“Smoke screens” and misinformation are very common among NFL teams leading up to the draft. Today’s “Liars’ Luncheon” at the Castle certainly didn’t make the job of trying to project who (and when) the Ravens will draft in the upcoming draft any easier.
General Manager Ozzie Newsome said that his phone has already been ringing with offers of trades for the 17th overall pick with still eight days left until the “official” madness begins.
After a disappointing 2013 season, the Ravens have some holes left to fill on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Many fans don’t want to hear this, but they could still quite possibly move back to later in the first round or even out of it altogether to get some more picks.
“We’ve already gotten some calls about teams wanting to move up,” Newsome explained. “But it’s also based on the number of players that we have available who we think have value, and if we move back four, five or six spots, we might still have the opportunity to get one or two of those players and get the additional pick.
“So that’s how we look at it. Can we pick at 17? We’ll be prepared to pick at 17, but also we’ll be entertaining trades to be able to move back if we have to, if we want to.”
While unlikely, Newsome did leave a window open regarding the possibility of the organization trading up.
“I’d have to say, ‘no,’ because we don’t have a lot of ammunition this year,” Ozzie stated. “We’ve only got three picks that are tradeable; the other four are compensatory picks. So, it would be hard to do.
“But I could probably say if one or two players start getting really close to us, we’d be clamoring trying to go up and get them. I can just say, I know John, I know Eric and I know Joe, and we’ll be telling Steve, that we need to go get this player because we feel like he can impact us that much.”
It’s no secret to us as fans – and to teams around the league – that Newsome loves as many picks as he can get. As of now, the Ravens hold eight draft picks for 2014. They are slated to pick 17th, 48th, 79th, 99th, 134th, 138th, 175th and 194th overall.
“We like picks,” Newsome admitted. “We’ve got an owner that likes picks; we’ve got an assistant general manager that likes picks; we’ve got a head coach that came in, and one of the first things he said is, ‘Boy, we don’t have enough picks for all the needs of the players that we have for our team right now.
“We all like picks.”
For me, my money is on the Ravens staying put and drafting at 17.
Then again, whenever I try to predict something the opposite usually happens. As we’ve seen with Ozzie over the years, anything is possible, but whatever he does will likely be the best thing for the team during the autumn and winter months, even if it leaves us wanting here in springtime.
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