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Signings, Cuts, Trades
- Thread starter RavensMania
- Start date
BloodRaven
MVP
Because they have a logjam of three #1 receivers who are not going to want to play 2nd and 3rd fiddle. For the same reason we moved Hurst.
Offseason Grades
We didn’t make a lot of key signings/resignings, and outside of Yanda we didn’t really lose anyone so let’s keep this short and sweet.
Free Agent Signings
Calias Campbell, DE/DT/Edge: A++
This isn’t fair. Players like this can play good forever because he’s so freakishly athletic that even when it starts to decline he’ll still be on another level compared to everyone else. Freakish athleticism isn’t his best trait: he’s a technician and he understands how to play football. He may be old but we have 3 more years to win it. With him, our chances increase tenfold. You gave up NOTHING to do it. NOTHING. You’re not going to find a player in the fifth round better. This wasn’t a steal, it was the heist of the decade. Eric DeCosta, even if he goes on to be a hall of fame GM like Ozzie will never make a move this good again.
Derek Wolfe: DE: B
I’ve always liked Derek Wolfe. He’s always played like a Raven. He’s not a stud by any means necessary, but he’s something very valuable to every team: a very good role player. Every super bowl team has had a guy like this in some capacity. He’s willing to get down in the dirty, and do some hard work. He’s a good all around player, who’s really good at everything but not great. That said, his attitude on the field is the epitome of a Raven. He’d be an A grade if he could stay healthy.
And now to the Draft
Round One: Patrick Queen, ILB, Ravens
For the first time ever, I got our first round pick correct. There’s a thing called an identity pick, and Queen is your modern day LB who plays like a Raven. He’s smart, fast, instinctive, and aggressive. I never trusted him to take on NFL Guards, he’s very small, and power backs are going to give him a hard time, so I always said he’s a WILL rather than a MIKE(and clearly the team agreed with me). He’s a leader first and foremost, and a good one, and a straight up playmaker in coverage. He’s your answer to the George Kittles and the Travis Kelces of the world. He should be in the running for defensive rookie of the year, and now that you drafted around him(I’ll get to that), he could be a day one pro bowler. He was a top 20 player on my board, and along with Simmons and White last year one of the better ILB prospects of the past five years(yes, above Devin Bush for me). It was an A- before, but given who else we took after him, he’s basically perfect.
Grade: A+
Round Two: JK Dobbins, RB, Ohio State
Ever hear of hating the value and liking the player? That’s Dobbins for me. He’s a good player, but I didn’t trust him running behind a line without Marshal Yanda(Phillips cleared my worries. I think Phillips will start at guard relatively soon). Dobbins plays hard, makes good cuts in the open field, and is a much better reciever than given credit for. My pro comparison for him was Mark Ingram which makes him an ideal successor. It does make me wonder what we do with Gus Edwards though, since now we have three power backs and Dobbins is really more of the same as Ingram in my eyes. He’ll be a good player, but it stings for me that Epenesa was taken before him.
Grade: B. He’s a good player, but I don’t like taking most RBs early unless it was Swift or CEH.
Round Three: Justin Madibuike, DT, Texas A&M
You know, it’s about damn time we took a DT that can actually contribute in the pass game. He’s a great run defender, which is a prerequisite for a ravens draft pick(even Carl Davis was a good run defender), but Madboy(which is what I will call him from now on) is a freak athlete, kind of like his once and future teammate Daylon Mack. Brett Kollmann made a point that our best athletes in the front seven are usually our defensive tackles rather than our edge players, and I think this proves it. Madibuike has good tape and can play every position along the dline. Despite having Wolfe, it would not surprise me if he emerges as the starter. He’s the best DT we have taken since Jernigan, who I really liked, and I think he’s better. I had a first round grade on him, but honestly I would’ve preferred Elliot.
Grade: A
Round Three: Devin Duvernay, WR, Texas
Say hello to a player who I had us taking in literally every single mock draft. The ravens fans are so obsessed with WRs that you expect us to take one early every year. You fail to see the bigger picture. You know who we threw to a lot? Seth Roberts. Roberts choked hard in the playoff. What better way to replace that than to a guy who has dropped one pass in three years right? Duvernay, aside from Lamb, might have had the best hands in the draft, which makes him already marketable. Aside from that, he’s a good route runner on the inside and he’s very good against zone coverage as a route runner. He can find soft spots and just pick you apart. Sounds like a typical slot guy right? Well, then you add the fact that he’s legit 4.3 speed, and he plays that fast too. He’s not exceptionally quick, but he’s not lacking in quickness, and he’s only an inside guy, but there’s not too many pure slot WRs in the league that have this speed. His route running is good, but still needs some refinement(I attribute this more to the fact that he played at Texas, any NFL WR coach worth their salt is going to coach this guy up). Put all of that together, he may never be a #1 WR, but he’s very dangerous for any team that gets him if they already have a potent deep threat. Hollywood, his college rival, is probably the best thing(other than Lamar) that is ever going to happen to him. Hollywood by default commands safety attention and is a complete #1 WR. This is going to force the other safety to either commit to Duvernay, or else Lamar will burn you running, or commit to Lamar, where Duvernay or Hollywood is probably going to be wide open 30 yards downfield. This is a steal. I had a second round grade on Duvernay
Grade: A+
Round Three: Malik Harrison, ILB, Ohio State
Remember the Patrick Queen writeup I had? I said he was a WILL only, and I think the team agreed with me. Queen was a great pick on it’s own for a multitude of reasons, but I would have been worried when he was facing power backs like Mixon, Bell, Henry. He’s going to have trouble taking on NFL guards. Ultimately, Queen would still be effective because our dline will keep him clean and he’s a stud in coverage, but we needed someone who was a heady LB who could tackle, thump, and play good on hook zones because Fort has never started a game, and Alaka isn’t really that good.
Enter Malik Harrison. A pure MIKE LB who I think is better in coverage than most people give him credit for. There is not an ILB in this draft that plays more Ike a Raven than Harrison does. We needed to take a pure MIKE, and not only is he that, clobbers people in the run game, and will knock you on your ass if you come into his zone. He’s a very smart player, who’s not a great athlete, but has good instincts and is a good football player. He’s willing to do the dirty work, and not only is he just a good player in general, he makes Patrick Queen better. He and Logan Wilson would have been the perfect compliments to him. He was my #4 ILB behind Simmons, Queen, and Logan Wilson. It’s a fantastic value, that basically completes the defense.
Grade: A+
Round Three: Tyre phillips, OL, Mississippi State
Phillips has been on my eye for a couple of months. I did have some interior Oline players ranked higher than him, but if you’re going to take a project OG, you might as well go get a freak athlete who can already contribute to the scheme. We needed a guy who can flex out to T should an injury happen, and we also needed someone to replace Yanda. Phillips needs to do some work in pass protection, but I’d argue that he can come in on day one and just straight up destroy people in the run game. I do like that we actually took an interior offensive linemen that is actually powerful. While I do like what I see from Ben Powers, he’s more of a technician than a power guy. I did have John SImpson and Tyler Biasdaz ahead of him, but due to the versatility and the scheme fit, I really cannot hate it too much. I think if Phillips becomes a good pass blocker hes a quality starting guard. But he’s a big project
Grade: C-
Round Four: Ben Bredeson, OG, Michigan
You have to field 11 players on offense. Not all 11 are going to be elite, superstars. We lost an elite superstar guard in Yanda this past year. While I do have confidence in Ben Powers moving forward, we do need depth. Enter Bredeson. You aren’t going to have 11 elite players, but you do need 11 GOOD players. Bredeson, is a good football player. He’s nothing special, but he’s a good mover in space who’s technically sound in pass protection, and strong enough in the run game to actually contribute on day one. I liked Bozeman last year, but Bredeson might be too good to not start in year one. I do think he can play either left or right guard, but he provides us with one of those starter types who you could do better than, but you’re not going to complain about him either.
Grade: B+
Round Five: Broderick Washington Jr, DL/Edge, Texas Tech
Anyone who said he was a pure nose tackle did not watch the film. He lines up everywhere on the defense and is surprisingly solid as a pass rusher. He’s nothing special as a pass rusher, but he does have some good moves and traits that you have to like here. He’s nowhere close to being big enough to play the nose(so I don’t think this was a response to use not liking Mack), but I think he could become a guy who platoons off of the edge for us, but kicks inside on pass rushing downs to just beat people up. He’s a great run defender and a really good guy in the locker room. I don’t dislike him, and I would’ve probably taken some of the edge guys ahead of him like Huff or Tuszka. But if we can turn this into a platoon edge/DL, then this pick is great. If not, worst case scenario is that he turns into a good depth piece. He’s high-risk, but I don’t think he’s as bad as some say.
Grade: C+
Round Six: James Proche, WR, SMU
My only question here is why didn’t more people talk about this guy? He’s not impressive athletically, but that’s not nearly as important to me as his game film. Does he get open? Yes. Does he have good hands? 3 drops with 100+ receptions, along with leading his conference in targets. Does he have football speed? Plenty. He needs to refine his route running, but similarly to Duvernay, any WR coach worth his salt will make it work with this guy. He’s not as big of an instant impact as Duvernay, but this is preparation for Snead leaving next year. Gives us another target to work with who can get open in the intermediate game, and possibly develop into something well beyond his draft position. This could end up being a big steal best case scenario, and worst case he’s a good punt returner.
Grade: A+
Round Seven: Geno Stone, S, Iowa
Another one of those guys who’s not a great athlete, but a good football player types. Good on special teams, and a good developmental piece along the way. Solid value, thought he should’ve gone in the fifth
Grade: B
Best,
Lost In Translation
We didn’t make a lot of key signings/resignings, and outside of Yanda we didn’t really lose anyone so let’s keep this short and sweet.
Free Agent Signings
Calias Campbell, DE/DT/Edge: A++
This isn’t fair. Players like this can play good forever because he’s so freakishly athletic that even when it starts to decline he’ll still be on another level compared to everyone else. Freakish athleticism isn’t his best trait: he’s a technician and he understands how to play football. He may be old but we have 3 more years to win it. With him, our chances increase tenfold. You gave up NOTHING to do it. NOTHING. You’re not going to find a player in the fifth round better. This wasn’t a steal, it was the heist of the decade. Eric DeCosta, even if he goes on to be a hall of fame GM like Ozzie will never make a move this good again.
Derek Wolfe: DE: B
I’ve always liked Derek Wolfe. He’s always played like a Raven. He’s not a stud by any means necessary, but he’s something very valuable to every team: a very good role player. Every super bowl team has had a guy like this in some capacity. He’s willing to get down in the dirty, and do some hard work. He’s a good all around player, who’s really good at everything but not great. That said, his attitude on the field is the epitome of a Raven. He’d be an A grade if he could stay healthy.
And now to the Draft
Round One: Patrick Queen, ILB, Ravens
For the first time ever, I got our first round pick correct. There’s a thing called an identity pick, and Queen is your modern day LB who plays like a Raven. He’s smart, fast, instinctive, and aggressive. I never trusted him to take on NFL Guards, he’s very small, and power backs are going to give him a hard time, so I always said he’s a WILL rather than a MIKE(and clearly the team agreed with me). He’s a leader first and foremost, and a good one, and a straight up playmaker in coverage. He’s your answer to the George Kittles and the Travis Kelces of the world. He should be in the running for defensive rookie of the year, and now that you drafted around him(I’ll get to that), he could be a day one pro bowler. He was a top 20 player on my board, and along with Simmons and White last year one of the better ILB prospects of the past five years(yes, above Devin Bush for me). It was an A- before, but given who else we took after him, he’s basically perfect.
Grade: A+
Round Two: JK Dobbins, RB, Ohio State
Ever hear of hating the value and liking the player? That’s Dobbins for me. He’s a good player, but I didn’t trust him running behind a line without Marshal Yanda(Phillips cleared my worries. I think Phillips will start at guard relatively soon). Dobbins plays hard, makes good cuts in the open field, and is a much better reciever than given credit for. My pro comparison for him was Mark Ingram which makes him an ideal successor. It does make me wonder what we do with Gus Edwards though, since now we have three power backs and Dobbins is really more of the same as Ingram in my eyes. He’ll be a good player, but it stings for me that Epenesa was taken before him.
Grade: B. He’s a good player, but I don’t like taking most RBs early unless it was Swift or CEH.
Round Three: Justin Madibuike, DT, Texas A&M
You know, it’s about damn time we took a DT that can actually contribute in the pass game. He’s a great run defender, which is a prerequisite for a ravens draft pick(even Carl Davis was a good run defender), but Madboy(which is what I will call him from now on) is a freak athlete, kind of like his once and future teammate Daylon Mack. Brett Kollmann made a point that our best athletes in the front seven are usually our defensive tackles rather than our edge players, and I think this proves it. Madibuike has good tape and can play every position along the dline. Despite having Wolfe, it would not surprise me if he emerges as the starter. He’s the best DT we have taken since Jernigan, who I really liked, and I think he’s better. I had a first round grade on him, but honestly I would’ve preferred Elliot.
Grade: A
Round Three: Devin Duvernay, WR, Texas
Say hello to a player who I had us taking in literally every single mock draft. The ravens fans are so obsessed with WRs that you expect us to take one early every year. You fail to see the bigger picture. You know who we threw to a lot? Seth Roberts. Roberts choked hard in the playoff. What better way to replace that than to a guy who has dropped one pass in three years right? Duvernay, aside from Lamb, might have had the best hands in the draft, which makes him already marketable. Aside from that, he’s a good route runner on the inside and he’s very good against zone coverage as a route runner. He can find soft spots and just pick you apart. Sounds like a typical slot guy right? Well, then you add the fact that he’s legit 4.3 speed, and he plays that fast too. He’s not exceptionally quick, but he’s not lacking in quickness, and he’s only an inside guy, but there’s not too many pure slot WRs in the league that have this speed. His route running is good, but still needs some refinement(I attribute this more to the fact that he played at Texas, any NFL WR coach worth their salt is going to coach this guy up). Put all of that together, he may never be a #1 WR, but he’s very dangerous for any team that gets him if they already have a potent deep threat. Hollywood, his college rival, is probably the best thing(other than Lamar) that is ever going to happen to him. Hollywood by default commands safety attention and is a complete #1 WR. This is going to force the other safety to either commit to Duvernay, or else Lamar will burn you running, or commit to Lamar, where Duvernay or Hollywood is probably going to be wide open 30 yards downfield. This is a steal. I had a second round grade on Duvernay
Grade: A+
Round Three: Malik Harrison, ILB, Ohio State
Remember the Patrick Queen writeup I had? I said he was a WILL only, and I think the team agreed with me. Queen was a great pick on it’s own for a multitude of reasons, but I would have been worried when he was facing power backs like Mixon, Bell, Henry. He’s going to have trouble taking on NFL guards. Ultimately, Queen would still be effective because our dline will keep him clean and he’s a stud in coverage, but we needed someone who was a heady LB who could tackle, thump, and play good on hook zones because Fort has never started a game, and Alaka isn’t really that good.
Enter Malik Harrison. A pure MIKE LB who I think is better in coverage than most people give him credit for. There is not an ILB in this draft that plays more Ike a Raven than Harrison does. We needed to take a pure MIKE, and not only is he that, clobbers people in the run game, and will knock you on your ass if you come into his zone. He’s a very smart player, who’s not a great athlete, but has good instincts and is a good football player. He’s willing to do the dirty work, and not only is he just a good player in general, he makes Patrick Queen better. He and Logan Wilson would have been the perfect compliments to him. He was my #4 ILB behind Simmons, Queen, and Logan Wilson. It’s a fantastic value, that basically completes the defense.
Grade: A+
Round Three: Tyre phillips, OL, Mississippi State
Phillips has been on my eye for a couple of months. I did have some interior Oline players ranked higher than him, but if you’re going to take a project OG, you might as well go get a freak athlete who can already contribute to the scheme. We needed a guy who can flex out to T should an injury happen, and we also needed someone to replace Yanda. Phillips needs to do some work in pass protection, but I’d argue that he can come in on day one and just straight up destroy people in the run game. I do like that we actually took an interior offensive linemen that is actually powerful. While I do like what I see from Ben Powers, he’s more of a technician than a power guy. I did have John SImpson and Tyler Biasdaz ahead of him, but due to the versatility and the scheme fit, I really cannot hate it too much. I think if Phillips becomes a good pass blocker hes a quality starting guard. But he’s a big project
Grade: C-
Round Four: Ben Bredeson, OG, Michigan
You have to field 11 players on offense. Not all 11 are going to be elite, superstars. We lost an elite superstar guard in Yanda this past year. While I do have confidence in Ben Powers moving forward, we do need depth. Enter Bredeson. You aren’t going to have 11 elite players, but you do need 11 GOOD players. Bredeson, is a good football player. He’s nothing special, but he’s a good mover in space who’s technically sound in pass protection, and strong enough in the run game to actually contribute on day one. I liked Bozeman last year, but Bredeson might be too good to not start in year one. I do think he can play either left or right guard, but he provides us with one of those starter types who you could do better than, but you’re not going to complain about him either.
Grade: B+
Round Five: Broderick Washington Jr, DL/Edge, Texas Tech
Anyone who said he was a pure nose tackle did not watch the film. He lines up everywhere on the defense and is surprisingly solid as a pass rusher. He’s nothing special as a pass rusher, but he does have some good moves and traits that you have to like here. He’s nowhere close to being big enough to play the nose(so I don’t think this was a response to use not liking Mack), but I think he could become a guy who platoons off of the edge for us, but kicks inside on pass rushing downs to just beat people up. He’s a great run defender and a really good guy in the locker room. I don’t dislike him, and I would’ve probably taken some of the edge guys ahead of him like Huff or Tuszka. But if we can turn this into a platoon edge/DL, then this pick is great. If not, worst case scenario is that he turns into a good depth piece. He’s high-risk, but I don’t think he’s as bad as some say.
Grade: C+
Round Six: James Proche, WR, SMU
My only question here is why didn’t more people talk about this guy? He’s not impressive athletically, but that’s not nearly as important to me as his game film. Does he get open? Yes. Does he have good hands? 3 drops with 100+ receptions, along with leading his conference in targets. Does he have football speed? Plenty. He needs to refine his route running, but similarly to Duvernay, any WR coach worth his salt will make it work with this guy. He’s not as big of an instant impact as Duvernay, but this is preparation for Snead leaving next year. Gives us another target to work with who can get open in the intermediate game, and possibly develop into something well beyond his draft position. This could end up being a big steal best case scenario, and worst case he’s a good punt returner.
Grade: A+
Round Seven: Geno Stone, S, Iowa
Another one of those guys who’s not a great athlete, but a good football player types. Good on special teams, and a good developmental piece along the way. Solid value, thought he should’ve gone in the fifth
Grade: B
Best,
Lost In Translation
I have to think that with the draft now over and having seen the class we've got, that Pernell McPhee coming back has to be a complete no-brainer - we've added lots of defensive talent in the front 7 but still only have 3 true EDGE guys
Francois Boulianne
Practice Squad
I don't see us moving Judon unless Clowney comes here. And we have to live with the cap hit for a year (it's not DE Tag though). I don't see Bowser or Fergusson turning the corner this year in a way that would make Judon expendable. We are running for SB so we need to look at it on a year per year basis and spend for immediate impact I think.
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JAAM
Hall of Famer
That’s what the plan would have to be. We’d essentially need to have Clowney ready to sign before we were to trade Judon, but the front office just doesn’t seem interested in moving Judon based on that video of EDC and Harbs talking earlier in their backyards
Francois Boulianne
Practice Squad
Haven't watch this video yet. I'am curious. I'll go watch it.
balfan23
MVP
RG D.J. Fluker has been released.
You have to think this has grabbed the attention of our organization. It’s hard to say how we’d feel about making a move for him. Yes Powers and 2 draft picks are set to fight for that RG spot but do we trust they can be starting caliber this year.
I also know we’re tight on cash but he wouldn’t break the bank. I don’t know if he’s lived up to his draft status but he’s certainly more proven than anyone we have for that slot
You have to think this has grabbed the attention of our organization. It’s hard to say how we’d feel about making a move for him. Yes Powers and 2 draft picks are set to fight for that RG spot but do we trust they can be starting caliber this year.
I also know we’re tight on cash but he wouldn’t break the bank. I don’t know if he’s lived up to his draft status but he’s certainly more proven than anyone we have for that slot
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Eric was just referencing the rookie defenders getting to work with our veterans, he mentions Calais, Brandon, and Matt on a first name basis and how he was excited to have them learn from these guys
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
It annoys me too but we can’t upgrade as much as we have and then ship off our top player at the one position we didn’t address at all. The stars never aligned for us to get an edge, we stayed patient with Judon and he’s still here, and thank god because otherwise we would’ve missed out on some talent elsewhere if we had to reach.
we have our unit essentially together for a SB run this year, we’re gonna reassess the situation next year when Judon is expired, who knows he might play really well and want a 2 year deal and try to get rings and hit FA again before he’s old.
although I’ll say straight up I’d prefer if we didn’t have tavon, bwill, and Wolfe under contract and see if we can’t work out a deal with clowney lol. What’s that like 10mil in cap space, surely you can work something out there, maybe work out a Judon extension to bring his cap hit down 2mil or so and then backload about 6m of clowney a first cap hit, it hurts but we’re in win now mode and 6m of backloading isn’t back breaking
if you look at this whole offseason a bit objectively i think trading judon was never really an option tbh
the EDGE free agency group were always going to get overpaid and out of our price-range and honestly none of them are much better than judon and judon's the best scheme fit of all of them
but looking even further forwards, this is one of the weakest EDGE classes for a long time so it makes no sense creating an even bigger hole when you can't necessarily correct it later
unfortunately from what i understand about 2021, the EDGe class isnt expected to be very good either - because of all of that im kind of expecting us to re-sign Judon long-term and maybe this offseason because there's no way we're franchise tagging him next offseason
quoting myself because i have more thoughts to expand on this
Mcphee adds value to the edge and our ability to win the edge but maybe our hesitancy to sign him is because we've already added lots of talent to our interior pass rush which is where mcphee has done most of his damage as a raven (standing up over the nose etc.) but that's the kind of alignment I'm expecting to see a lot of from Calais and probably Madubuike also
maybe that's a good thing for McPhee so that he doesn't get over-used like last year but just a thought i had about why we havent scooped him up yet
JAAM
Hall of Famer
Justin Houston? Though I’m not sure he’d put his hands in the dirt for us...
Ellicottraven
Ravens Ring of Honor
I saw that too and he isn't a terrible option if he can stay healthy. He's only 29 and a former 1st round pick...
cobrajet
Hall of Famer
I would like to think we would have an interest in bring him back. I would like it. I was hoping to bring him and Bynes back but after this draft we certainly do not need Bynes. I am glad McPhee's still available. Maybe the organization was just waiting to see how things went with the draft first.
he would fit in well here and also plays like a Raven. I'd give him a two year contract also.
