2021 General Draft Thoughts

[Simba]

So much smoke around the Mac Jones at 3 rumors. I still don’t know that I can buy it but so many reporters are swearing by it. I’m a fan of Mac Jones but it’d be insane to me if SF gave up all of that for Mac Jones. He’s a very smart player but not sure he has some of the physical abilities to give up that much and trust him to be the guy.

 

[rossihunter2]

By top do you mean early or first round in general because I really like some of these guys who could be drafted around us. Oweh is an absolute freak of nature.

i mean that there's not as many as you'd expect towards the top of the class - there's still a few guys but there's no bosa, chase young, myles garrett, jadeveon clowney type prospects in this class - jaelan phillips probably closest to that sort of prospect and he's got a major medical question mark

there's tons of guys on day 2 and day 3 at edge but the first round is maybe only 3 guys (for me that's phillips, paye and ojulari) and then mid-to-late 2nd it feels like that's where i start to see a ton of guys going

i like a lot of guys - but i dont think many of them are deserving of a super high pick

 

[rossihunter2]

everyone is set on wr and line for obvious reasons but I am just so convinced we will take a rusher / olb. We only have bowser on the roster. Ferguson too but hes a complete jag imo. I assume we will sign someone later on in free agency but that doesn't fix the problem. We have no one who can get to the qb from the edge right now. I know the scheme is designed off blitzs and tricks but that doesnt mean you can just have 4th round picks as your rushers. Scary to me.

my question would be... who? which edge are we taking in the first? for me there's 3 and i think it's highly possible or even likely that all 3 are long gone by the time we pick

 

[rossihunter2]

So much smoke around the Mac Jones at 3 rumors. I still don’t know that I can buy it but so many reporters are swearing by it. I’m a fan of Mac Jones but it’d be insane to me if SF gave up all of that for Mac Jones. He’s a very smart player but not sure he has some of the physical abilities to give up that much and trust him to be the guy.

this would be the thing that would irk me the most about that decision - you can most likely get mac jones at 12... not sure anyone's really going to be sniping you for mac jones - maybe you have to do a deal with the eagles to get to 6 if you're really worried on draft day

but giving up 3 first round picks for mac jones would be wild and would demonstrate a massive lack of awareness of how he's viewed by the rest of the football world

 

[Simba]

this would be the thing that would irk me the most about that decision - you can most likely get mac jones at 12... not sure anyone's really going to be sniping you for mac jones - maybe you have to do a deal with the eagles to get to 6 if you're really worried on draft day

but giving up 3 first round picks for mac jones would be wild and would demonstrate a massive lack of awareness of how he's viewed by the rest of the football world

Yep that’s my thing. You like Mac? That’s fine. I do too and think he’ll be a fine QB in this league. Do I like him enough to give up multiple draft classes for him? Absolutely not.

 

[purplepittabread88]

my question would be... who? which edge are we taking in the first? for me there's 3 and i think it's highly possible or even likely that all 3 are long gone by the time we pick

Both Oweh and rouesseu (spelling? I’m on mobile) will Surely be first round picks. The other three guys are locks but these two are both freaks who are rarely on boards towards the end of the first round. Someone will take a chance. Rushers always fly up even if they don’t have a first round grade.

 

[rossihunter2]

Both Oweh and rouesseu (spelling? I’m on mobile) will Surely be first round picks. The other three guys are locks but these two are both freaks who are rarely on boards towards the end of the first round. Someone will take a chance. Rushers always fly up even if they don’t have a first round grade.

see i think oweh's a freak of nature - i could definitely see him going in the 1st - but i dont think rousseau is a freak athlete - there are taller and more athletic guys in this class than rousseau (and guys who are both more athletic and just as tall)

but oweh is also not the kind of prospect that the ravens normally draft - really low production (especially the 0 sacks in 2020)

 

[rossihunter2]

well it would seem that rousseau's pretty confident that at least 1 team disagrees with me

 

[purplepittabread88]

well it would seem that rousseau's pretty confident that at least 1 team disagrees with me

This is a response to this post and the one above and I agree that neither of these guys are people the ravens would draft (it was only to support my argument of 5 first round pass rushers). I don’t think Gregory is anything special but it’ll be hard for desperate teams to pass on 15.5 sacks in a year. That’s the freakish part

 

[JoeyFlex5]

well it would seem that rousseau's pretty confident that at least 1 team disagrees with me

Rousseau is not my cup of tea, but I would not be shocked one bit if he went first round. Edge rushers are so severely inflated in the nfl right now

 

[rossihunter2]

This is a response to this post and the one above and I agree that neither of these guys are people the ravens would draft (it was only to support my argument of 5 first round pass rushers). I don’t think Gregory is anything special but it’ll be hard for desperate teams to pass on 15.5 sacks in a year. That’s the freakish part

i could definitely see oweh going early - i could see a team falling in love with ossai's athleticism, effort and rawness - i could see a team at the end of the 1st deciding basham's worth that kind of selection - and i could definitely see a team love perkins's tape

i get the production argument with rousseau - but 4 of those sacks came in 1 game against the worst OL and most dysfunctional offence ive ever seen in 2019 florida state and then 3 more against an awful line the week after

suddenly the production's good but not super flashy - take away those 7 sacks in those 2 games and his production's not that remarkable anymore... and the production looks even less impressive when we see how much of it comes from inside vs the edge because he doesn't really project as a guy who can survive inside in the pros except in obvious passing situations...

that being said - you're right that teams often make strange choices in the draft - i dont think ill ever get over the raiders taking clelin ferrell - who similarly was a productive guy who wasn't as impressive on tape as his production was - that being said i liked ferrell more than rousseau (by a lot) but for me he was a late 1st at best type player and he got drafted top 5

 

[JoeyFlex5]

jalen twyman isnt talked about enough. his wins/productive plays are ALL on him, he doesnt consistently dominate on every snap, but he isnt lucking into sacks and TFLs, he makes a lot of plays by straight up beating his man badly, hes a guy id love to see in our rotation, if were protecting a lead it would be real nice to have him and madubuike able to rush from the interior

 

[rossihunter2]

jalen twyman isnt talked about enough. his wins/productive plays are ALL on him, he doesnt consistently dominate on every snap, but he isnt lucking into sacks and TFLs, he makes a lot of plays by straight up beating his man badly, hes a guy id love to see in our rotation, if were protecting a lead it would be real nice to have him and madubuike able to rush from the interior

he's a bit undersized and lacks length - that in and of itself isnt a disqualifier necessarily but it really shows up in the running game and no one's drafting an interior DL high who can't hold up in the running game because they might as well just put an edge rusher there inside on those pass rushing downs that tywman would be gunning for

he has some traits especially as a pass rusher that would intrigue you but you're not expecting him to play a ton of snaps - he's the kind of guy who might get drafted late as a developmental prospect and turn into a high quality DL but i wouldnt want to expend much capital on him because it's equally likely he's never even active for a game

 

[RavensMania]

this would be the thing that would irk me the most about that decision - you can most likely get mac jones at 12... not sure anyone's really going to be sniping you for mac jones - maybe you have to do a deal with the eagles to get to 6 if you're really worried on draft day

but giving up 3 first round picks for mac jones would be wild and would demonstrate a massive lack of awareness of how he's viewed by the rest of the football world

I agree, it's a lot to trade for anyone, if you ask me. The Skins did it for RG3 back in 2012. BTW, it's 2 first round picks. They traded 2 and swapped 1, although the value of trading down as far as they did is definitely worth another 1st rounder, atleast.

 

[rossihunter2]

Still a fair few notable DL and QBs I haven't done (not sure i can be bothered given some of the fits don't look great just based on passing glimpses)

but of the players I've watched I've got 181 draftable prospects so far this year which is lower than all years since i started putting together a full board - the closest was 2017 where i had 185

it must be said my grading standards have got harder since 2017 but that's indicative of a slightly less deep draft class than the last 2-3 years for sure...

that being said I've got 106 prospects with day 2 grades and an additional 23 who are on the cusp - so it's a very good class in the middle just trails off quickly - worth noting i've got 106 players with at least a 3rd round grade and there's only 105 picks in the first 2 days of the draft - so it's inevitable that good players are going to be available in the 4th round

The depth is in these 4 positions though:

EDGE: 3 Day 1 grades, 14 Day 1+2 grades, 25 total draftable prospects
CB: 4 Day 1 grades, 16 Day 1+2 grades, 26 total draftable prospects
OL: 6 Day 1 grades, 25 Day 1+2 grades, 37 total draftable prospects
WR: 6 Day 1 grades, 17 Day 1+2 grades, 32 total draftable prospects

 

[rossihunter2]

basham's just purpose-built for the ravens lol - just clearly designed to be a chess piece in this defence lol

but i like some of these other fits - i hate that i'm saying this but humphrey and the steelers makes a lot of sense

as does slater to the panthers and marshall to the chiefs and darrisaw to washington (although im not sure he would/should get to them)

 

[Truth]

So PFF has a premium draft simulator. The simulator has trades. I hope you know where this is going. After a myriad of trials and jotted notes, here are the best results I've had thus far (Please keep in mind that I'm horribly behind in scouting and took several of these players based on the general thoughts from the media and people on this board):

Here's a link to the full version for authenticity (Link). Here are all of the picks for the following years (Link). Where do I send in my resume?

 

[rossihunter2]

So PFF has a premium draft simulator. The simulator has trades. I hope you know where this is going. After a myriad of trials and jotted notes, here are the best results I've had thus far (Please keep in mind that I'm horribly behind in scouting and took several of these players based on the general thoughts from the media and people on this board):

Here's a link to the full version for authenticity (Link). Here are all of the picks for the following years (Link). Where do I send in my resume?

what are you reaching on camryn bynum for dude?
other than that it's an ok draft i guess...

 

[Simba]

So PFF has a premium draft simulator. The simulator has trades. I hope you know where this is going. After a myriad of trials and jotted notes, here are the best results I've had thus far (Please keep in mind that I'm horribly behind in scouting and took several of these players based on the general thoughts from the media and people on this board):

Here's a link to the full version for authenticity (Link). Here are all of the picks for the following years (Link). Where do I send in my resume?

Seems legit

 

[Dom McRaven]

So PFF has a premium draft simulator. The simulator has trades. I hope you know where this is going. After a myriad of trials and jotted notes, here are the best results I've had thus far (Please keep in mind that I'm horribly behind in scouting and took several of these players based on the general thoughts from the media and people on this board):

Here's a link to the full version for authenticity (Link). Here are all of the picks for the following years (Link). Where do I send in my resume?

No DeVonta Smith? SHIT draft.

F-