Team Needs a Home Run on Draft Day
The Ravens held their annual pre-draft luncheon for the media yesterday. Traditionally the press conference has been rather light-hearted and chockfull of lies, truths and half-truths all intended to create deceit.
This is the spawning sanctuary for red herrings.
The panelists (Messrs. Newsome, DeCosta, Hortiz and Harbaugh) have generally carried swagger into the auditorium, the byproduct of years of draft weekend excellence.
But yesterday’s presser wasn’t quite so light-hearted. The Ravens personnel group is a bit like the home run hitter who has lost his long ball stroke.
In the past the Ravens have hit a ton of home runs. During the first 13 Ozzie Newsome-led drafts the Ravens have landed on 16 Pro Bowlers, tied for the NFL high during that period.
Since?
Try 1 Pro Bowler in the last 7 drafts (CJ Mosley), tied for a NFL low.
When asked to assess their drafts since 2008, Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome concluded, “I would say [they are] not up to my standards, was not up to Eric’s standards and not the Ravens’ standard when you compare to what we did very early on.”
He later said that “nobody bats 1.000” when discussing player personnel evaluation.
The word “pressure” was tossed around a few times by Assistant GM Eric DeCosta when describing the upcoming draft.
Make no mistake about it, the 2016 NFL Draft, perhaps more than any draft in team history, is critically important. The heat is on for the Ravens front office. They feel it. Redemption is in the air and they’ll need to redeem themselves for a 2012 draft class that has vanished from the current roster and a 2013 class that produced two absolute flops with pick Nos. 1 and 2 (Matt Elam, Arthur Brown).
The Ravens seem confident that they’ll get a “very, very good player” with their first pick, the No. 6 overall (for now). What they do with their second pick (No. 36) is predicated upon the 35 picks before it.
They cannot afford a miss there.
They can’t afford to take flyers on players who are risks – players who have some flags that dropped them from the first round to the second. It’s as if the Ravens go Vegas in round 2 and gamble, as evidenced by picks like Brown, Sergio Kindle, Terrence Cody, Chris Chester, Dan Cody – even Paul Kruger.
This pick needs to be someone who can contribute in 2016, someone who is a solid pick and not a guy who has first round grades accompanied by worrisome risks.
Arthur Brown had potential but there was a reason he floated from the University of Miami to Kansas State. Something was obviously amiss and the Ravens missed it.
Sergio Kindle had first-round talent but was a train wreck off the field.
Ditto Cody & Cody.
The guy the Ravens land in 2016 with No. 36 must be a guy who in 2020 they are looking to extend.
Not one that they Uber to the airport.
