this again about week 9 and then at the end of the season. Would give a nice comparison as to how our rookies are developing and responded to the constraints of this off season in contrast to those many on here wanted to see us pick.





  8. #8
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    Re: An early look-back at draft day decisions

    I wanted a WR early, would have loved either Lamb or Jeudy but it wasn't in the cards. I've had no issues with the WRs play so far this year. Think they made the right choices based on the early returns.
    back on twitter

    "Well that was an appropriate last ride for Pees. A Bengals WR streaking in for a game winning touchdown in the closing minutes is the man’s preferred medium to express his art." - GreenWave52





  9. #9
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    Re: An early look-back at draft day decisions

    Lol Ravens4Real doesn't like when positive things get posted, smh.

    The early returns look good. A couple of gripes that I had after the draft that still exist:
    - 2 drafts in a row we did not bring in depth at sCB. We now have Young down again and have to shift other pieces. The pick should have been Amandi over Marshall in 2019, but it is what it is.
    - 2 drafts in a row and no depth at OT. Fluker is the backup LT and that is terrifying. Stanley didn't miss time on Sunday, but when Lamar got sacked ending the last drive of the first half, Stanley was grabbing his ankle. I love Stanley. He's a top 5 LT, but it's going to be very scary when we pay him a shit ton of money and the guy can't even put in 16 games full health. Just saying.

    As for WR, I wanted 1 early. I really wanted to trade up in R2, but they all went in the first 10 picks (Hamler and Claypool weren't it for me) and the ask would have been too much IMO. The other needs were too immediate. Luckily the WRs are producing and taking advantage of the ball being spread around, so there's not much to complain about.
    "Cause if you ain’t pissed off for greatness, that just means you’re okay with being mediocre, and ain’t no man in here okay with just basic.”
    - Ray Lewis

    https://www.baltimoreravens.com/author/cole-jackson

    Twitter: @ColeJacksonFB





  10. #10
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    Re: An early look-back at draft day decisions

    I've seen Harrison and Washington in the 2nd half getting reps. Glad to see them in the mix

    World Domination 3 Points at a Time!





  11. #11

    Re: An early look-back at draft day decisions

    Quote Originally Posted by FloridaBasedFan View Post
    Hey Shas... Thanks for the review. Early returns seem positive. Would love to see this again about week 9 and then at the end of the season. Would give a nice comparison as to how our rookies are developing and responded to the constraints of this off season in contrast to those many on here wanted to see us pick.
    Sure, I had that in my mind that I would do an early assessment, and then come back during the bye week, which would be seven games in...if that's less dumb.
    Last edited by Shas; 09-24-2020 at 02:59 PM.





  12. #12

    Re: An early look-back at draft day decisions

    Quote Originally Posted by GreatWhiteNorthRaven View Post
    A couple of gripes that I had after the draft that still exist:
    - 2 drafts in a row we did not bring in depth at sCB. [and] at OT.
    I totally agree with you on OT.

    I've said from the beginning, if they lose either tackle they're fucked, more so than any other position.

    I have scratched my head over their tendency to accumulate interior OL over tackles. To wit, over the last ten drafts...

    3. Phillips
    4. Bredeson
    4. Powers
    6. Bozeman
    4. Siragusa
    5. Eluemanor
    4. Lewis
    5. Meyers
    5. Urshel
    6. Jensen
    2. Osemele
    4. Gradkowski
    3. Reid

    If you through in back of roster guys who they didn't draft you see more interior guys: Hurst, Skura, Mekari, Fluker, Grasu, Ehinger, Bergstrom, etc.

    They seem to have the philosophy of accumulating a lot of interior depth and see what sticks. They have a long history of converting college tackles to the interior: Mulitalo, Yanda, Osemele, Jensen, Lewis, Eluemanor, Phillips, Hurst. Part of that is seem mostly interested in swing G/T types. It's probably a value consideration looking at all those picks in rounds 4-6 and UDFAs.

    OTOH, they have rarely drafted pure tackles in this same span.

    3. Brown
    6. Senat
    1. Stanley
    5. Wagner

    I guess we will have to wait and see how rookie tackles like Matt Peart and Ben Bartch (two names I thought they might like, who went 99 and 116) turn out. Neither have taken a snap yet, even though it's dumb to judge them on that ;)





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