General Draft Thoughts

[rossihunter2]

An interesting read from Matt MIller on the latest draft rumors...

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...k-latest-2020-draft-rumors-for-every-nfl-team

not sure that really means anything with our pick being so late in the draft + the fact that we're a particularly tightly guarded team with regards to information leaking

with how vague his section is for Baltimore my guess is he's basically got a random comment that maybe we go defence/front 7....

i dont think we value the LB position in this defence half as much as the media cognoscenti think

 

[rossihunter2]

View attachment 2255
pls

a potential dream draft

 

[rossihunter2]

Tbh im still a fan of reagor.. if we can trade back like you say ans grab him. Id be cool with that..

i still think reagor is a top prospect - he's currently 21 on my board - recently moved him above jefferson at 22

 

[JoeyFlex5]

see brandon aiyuk for me is one of the WRs who i think is worthy of a top 40 type pick but your point is generally well made - the player you might get at 55 (unless someone falls) is not going to be too far off what you might find late 3 or early 4 vs what you'd get early 2/late 1

I’ve been very up and down on aiyuk but I just can’t buy in all the way. I love his YAC, that part is special, and he’s got things that can’t be taught like his absurd wingspan and his verticals, and he also is not the worst route runner in the world, his tree seems limited but what he runs he runs well, but man I can’t get over his lack of focus and toughness to follow through with catches on crossing routes, so many times he runs a slant and the ball is perfectly delivered and he gets his head turned late and hands up late and he’s just kinda blindly throwing them up, balls go flying off his wrists and fingertips and forearms constantly on these quick hitting routes, it’s so frustrating, and then he just doesn’t use that length and vertical ability very well, like his body control is none.

I kinda view him in a similar light as shenault, albeit I think he’s got way more wiggle and is much more pro ready as far as quality routes go, but that’s relatively speaking of course because shenault wouldn’t know a route if it smacked him over the head.

 

[rossihunter2]

So Murray is implied once again

that felt like conjecture based off an incredibly vague comment (probably very short)

 

[rossihunter2]

Walterfootball did that, consensus from other outlets have been scary accurate on the ravens picks.

Jimmy/Torrey, Upshaw, Elam, mosley, perriman, Humphrey, hurst/Lamar, and hollywood, were all some of the most popular picks for us, like it’s possible that all of those picks were the consensus among the media by the time the draft rolled around. Seems like Stanley was the only R1 pick that wasn’t consensus and that probably only happened because Ramsey and boss went before us because those were the consensus mocks to us.

since i started hardcore following the draft in 2014 the only time ive seen a media consensus on a ravens pick was CJ Mosley

perriman was not consensus in 2015, stanley wasnt even on the radar in 2016, humphrey was 1 of about 3 bama players who were popular at that pick but OJ Howard was the most consistent pick as i recall, 2018 lamar was posited but there was definitely no consensus - the most popular player mocked to us in 2018 was calvin ridley, 2019 hollywood really wasnt as popular as you remember

so from my perspective CJ Mosley and maybe Marlon Humphrey were the only years where the most popular ravens pick was actually the ravens pick

more often than not we broke the consensus

 

[JoeyFlex5]

a falling DL getting to 55 or 60 would be an amazing value pickup - those 5 guys after kinlaw and brown are really high quality prospects but they could fall because of the ease that teams can find quality DL - if Madubuike, Gallimore or Elliott fall to 55/66 they would be great pickups - I like madubuike the best (enough to think of him as a top 20 player) but appreciate that Blacklock and Davidson are less likely to fall that far

Robert Hunt should absolutely be high on our board especially when we get into the 2nd round (i have him as a top 40 prospect)

ultimately though i agree with you - those 3 guys are players ive earmarked at 28 and if its not them then we probably should trade down unless someone crazy has fallen - but the 3 youve listed (epenesa, ruiz and mims) are perfect fits here

I see we’re seeing eye to eye on this class pretty well, madubuike is also my favorite of that bunch although only slightly ahead of gallimore who I’ve quieted on but am still a huge fan, for me it’s madubuike, gallimore, blacklock, Davidson, Elliott, and if we didn’t go all in on the DL in FA I’d have a revolving door of those guys as my favorite at 28, but now my eyes are set on them falling to 55, any of the first 3 I listed would likely be A1 slam dunks at 55 and the other 2 would kinda fall behind them.

what are your thoughts on Alex highsmith? I think he might be the best fit of any edge rusher in this class, he’s a total freak show and will be a deadly blitz weapon and his ability to stunt and rush from the standup and just generally be explosive, disruptive, and physically dominant just feels right for us, the more I watch of him though the more I think he’s gonna go way earlier than expected, I could see him going top 50.

 

[rossihunter2]

If we draft Murray i dont want to hear anything positive about him aside from

he's a great athlete and nothing else.

i dont like him much at all but tbf he's more than a great athlete at the position - he's an exceptional athlete

 

[Sami84]

i dont like him much at all but tbf he's more than a great athlete at the position - he's an exceptional athlete

Reminds me of a certain blessed one at WR in 2015

 

[rossihunter2]

That's why I think it might be beneficial to have multiple high 2nds. CB would also be fine, but I don't know if another CB really helps us right now. Edge and WR aside from OT and QBs (& maybe CBs) are the position groups I consider drafting in the 1st because they're so much cheaper than a high profile elite veteran i.e. only paying 2-7M instead of 15-20m (assuming they can play nearly as good as the veteran is)
The WR's I like in the 1st are Jefferson, Mims, Ruggs, Jeudy and Lamb. I assume they are all gone once we're on the clock (but there's still a chance, who knows). Edge I have Chaisson. (I left out Young)
DL, honestly I don't see anyone. Elliott and Madubuike are targets for the 2nd round.
LBs: there's only Queen and Murray. I'm not expecting Queen to fall to #28, after last year where I was surprised to see White in the top5.

this is why i really think its unlikely we draft an edge in round 1 because the analytics will tell us the best value is getting someone else at about half a dozen other positions - the LB would have to be exceptional i think for us to take them in round 1 - or at least that's what i hope

 

[rossihunter2]

The only thing decent about him is his man coverage ability and blitzing. He can't shed to save his life and takes awful angles because he's clueless about what's going on in the run game. Hi Zone coverage and rush D is absolute shit.

Who the hell created first round buzz on this guy from the get go?

its frustrating for sure - i think it comes from watching other players and every time someone else pops off on the film its normally murray because his good plays are spectacular

 

[rossihunter2]

Man coverage is a stretch too, the only man coverage he’s really shown well is sticking the RB on flat routes

i dont think he's disciplined enough at that for you to say he does well at that tbh

 

[rossihunter2]

I’ve been very up and down on aiyuk but I just can’t buy in all the way. I love his YAC, that part is special, and he’s got things that can’t be taught like his absurd wingspan and his verticals, and he also is not the worst route runner in the world, his tree seems limited but what he runs he runs well, but man I can’t get over his lack of focus and toughness to follow through with catches on crossing routes, so many times he runs a slant and the ball is perfectly delivered and he gets his head turned late and hands up late and he’s just kinda blindly throwing them up, balls go flying off his wrists and fingertips and forearms constantly on these quick hitting routes, it’s so frustrating, and then he just doesn’t use that length and vertical ability very well, like his body control is none.

I kinda view him in a similar light as shenault, albeit I think he’s got way more wiggle and is much more pro ready as far as quality routes go, but that’s relatively speaking of course because shenault wouldn’t know a route if it smacked him over the head.

i guess i look at it this way (in terms of his value) - would i be happy if he was the 1st player we drafted in the draft... probably not very happy... would i be happy if he was the 2nd or 3rd player the ravens drafted in the 2020 draft... probably would be ecstatic

i really like aiyuk as a contributor and i love his ceiling but there's some development but id expect him to contribute a lot early - to me that feels like an early-mid 2nd rounder so if he's there at 55 or 60 then to me that's an easy pick unless someone else unexpected is also there

 

[rossihunter2]

I see we’re seeing eye to eye on this class pretty well, madubuike is also my favorite of that bunch although only slightly ahead of gallimore who I’ve quieted on but am still a huge fan, for me it’s madubuike, gallimore, blacklock, Davidson, Elliott, and if we didn’t go all in on the DL in FA I’d have a revolving door of those guys as my favorite at 28, but now my eyes are set on them falling to 55, any of the first 3 I listed would likely be A1 slam dunks at 55 and the other 2 would kinda fall behind them.

what are your thoughts on Alex highsmith? I think he might be the best fit of any edge rusher in this class, he’s a total freak show and will be a deadly blitz weapon and his ability to stunt and rush from the standup and just generally be explosive, disruptive, and physically dominant just feels right for us, the more I watch of him though the more I think he’s gonna go way earlier than expected, I could see him going top 50.

alex highsmith has some really high highs - i think of him as a potential 2nd round type talent with crazy inconsistencies and low level competition - to me he grades out as a really late 3rd rounder - i love his upside but he's so flashy and just disappears on too much of his tape - the first step and the quickness and some of the tools are really promising but he's a massive projection to me....

the DL i think all except Elliot would be top 32 players in this class - that's how highly i rate all of them

but right now i have Madubuike above the rest, then davidson, with Blacklock just behind and then Gallimore a little further back but all in my top 32 - elliott i have back a little further but still in the top 45

 

[Dom McRaven]

Speaking of Murray, I made a thread dedicated to all discussions of him, our inevitable first round pick:

https://purpleflock.com/threads/1821/#post-231440

 

[JoeyFlex5]

i dont think he's disciplined enough at that for you to say he does well at that tbh

Which says that man coverage isn’t a positive by any means for him lol. That was just the only thing I’ve seen from him that would constitute man coverage

 

[RavensMania]

a falling DL getting to 55 or 60 would be an amazing value pickup - those 5 guys after kinlaw and brown are really high quality prospects but they could fall because of the ease that teams can find quality DL - if Madubuike, Gallimore or Elliott fall to 55/66 they would be great pickups - I like madubuike the best (enough to think of him as a top 20 player) but appreciate that Blacklock and Davidson are less likely to fall that far

Robert Hunt should absolutely be high on our board especially when we get into the 2nd round (i have him as a top 40 prospect)

ultimately though i agree with you - those 3 guys are players ive earmarked at 28 and if its not them then we probably should trade down unless someone crazy has fallen - but the 3 youve listed (epenesa, ruiz and mims) are perfect fits here

I haven't done as much tape evaluation for one reason or another this year and was wondering if you wouldn't mind doing a top 50 and top 5 per position for the week heading into the draft, if at all possible.

 

[RavensMania]

since i started hardcore following the draft in 2014 the only time ive seen a media consensus on a ravens pick was CJ Mosley

perriman was not consensus in 2015, stanley wasnt even on the radar in 2016, humphrey was 1 of about 3 bama players who were popular at that pick but OJ Howard was the most consistent pick as i recall, 2018 lamar was posited but there was definitely no consensus - the most popular player mocked to us in 2018 was calvin ridley, 2019 hollywood really wasnt as popular as you remember

so from my perspective CJ Mosley and maybe Marlon Humphrey were the only years where the most popular ravens pick was actually the ravens pick

more often than not we broke the consensus

I agree and due to the media not getting much information from us they like to put a 'bama player or more recently, a Sooner.

The only person I remember who picked Lamar Jackson at our pick was Mike Mayock. he had him going to us at 16 and I had him going to us at 32 in my mock. I had us trading with the Eagles due to all the rumors floating that the Eagles were thinking of trading back.

 

[rossihunter2]

I haven't done as much tape evaluation for one reason or another this year and was wondering if you wouldn't mind doing a top 50 and top 5 per position for the week heading into the draft, if at all possible.

as we get closer ill probably post a link to my whole board, positional rankings + udfas (basically everyone ive watched film on)

but i can do a smaller update soon - just super busy at work at the moment - ive been redeployed onto a part of the Covid-19 response in the UK (what im doing specifically is confidential right now) but it means that im working 7 days a week with very limited time off to post stuff (or even read)

 

[RavensMania]