Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
Lost Final Mock
Well, it’s that time of the year again. The final countdown starts now. I decided to go an unconventional route. This isn’t based off of what I think we are going to do, but based off of what I think we should do.
Ravens trade back to 26 for a fourth and a sixth(Sorry @Edgar, it’s just a good trade to rip off).
Ravens Trade Back AGAIN from 26 to Indianapolis for 34 and an additional fourth round pick(33), and fifth(round five, pick 26)
Round Two: Jerry Tillery, DT, Notre Dame
With all the talk of us needing an offensive lineman (mostly perpetuated by me), to needing a wide receiver, we really need to bolster the pass rush. Since Haloti Ngata left we have not had a consistent pass rush come from the interior. The pass rush in general was heavily manufactured last year. Tillery provides something at the defensive tackle position we haven’t had in a long time: someone with upside. At the end of the day, Tillery is a guy with a high floor, and a high ceiling. He’s a good athlete, with ridiculous length. He’s got some special pass rushing traits, with a multitude of pass rushing moves, and is a good run defender. He needs some work with his hands, but we’ve gotten the best out of raw defensive linemen prospects before. There needs to be a singular theme for this draft. Build the trenches. Tillery isn’t just an upgrade as a pass rusher, he’s an identity pick. If Lamar Jackson turns into a franchise quarterback, the identity of the team for the next decade is going to be one predicated on rushing the ball and telling the defense to pin their ears back. Tillery will help the defense force third and longs, and if he learns how to use his hands, is a pro bowl threat. He should pair nicely with Willie Henry and make life easier for Kenny Young and Peanut should we decide to go with them full time. He’s your day one 5T who is an upgrade over a good player. With how we’ve coached up worse defensive linemen, we could turn him into a force.
Round Three: Riley Ridley, WR, Georgia
Before the “we should have drafted his brother” chants come running out, Riley is a better fit for Lamar. I get the whole “we need to build a track team for Lamar” mantra, but Ridley has better hands than Calvin did coming out of school, similar route running prowess, and does something Calvin wasn’t great at that we are going to value. Riley run blocks, and isn’t afraid to knock you into the ground. That’s something we are going to highly value. Sure, it may not seem ideal for us to use two possession WRs in Ridley and Snead, but we can address the WR corps and finish building it next season. Besides, Lasley and Chris Moore, even if they’re not imposing don’t exactly lack in the speed department. Nor is Ridley useless in that regard. I suspect we will give Lasley and Scott a chance as well, hence why Ridley is the only WR we go for. But Ridley is a day one starter who should be able to keep the offense on schedule. I’ve seen several outlets slot him this late, and I can see why. He’s got a low ceiling. But his floor is pretty high, and If you can get yourself a guy who can get open, and catch tough balls consistently, well you take it.
Round Three: Connor McGovern, OG, Penn State
Build the trenches. McGovern provides a nasty finisher who can down block with the best of them. He’s already a fantastic run blocker, and fits the Roman scheme like the best of them. His issues in pass protection exist, but remain correctable. He’s a day one starter for this team, an instant upgrade, and one who is not afraid to punish defenders in his way. McGovern gives us versatility, as Bozeman is someone who should be starting in 2019. Like Bozeman, McGovern is also experienced at C, and is athletic enough to be a C who runs a lot of inside zone as well as gap and pulls. This might be our starting C moving forward, or a replacement for Yanda. Either way, slam dunk.
Round Four: Antoine Wesley, WR, Texas Tech
The WR class is still overrated, I’m only taking two here because building the corps is technically important. That said, I like Wesley, and he looks like the guy who had a bad combine who is going to be a good NFL player. He’s an anti-Ravens pick. Good route runner, good hands, not a good athlete. But he’s a good football player. He, like Ridley, is a guy who is going to keep the offense on schedule, and like Ridley he can take whatever coverage you put in front of him, and absolutely beat it. Not a great athlete but can still be effective as a deep threat because of how polished his game is.
Round Four: Christian Miller, Edge, Alabama
Question: Why the hell is no one talking about this guy? He’s tested well athletically, he looks the part on the football field, his athleticism score indicates good explosiveness(though that’s inconsistent on tape), he’s got long arms and good length. He can line up in a 3 point stance. He’s not as technically refined as Tim Williams was as a pass rusher coming out of school, where Tim could come at you in a variety of ways that make you difficult to deal with. He’s not completely useless in that regard either. He’s a decent edge setter, though his play strength really needs to improve. He has injury concerns, biceps, and his game needs technical refining, but he’s a football players, and a really good one at that. I’ve seen him go as high as mid round three, and as low as round five. I have a third round grade on him myself. He needs to get more consistent, but he has the tools and is not as raw as say Tyus Bowser coming out of school. He’s a risk, but his ceiling is as high as anyone’s in this draft. Explosive, good bend, solid at using hands. I think if he wasn’t buried on a deep team he would’ve put up better numbers.
Round Four: Nate Davis, Guard/Swing Tackle, Charlotte
You want your Yanda replacement? Here is your Yanda replacement. Davis has work to do, but he can kick out to T, and has one objective as a guard: destroy everything in his path. There is a theme in the draft, and that is simple. Build the trenches. If you give Lamar Jackson a team that can consistently beat teams off of the ball, you’re not going to stop the rushing attack, which will do wonders for the team.
Round Four: Hunter Renfrow, WR, Clemson
The realist in me thinks that there’s a chance that we let Snead walk for a comp pick next year. So it’s probably going to be a good idea to go get a slot guy who can replace him immediately and get some valuable reps for Lamar Jackson in practice. Renfrow is more Adam Humphries than Julian Edelman or Wes Welker. He’s a tough guy to bring down after the catch, and despite the Donald Trump sized hands, he’s got hands of glue and can get open. My idea with the new WR corps is that not only do we get our speed guy next year, but we’re going to beat you up and let Lamar take you apart in the fourth quarter and gash you.
Round Five: Lamont Gaillard, C, Georgia
Some may call this excess. We’ve drafted two interior linemen already. McGovern is a day one starter at LG or C, and Davis could be Yanda’s replacement. Bozeman is also looking good with starter upside. Excess? Possibly. Best player available? Absolutely. Gaillard has starting straits, and outside of Erik McCoy, I can’t think of a pure center that is better for this team than Gaillard is. As much as I like Bozeman, his ceiling as a starter isn’t particularly high. Davis and McGovern could become mauling monsters, and Gaillard has displayed traits on tape for me that suggest that he could be a ten-year starter, and a well above average one. The tackles are set. We have a good depth piece in Senat in case they were to ever go down. Davis can also kick out to T, as can Alex Lewis. This solidifies the interior depth and McGovern – Gaillard- Davis might be a trio that paves the way for Lamar for the next decade. He’s got a ton to work on, so I can’t see him go any earlier than mid round four, but because of the insane amount of depth on the interior oline he’s a real candidate to fall this far.
Round Five: Te’Von Conley, ILB, Notre Dame
I like a lot of parts of Te’Von Conley’s game, but the problem lies with his abilities in coverage. He’s good in zone, but I have significant worries that he will be an outright liability. So because of these concerns, a lot of sources see him as a 4-5th round pick and as a two down thumper.I personally could see him going either as high as the 3rd, or as low as the fifth, he’s a love-hate prospect in my eyes. I like him though, I see him as at worst a two down run defender who can swap out with Peanut on passing downs
Round Six: Shareef Miller, OLB, Penn State
(As you can see below) triple dipping for edge defenders? Yup. This is a good draft to replace the pass rushers depth. I wouldn’t be surprised if we decided to take an edge defender with our first round pick. Ultimately, I decided on Tillery for one reason: the OLBs are deeper than the DL, and the DL can go downhill really quickly. I can’t say the same for the OLBs. Miller is a project, but look at the round we are in. Projects are what we’re getting at this point, which is fine, I don’t think we’ll be relying on him from day one anyways. He can put his hand in the dirt in nickel situations, and develop on the bench. He could get some playing time as a rotational piece. Which is something we could use.
Round Six: Porter Gustin, OLB, USC
I do the typical same schtick for Gustin for every time. But at this point his stock has tanked due to injuries. He has underrated explosiveness, strength for days, and is a polished player. At worst he’s a rotational piece as an edge rusher. He’s a guy, to me at least, who could be productive at the NFL level.
Round Six: Bruce Anderson, RB, NDSU
Got to give my North Dakota family some love. But Anderson is a guy who flies under the radar. He has good strength and speed and is a solid receiver out of the backfield. The small school likely makes him fly under the radar. He’s a good third back in the rotation if we decide to move Armstead to FB full-time(which is highly possible). At worst, he’s a Buck Allen replacement as a special teams gunner. At best, I could see him turn into a player as a third down back who is a good speed guy.
Anyways. My ideas for this draft were simple. The trades are realistic, I used a trade value chart . It's something we would do.
My mantra was simple. Skill positions such as CBs, WRs, and RBs are far superior in next year's draft.
We lack depth at the WR corps and are likely to lose Snead next year even with an absured amount of cap room. Hence me taking Renfrow. We don't have a speed demon at WR, but Ridley and Wesley are threats to go deep for contested grabs. To me it was simple. Build the trenches up. Don't care about the win-loss column this year, focus on development. Tillery to me has a first round grade, but could slip to the second because the draft is just that deep at DT. As many as five can go ahead of him. But Jerry fits the defense to a T. I don't think all three are going to be starters, by numbers alone that's unlikely, and I also think that we draft our #1 WR to pair with Lamar next seasaon. But the depth is now bolstered. Which was the true goal here. I still stand by this: The community has overrated this WR class to the extreme.
I never want to see us play Hurst or Skura ever again(if you can't tell). So I decided to build up potentially our starting OL for the next decade or so. This is a great draft to do that. All three linemen are guys who'd fit into Roman's scheme like a glove. McGovern is a day one starter. Davis is a project, but one with ridiculous upside and he has a good situation for that. He can also move out to swing tackle. Gaillard could very well also be a day one starter at C. I don't suspect the second or third interior guys to be starters in their first year, we have Bradley Bozeman after all.
Edge is deeper to me than DT. I think DT falls off of a cliff after Trysten Hill(whom I am a fan of). Edge is deeper, with some projects, but a lot of ones with upside. All three of them are projects, but they're ones who can get some playing time in year one. We needed depth. I think Christian Miller is one of the most slept-on prospects in the draft.
Anyways, I put a ton of effort into this. I'd be thrilled if this was our draft.
Hope you enjoyed it! If not, well fuck you, it's my mock and I do what I want.
Well, it’s that time of the year again. The final countdown starts now. I decided to go an unconventional route. This isn’t based off of what I think we are going to do, but based off of what I think we should do.
Ravens trade back to 26 for a fourth and a sixth(Sorry @Edgar, it’s just a good trade to rip off).
Ravens Trade Back AGAIN from 26 to Indianapolis for 34 and an additional fourth round pick(33), and fifth(round five, pick 26)
Round Two: Jerry Tillery, DT, Notre Dame
With all the talk of us needing an offensive lineman (mostly perpetuated by me), to needing a wide receiver, we really need to bolster the pass rush. Since Haloti Ngata left we have not had a consistent pass rush come from the interior. The pass rush in general was heavily manufactured last year. Tillery provides something at the defensive tackle position we haven’t had in a long time: someone with upside. At the end of the day, Tillery is a guy with a high floor, and a high ceiling. He’s a good athlete, with ridiculous length. He’s got some special pass rushing traits, with a multitude of pass rushing moves, and is a good run defender. He needs some work with his hands, but we’ve gotten the best out of raw defensive linemen prospects before. There needs to be a singular theme for this draft. Build the trenches. Tillery isn’t just an upgrade as a pass rusher, he’s an identity pick. If Lamar Jackson turns into a franchise quarterback, the identity of the team for the next decade is going to be one predicated on rushing the ball and telling the defense to pin their ears back. Tillery will help the defense force third and longs, and if he learns how to use his hands, is a pro bowl threat. He should pair nicely with Willie Henry and make life easier for Kenny Young and Peanut should we decide to go with them full time. He’s your day one 5T who is an upgrade over a good player. With how we’ve coached up worse defensive linemen, we could turn him into a force.
Round Three: Riley Ridley, WR, Georgia
Before the “we should have drafted his brother” chants come running out, Riley is a better fit for Lamar. I get the whole “we need to build a track team for Lamar” mantra, but Ridley has better hands than Calvin did coming out of school, similar route running prowess, and does something Calvin wasn’t great at that we are going to value. Riley run blocks, and isn’t afraid to knock you into the ground. That’s something we are going to highly value. Sure, it may not seem ideal for us to use two possession WRs in Ridley and Snead, but we can address the WR corps and finish building it next season. Besides, Lasley and Chris Moore, even if they’re not imposing don’t exactly lack in the speed department. Nor is Ridley useless in that regard. I suspect we will give Lasley and Scott a chance as well, hence why Ridley is the only WR we go for. But Ridley is a day one starter who should be able to keep the offense on schedule. I’ve seen several outlets slot him this late, and I can see why. He’s got a low ceiling. But his floor is pretty high, and If you can get yourself a guy who can get open, and catch tough balls consistently, well you take it.
Round Three: Connor McGovern, OG, Penn State
Build the trenches. McGovern provides a nasty finisher who can down block with the best of them. He’s already a fantastic run blocker, and fits the Roman scheme like the best of them. His issues in pass protection exist, but remain correctable. He’s a day one starter for this team, an instant upgrade, and one who is not afraid to punish defenders in his way. McGovern gives us versatility, as Bozeman is someone who should be starting in 2019. Like Bozeman, McGovern is also experienced at C, and is athletic enough to be a C who runs a lot of inside zone as well as gap and pulls. This might be our starting C moving forward, or a replacement for Yanda. Either way, slam dunk.
Round Four: Antoine Wesley, WR, Texas Tech
The WR class is still overrated, I’m only taking two here because building the corps is technically important. That said, I like Wesley, and he looks like the guy who had a bad combine who is going to be a good NFL player. He’s an anti-Ravens pick. Good route runner, good hands, not a good athlete. But he’s a good football player. He, like Ridley, is a guy who is going to keep the offense on schedule, and like Ridley he can take whatever coverage you put in front of him, and absolutely beat it. Not a great athlete but can still be effective as a deep threat because of how polished his game is.
Round Four: Christian Miller, Edge, Alabama
Question: Why the hell is no one talking about this guy? He’s tested well athletically, he looks the part on the football field, his athleticism score indicates good explosiveness(though that’s inconsistent on tape), he’s got long arms and good length. He can line up in a 3 point stance. He’s not as technically refined as Tim Williams was as a pass rusher coming out of school, where Tim could come at you in a variety of ways that make you difficult to deal with. He’s not completely useless in that regard either. He’s a decent edge setter, though his play strength really needs to improve. He has injury concerns, biceps, and his game needs technical refining, but he’s a football players, and a really good one at that. I’ve seen him go as high as mid round three, and as low as round five. I have a third round grade on him myself. He needs to get more consistent, but he has the tools and is not as raw as say Tyus Bowser coming out of school. He’s a risk, but his ceiling is as high as anyone’s in this draft. Explosive, good bend, solid at using hands. I think if he wasn’t buried on a deep team he would’ve put up better numbers.
Round Four: Nate Davis, Guard/Swing Tackle, Charlotte
You want your Yanda replacement? Here is your Yanda replacement. Davis has work to do, but he can kick out to T, and has one objective as a guard: destroy everything in his path. There is a theme in the draft, and that is simple. Build the trenches. If you give Lamar Jackson a team that can consistently beat teams off of the ball, you’re not going to stop the rushing attack, which will do wonders for the team.
Round Four: Hunter Renfrow, WR, Clemson
The realist in me thinks that there’s a chance that we let Snead walk for a comp pick next year. So it’s probably going to be a good idea to go get a slot guy who can replace him immediately and get some valuable reps for Lamar Jackson in practice. Renfrow is more Adam Humphries than Julian Edelman or Wes Welker. He’s a tough guy to bring down after the catch, and despite the Donald Trump sized hands, he’s got hands of glue and can get open. My idea with the new WR corps is that not only do we get our speed guy next year, but we’re going to beat you up and let Lamar take you apart in the fourth quarter and gash you.
Round Five: Lamont Gaillard, C, Georgia
Some may call this excess. We’ve drafted two interior linemen already. McGovern is a day one starter at LG or C, and Davis could be Yanda’s replacement. Bozeman is also looking good with starter upside. Excess? Possibly. Best player available? Absolutely. Gaillard has starting straits, and outside of Erik McCoy, I can’t think of a pure center that is better for this team than Gaillard is. As much as I like Bozeman, his ceiling as a starter isn’t particularly high. Davis and McGovern could become mauling monsters, and Gaillard has displayed traits on tape for me that suggest that he could be a ten-year starter, and a well above average one. The tackles are set. We have a good depth piece in Senat in case they were to ever go down. Davis can also kick out to T, as can Alex Lewis. This solidifies the interior depth and McGovern – Gaillard- Davis might be a trio that paves the way for Lamar for the next decade. He’s got a ton to work on, so I can’t see him go any earlier than mid round four, but because of the insane amount of depth on the interior oline he’s a real candidate to fall this far.
Round Five: Te’Von Conley, ILB, Notre Dame
I like a lot of parts of Te’Von Conley’s game, but the problem lies with his abilities in coverage. He’s good in zone, but I have significant worries that he will be an outright liability. So because of these concerns, a lot of sources see him as a 4-5th round pick and as a two down thumper.I personally could see him going either as high as the 3rd, or as low as the fifth, he’s a love-hate prospect in my eyes. I like him though, I see him as at worst a two down run defender who can swap out with Peanut on passing downs
Round Six: Shareef Miller, OLB, Penn State
(As you can see below) triple dipping for edge defenders? Yup. This is a good draft to replace the pass rushers depth. I wouldn’t be surprised if we decided to take an edge defender with our first round pick. Ultimately, I decided on Tillery for one reason: the OLBs are deeper than the DL, and the DL can go downhill really quickly. I can’t say the same for the OLBs. Miller is a project, but look at the round we are in. Projects are what we’re getting at this point, which is fine, I don’t think we’ll be relying on him from day one anyways. He can put his hand in the dirt in nickel situations, and develop on the bench. He could get some playing time as a rotational piece. Which is something we could use.
Round Six: Porter Gustin, OLB, USC
I do the typical same schtick for Gustin for every time. But at this point his stock has tanked due to injuries. He has underrated explosiveness, strength for days, and is a polished player. At worst he’s a rotational piece as an edge rusher. He’s a guy, to me at least, who could be productive at the NFL level.
Round Six: Bruce Anderson, RB, NDSU
Got to give my North Dakota family some love. But Anderson is a guy who flies under the radar. He has good strength and speed and is a solid receiver out of the backfield. The small school likely makes him fly under the radar. He’s a good third back in the rotation if we decide to move Armstead to FB full-time(which is highly possible). At worst, he’s a Buck Allen replacement as a special teams gunner. At best, I could see him turn into a player as a third down back who is a good speed guy.
Anyways. My ideas for this draft were simple. The trades are realistic, I used a trade value chart . It's something we would do.
My mantra was simple. Skill positions such as CBs, WRs, and RBs are far superior in next year's draft.
We lack depth at the WR corps and are likely to lose Snead next year even with an absured amount of cap room. Hence me taking Renfrow. We don't have a speed demon at WR, but Ridley and Wesley are threats to go deep for contested grabs. To me it was simple. Build the trenches up. Don't care about the win-loss column this year, focus on development. Tillery to me has a first round grade, but could slip to the second because the draft is just that deep at DT. As many as five can go ahead of him. But Jerry fits the defense to a T. I don't think all three are going to be starters, by numbers alone that's unlikely, and I also think that we draft our #1 WR to pair with Lamar next seasaon. But the depth is now bolstered. Which was the true goal here. I still stand by this: The community has overrated this WR class to the extreme.
I never want to see us play Hurst or Skura ever again(if you can't tell). So I decided to build up potentially our starting OL for the next decade or so. This is a great draft to do that. All three linemen are guys who'd fit into Roman's scheme like a glove. McGovern is a day one starter. Davis is a project, but one with ridiculous upside and he has a good situation for that. He can also move out to swing tackle. Gaillard could very well also be a day one starter at C. I don't suspect the second or third interior guys to be starters in their first year, we have Bradley Bozeman after all.
Edge is deeper to me than DT. I think DT falls off of a cliff after Trysten Hill(whom I am a fan of). Edge is deeper, with some projects, but a lot of ones with upside. All three of them are projects, but they're ones who can get some playing time in year one. We needed depth. I think Christian Miller is one of the most slept-on prospects in the draft.
Anyways, I put a ton of effort into this. I'd be thrilled if this was our draft.
Hope you enjoyed it! If not, well fuck you, it's my mock and I do what I want.
