During the days of Brian Billick, the relationship between the Ravens scouts and the coaching staff wasn’t ideal. Billick didn’t see the scouts as equals to his staff and apparently didn’t feel that their contributions were as important. Quite naturally the scouts trust in Billick wasn’t exactly bulletproof.
Consequently the communication between the sides suffered.
When Steve Bisciotti came on board as a 25% owner and eventually 99% owner, Billick boasted that the communication at team headquarters was among the best in the NFL. To which Bisciotti retorted, “Then the NFL has a problem.”
Bisciotti worked to improve the communication and eventually it improved but not enough to save Billick’s job in 2007.
Usher in the Harbaugh era.
Part of Bisciotti’s plan was for the scouts and coaches to work in unison. Through effective communication the scouts would understand the direction of the team through the eyes of the coaching staff, presumably a joint effort between John Harbaugh and Ozzie Newsome. The coaches would define their needs and the type of players to fill them, and the scouts would seek out talent to fit.
But one has to wonder if the approach is working.
Since Harbaugh’s arrival the Ravens have drafted 67 players. Of those players only 2 have made it to the Pro Bowl (Ray Rice and CJ Mosley). The previous 67 players drafted by the Ravens on Billick’s watch produced 8 Pro Bowlers: Marshall Yanda; Haloti Ngata; Terrell Suggs; Ovie Mughelli; Ed Reed; Todd Heap; Jamal Lewis; and Chris McAlister. One is a sure-fire Hall of Famer while 2 others (Yanda and Suggs) will certainly be in the conversation.
Now I get that Harbaugh’s 67 is clearly younger and some may eventually emerge as Pro Bowlers. I also get that the Pro Bowl isn’t the end-all-be-all of distinction but at least it is some kind of measuring stick for success given that the fans, players and coaches all participate in the selection.
And let’s not forget that making the Pro Bowl in recent years is significantly easier than it was in the past. The NFL sends out 88 initial invites split evenly between the conferences in order to attain two teams of forty-four. This year it took 133 invites to get 88 players to accept. In fairness Joe Flacco was once one of the alternate invitees.
Still, it begs the question, “Should the coaches be as involved in the draft process?”
Think about the two biggest influencers in the Ravens war room – Harbaugh and Newsome. When the pair first teamed up it’s safe to assume that Ozzie had the upper hand. He built a Super Bowl winner and is generally regarded as one of the best in the business.
But through time, Harbaugh’s influence has grown because he too became a Super Bowl winner plus he has 6 playoff appearances and 3 AFC Championship games on his resume. It could also be argued that Harbaugh at this point in the pair’s respective careers, has more energy and is more ambitious than Ozzie, not to mention that he is the undeniable face of the organization.
So it would not be hard to imagine Harbaugh as being more influential in the war room than even Ozzie these days. It would not surprise me if he influences Bisciotti more than Newsome. And maybe Ozzie kowtows a bit to the desires of Harbaugh. To borrow from Terrell Suggs, Ozzie is on the back nine of his career and maybe the 18th hole is in sight.
There may not be as much fight in him as there once was when he scoffed at drafting the late Lawrence Phillips in 1996 and traded his second round pick in 1999 to Atlanta for their first round pick in 2000 (which became Jamal Lewis) despite the objections of Billick.
And then think about this…
While Harbaugh may in fact be influencing the draft more than his predecessor, he doesn’t get the blame for the failures that he may have fought for because it is perceived that the draft belongs to Ozzie.
Why is a guy like Tray Walker, a small school corner who is at best a developmental project, drafted before a talent like Stefon Diggs and then rarely sees the field? Why were the scouts doing backflips (figuratively of course) in the war room when John Simon was drafted in 2013 yet one season later he’s developing as a Houston Texan?
There just seems to be an uncomfortable disconnect.
Maybe the talent evaluators, after considering the coaches’ input, should control the war room. Maybe everyone should be allowed to do what they’ve been hired to do.
And then maybe the drafts will be as productive as they once were.
The 2016 NFL Draft is arguably the most important in team history. If things go well we won’t be having conversations like this one next February.
If they don’t, well let’s just say Steve Bisciotti might be discussing another communication breakdown.
