The Ravens part with draft picks the way a pit bull might part with the newly gifted remains of a T-bone steak.
The cards turned in by Ozzie Newsome during NFL Draft weekend generally represent the consensus in the team’s war room, the culmination of many months of studying and interviewing players, coaches, friends and family members connected to prospects that eventually make their way to the draft board of roughly 150 draftable players compiled by Eric DeCosta.
The higher the pick and therefore the greater the investment, the more likely the team will provide ample time for the player to develop.
Consider Arthur Brown, the Ravens second round pick in 2013. Undrafted players like Albert McClellan and Zach Orr have played significantly more than Brown, a player some within the Ravens front office likened to the 49ers’ Navorro Bowman. Brown can barely sniff the field, appears largely detached from the linebacker corps, yet he still gets a paycheck each Friday in the fall.
Brown’s spot on the roster is partly salary cap driven, but his job security thus far has more to do with the former Kansas State Wildcats’ status as a second round pick. Cutting him loose too soon would represent a big blemish on Ozzie’s resume. Ditto Matt Elam.
And that’s why it is almost shocking that the Ravens gave up so quickly on another member of the 2013 draft class – John Simon.
Simon was projected by some to be a Rob Ninkovich type of player. When the Ravens turned in the card with Simon’s name on it, the war room erupted with applause. He was a favorite of the scouts, a leader, and a two-time captain for Urban Meyer at Ohio State who raved about Simon.
In a nutshell Simon embodied the team’s most treasured credo, “Play Like a Raven”.
Yet after one season, Simon somehow fell out of favor with the Ravens, so much so that they were willing to part ways with him following the 2014 preseason. He played well during the fake games. Made impactful plays that caught viewers’ attention. Despite the splash plays, despite the war room elation during that Saturday afternoon in April, despite the gushing praise from Coach Meyer, the Ravens thought they could hide Simon on the practice squad.
The strategy failed and now Simon is a productive player in Houston, finishing the 2015 campaign with 53 tackles and 5 sacks. He also chipped in with 8 tackles during the Texans’ season ending Wild Card loss to the Chiefs.
Previous Ravens fourth round picks like Tandon Doss, Marcus Smith, David Hale and Demetrius Williams were given multiple seasons to earn their keep. Only once in the last 10 NFL Drafts has a Ravens 4th round pick been so quickly discarded – safety Christian Thompson after a 4-game suspension for use of banned substances.
It makes you wonder.
Back during the Brian Billick days it has been widely reported that he didn’t enjoy the best of relationships with the scouts. The coaching-scout rapport allegedly changed when John Harbaugh came along with both camps working in unison.
So what happened with Simon?
For now it’s water under the bridge but it does bring into question the quality of the collaboration between the team’s scouts and coaches.
What happened with Elam? Arthur Brown? Terrence Brooks? Jah Reid? Sergio Kindle? Terrence Cody? Ed Dickson? All drafted in the Top 3 rounds – all complete flops on Harbaugh’s watch.
This MUST be fixed.
The Ravens are a team that is regularly cap strapped. The draft is too important and these draft day misses are too costly.
They can’t afford more misses.
And Simon says don’t give up on draft picks so quickly, either.
