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The Random Thought Thread

rmcjacket23

Ravens Ring of Honor
What don't you like about them though? DeShon hits like a truck and reminds me of Pollard except without the bad attitude (and better coverage skills as well) while Clark is just a smart, solid player. I still think we could use a better coverage safety out there so that we could have DeShon and Clark play closer to the line, but it's hard to complain about our safety play overall.
I think the FO is aware that they don't have a true "free safety" in there, ala an Ed Reed type.

That being said... the criticism the media was suggesting of Earl Thomas was that he played a traditional free safety role in Seattle, and the Ravens like to play more split safety roles, where they basically split the field in half. Basically they don't view Safety play in this scheme as a Pollard/Reed combo, with a box safety vs a free safety.

That was part of the reason for ET's complaints and why it took him awhile to adapt to the defensive scheme. I think Clark and Elliott play well together, but I wouldn't say either is a "great" safety. I do think the FO will be looking for a high-round upgrade in the near future, especially with Elliott's contract set to expire after this season. Though he can probably be retained for a similar, team friendly deal to Chuck Clark. I wouldn't think Elliott would have a robust FA market.
 

redrum52

Hall of Famer


Seems like Washington is going to come in and steal some reps. Like that we've seemed to go a more athletic route this draft.
 

ndub

Ravens Ring of Honor
Random thought of the day: Pokemon X/Y has a place called “Baa Der Mer” Ranch... you know what my thought was when I saw that one
 

Deebo813

Hall of Famer
What don't you like about them though? DeShon hits like a truck and reminds me of Pollard except without the bad attitude (and better coverage skills as well) while Clark is just a smart, solid player. I still think we could use a better coverage safety out there so that we could have DeShon and Clark play closer to the line, but it's hard to complain about our safety play overall.
elliot and pollard terrible in cvg.. when ball in air, our S are almost never to be found.. i like Cvg S.. i mean i dnt even like jamal adams and never did even though he a great player i guess, id choose a few over him.
 

RavensMania

Staff Member
Administrator
found this on RSR and thought it would be a good talking point. I totally see what SFLegend89 is saying in this post...

I think it was heavily speculated that because Center was a position of weakness, it would be a top draft target. Guys like Dickerson, Humphrey, Meinerz as popular mocks for us.

However, what the Ben Cleveland pick all but confirms is the main problem the Ravens brass was seeing in fact lied with Bradley Bozeman's fit at Guard in a power running scheme. That's not to say they didn't also identify Mekari being a somewhat sub-par starting Center... but the solution they saw was not a 1-for-1 swap with Mekari and a superior Center and continuing to play Bozeman at LG.

They like Bozeman, but he was limiting the things they wanted to do with the power scheme/approach. Bozeman is not a physical presence, not one of their prototype road-grading Guards like a Grubbs/Osemele/Yanda that can move bodies and impose their will. Bozeman is a pretty big dude but his power output doesn't match it. This is a big reason why Bozeman pulls so much, they know they need to get him out in space where he can make up for his lack of raw power at the point of attack.

Cleveland/Zeitler allow them to play the style they're intending to. Maul guys at the point of attack and move bodies off the line along the interior. Less reliance on pulling concepts and more north/south power running.

They still like Bozeman but are much happier with him at Center rather than leaving him at LG and simply upgrading Mekari with a better Center in the draft. Two birds with one stone if you will.
 

Simba

Staff Member
Moderator
found this on RSR and thought it would be a good talking point. I totally see what SFLegend89 is saying in this post...

I think it was heavily speculated that because Center was a position of weakness, it would be a top draft target. Guys like Dickerson, Humphrey, Meinerz as popular mocks for us.

However, what the Ben Cleveland pick all but confirms is the main problem the Ravens brass was seeing in fact lied with Bradley Bozeman's fit at Guard in a power running scheme. That's not to say they didn't also identify Mekari being a somewhat sub-par starting Center... but the solution they saw was not a 1-for-1 swap with Mekari and a superior Center and continuing to play Bozeman at LG.

They like Bozeman, but he was limiting the things they wanted to do with the power scheme/approach. Bozeman is not a physical presence, not one of their prototype road-grading Guards like a Grubbs/Osemele/Yanda that can move bodies and impose their will. Bozeman is a pretty big dude but his power output doesn't match it. This is a big reason why Bozeman pulls so much, they know they need to get him out in space where he can make up for his lack of raw power at the point of attack.

Cleveland/Zeitler allow them to play the style they're intending to. Maul guys at the point of attack and move bodies off the line along the interior. Less reliance on pulling concepts and more north/south power running.

They still like Bozeman but are much happier with him at Center rather than leaving him at LG and simply upgrading Mekari with a better Center in the draft. Two birds with one stone if you will.

I don’t know that I necessarily agree with that. If a C was BPA at some point, we’d have a new C and probably not a G. I’d argue you’ll still see Cleveland and/or Zeitler pulling quite a bit. I don’t think that’s a reflection on Bozeman at all. We’ve used heavy pulling for quite awhile now, regardless of who was out there.
 

RL52TheGreatest

Ravens Ring of Honor
elliot and pollard terrible in cvg.. when ball in air, our S are almost never to be found.. i like Cvg S.. i mean i dnt even like jamal adams and never did even though he a great player i guess, id choose a few over him.

C'mon man, DeShon is at least average in coverage. I honestly think that the coaches have told him to "play it safe" out there and try not to give anything over the top or we would be seeing him make more plays on the ball. Remember that he was constantly around the ball during his first couple of training camps/pre-seasons.

I'm definitely with you on liking coverage safeties more, and I think we'll address it in the future, but I think our safety group is solid at the moment. Hoping Washington can be a steal for us too and maybe give us some of that FS ability that we've been missing the past few years.
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
I don’t know that I necessarily agree with that. If a C was BPA at some point, we’d have a new C and probably not a G. I’d argue you’ll still see Cleveland and/or Zeitler pulling quite a bit. I don’t think that’s a reflection on Bozeman at all. We’ve used heavy pulling for quite awhile now, regardless of who was out there.

100% - and if anything i think bozeman as a blocker was more of an issue as a pass blocker than a run blocker - the better argument could be made that at C he's got less space to cover and is more likely to be pass protecting in a phone booth...

i dont think it confirms anything beyond the fact that they weren't comfortable with Meinerz (who might not even be a C anyway - has never actually played there) over cleveland...

and from the way they talk about cleveland it sounds like they took a player that the coaching staff loved regardless of position and had the flexibility to do so because they feel comfortable with Bozeman starting at either spot...
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
C'mon man, DeShon is at least average in coverage. I honestly think that the coaches have told him to "play it safe" out there and try not to give anything over the top or we would be seeing him make more plays on the ball. Remember that he was constantly around the ball during his first couple of training camps/pre-seasons.

I'm definitely with you on liking coverage safeties more, and I think we'll address it in the future, but I think our safety group is solid at the moment. Hoping Washington can be a steal for us too and maybe give us some of that FS ability that we've been missing the past few years.

something i noted about him before the season was that he's hesitant to pull the trigger in the deep - he's around the ball but as a single-high he's a bit late breaking towards the ball - i dont think that's coaches telling him not to pull the trigger, i think that's a natural second-guessing of his own instincts when deeper (just less comfortable i think with what he's seeing maybe) - he's not bad by any means but i think he's much more comfortable playing closer to the LoS or in a split-safety type situation - i love the versatility to align everywhere but he's definitely at his best playing downhill
 

Simba

Staff Member
Moderator
100% - and if anything i think bozeman as a blocker was more of an issue as a pass blocker than a run blocker - the better argument could be made that at C he's got less space to cover and is more likely to be pass protecting in a phone booth...

i dont think it confirms anything beyond the fact that they weren't comfortable with Meinerz (who might not even be a C anyway - has never actually played there) over cleveland...

and from the way they talk about cleveland it sounds like they took a player that the coaching staff loved regardless of position and had the flexibility to do so because they feel comfortable with Bozeman starting at either spot...

That post was definitely projecting his own thoughts into trying to justify why a decision was made.
 
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