It’s always cool to get an inside look into the draft process, particularly when it focuses on a team that has had a lot of success in the NFL Draft.
Phil Savage tweeted this photo in the late afternoon today. It provides a unique insight into the Ravens draft process (or at least what it used to be back in 2001).
Draft Plans. Here is 2001 version from my time @ravens. Todd Heap was the selection at pick #31. #strategy pic.twitter.com/2Mbi8hb8sQ
— Phil Savage (@SeniorBowlPhil) April 30, 2015
First on the paper is a list of the top 21 players on their board ranked in order.
Then, it gets a little more interesting. Savage then put together the only scenario where the Ravens would consider trading up. I’m assuming that the full sentence is “TRADE UP…at pick #25, if either TE is still available, Ravens would consider giving a 4th round selection for a move up”.
This shows that the Ravens felt that they had a need at tight end after the Super Bowl season with an aging Shannon Sharpe as their best option (who eventually went back to Denver after the 2001 season). They were willing to give up picks for a prospect only if he filled an area of need. That strategy seems consistent with their decisions to move up for Kyle Boller, Joe Flacco, and Michael Oher.
Then, they look at scenarios where they would trade for a first round pick the next year. It seems as though they demand a significant amount of current picks to get future picks. Only if all 21 of their best players were gone would they have made a trade to get a future 1st round pick. Teams value their 1st round picks heavily, so it’s easy to see why they haven’t accumulated an extra pick in the 1st round in recent years.
The trade down scenarios are not surprising at all. We all know that Ozzie loves his draft picks. They expect one of their most highly-rated prospects to fall to them. If one doesn’t, then they are very willing to move back. The more surprising thing to me is the scenario in which the 22-25th ranked players don’t make it to the pick that they traded for. The plan itself isn’t necessarily surprising, but it is surprising how often a player ranked better than their 25th best player will make it to them in the beginning of the second round.
In this draft, the Ravens ended up going with Todd Heap at the 31st pick. That was the 15th best rated player on their board. That is an excellent value.
As we all know, Todd Heap ended up being a very good – albeit injury-prone – player for the Ravens. He may have been even better if had any consistency at quarterback during his prime.
As I’m writing this, there are 2.5 hours left until draft time. This made me even more excited for it.
