The Ravens say no thanks to fifth-year option of Matt Elam. Peter King gives the Cowboys’ perspective of the trade that almost happened. No team is better than the aggregate at the draft. NFL draft trades usually benefit the team moving down. Stanley could be this year’s best tackle. Harbaugh compares the war room to Star Trek. Crabbs and Waldman analyze Correa’s film.
Ravens will decline fifth-year option on safety Matt Elam
In perhaps the least surprising news of the offseason, the Ravens will opt to forego Matt Elam’s fifth-year option. As a 1st round pick under the new CBA, the team could exercise the option and control him for his fifth year (2017) at a cost of between $5 and $6 million. Elam has disappointed thus far in his career. The Ravens shouldn’t want to pay him that much money to sit third or fourth on the depth chart.
Of course, there is still always the chance that the Ravens sign him to a new deal once his contract expires at the end of this season. I wouldn’t mind that as much. Hopefully, he can prove his worth this coming season. He’ll have a bit more veteran competition.
Stars and Second Guesses
Peter King was inside the Cowboys’ war room for the draft, which gave him a unique perspective on the Cowboys’ trades that almost were. On the first day, the Cowboys had a shot to move back to the sixth spot and pick up one of the Ravens’ 4th round picks. They wanted a third. The Ravens wouldn’t budge, and they ended up selecting the player they were targeting with the move back anyway, RB Ezekiel Elliott. The Ravens’ target would have been Jalen Ramsey. With the 3rd round pick they didn’t give up, the Ravens selected DE Bronson Kaufusi.
[RELATED: The Trade That Never Happened]
No Team Can Beat the Draft
“What is Ozzie doing?”
“They should have moved up to get Ramsey.”
“Late-round picks haven’t panned out lately anyway.”
Why do some teams draft well and others don’t? Part of it is luck. Most of it, actually. That’s why the Ravens showed their brilliance moving down twice in the second round to pick up two more picks. With more chances to take players, you have more chances to nail a pick. Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight explains why Jimmy Johnson‘s chart gives teams too much credit.
How Teams Did In First-Round NFL Draft Trades
The only reason I’ve linked this one is to show that trading up in the first round is almost always the analytically incorrect decision. Whether it works out for your team or not, history shows that teams trust their scouting processes more than they probably should.
There are trades in which teams move up that provide a much better value than others. For instance, the Broncos moving up to take Paxton Lynch isn’t quite as franchise-altering as the Eagles’ or Rams’ decisions to move up. It was also not as detrimental as the Titans giving up 148 cents on the dollar to trade up for Jack Conklin, as Chase Stuart of FiveThirtyEight explains.
[RELATED: Analyzing the “Winner” of Ravens’ Trades]
Ronnie Stanley could be the best tackle in the 2016 NFL Draft
The Ravens faced a tough dilemma when they were on the clock. Laremy Tunsil’s infamous video posted an hour earlier. Stanley, however, might be the better prospect anyway. Tunsil closely compares to Greg Robinson according to a number of draftniks. That scared this writer, former Buccaneer Stephen White of SBNation. He thought Stanley projected as the better pass protector. He even compares his punch to Jonathan Ogden‘s. Even if he’s just comparing his pass-blocking, that’s much too rich of a comparison for my sake, but his point is that Stanley is the safer pick, even if they both played every game of their careers. I posted this article in a previous edition of Ravens Links, so it may seem familiar to you.
John Harbaugh Compares Historic Fourth Round To Star Trek
I don’t know much about Star Trek, but John Harbaugh does apparently. He said Ozzie played the role of Jean Luc Picard “sitting in the captain’s chair.” DeCosta was Spock because “he had all the analytics down.” Joe Hortiz was Scotty manning the controls. As for Harbaugh himself, he was James Kirk. Ryan Mink of Ravens Media has the full story.
RSP Film Room No. 77: Edge Defender Kamalei Correa
Kyle Crabbs and Matt Waldman break down tape of the Ravens’ second round pick against Northern Illinois. You may have already watched this. I posted it in a previous edition of links. Like all of the RSP Film Rooms, it’s very long and not for the faint of heart. You’ll see that Correa has strength, bend, and good hands. Kyle has vouched for Correa on our site before, too.
