• Welcome to PurpleFlock! Be sure to sign up here so that you can chat with your fellow Ravens fans.

2020 Ravens Draft Class Review

Dom McRaven

Hall of Famer
Mods, this can be merged to the random thought thread if this one is redundant. I wanted to start a yearly tradition where there'll be a thread recapping how our rookies did.

What grade would you give our draft class? Me personally, I'm giving it a B+ or A-.
 

Willbacker

Ravens Ring of Honor
Tbf it really takes 2-3 yrs to judge a draft class but I'm thinking we aced on Queen and Dobbins on our 1st 2 picks while the rest were more rotational players and I'm really sour on Tyre Phillips.

As it stands now I can only give a C+ but the jury is still out on Dev, Madabuike and Bredeson and to see if Phillips improves.
 

JoeyFlex5

Hall of Famer
B- queen was a big time playmaker and even with struggles he has game turning ability and was all rookie because of that.

A+ we dont make the playoffs without dobbins, flat out. i think hell be the best rb of the class.

A- justin madubuike was an absolute load up front and with him you can either double team him, or hes gonna make/influence the play, he did it the whole second half of the season, and you cant run a stretch with him on the field.

C- duvernay looks like a stud returner at least, jury is out on offense.

D tyre phillips looked pretty bad for the most part, he wasnt horrible at G but idk if hes ever gonna start and he likely wont be filling any swing roles, and i believe harbaugh had visions of him at RT when zeus leaves, but pls no.

C malik harrison i think is about to establish himself as a player, and we'll comfortably move on from LJ fort in his year 3.

D- bredeson is cheeks

D- broderick had a role here, idk if hes under any consideration in year 2 aside from a warm body.

C+ jury is out on proche but the hands and just sharp crisp play style are as advertised

F stone is gone

if this was school, that would be a D+ average, but this is the NFL draft, so to have day 1 and 2 consist of 2 As, a B, and 2 Cs, im gonna call that a B+
 

Willbacker

Ravens Ring of Honor
B- queen was a big time playmaker and even with struggles he has game turning ability and was all rookie because of that.

A+ we dont make the playoffs without dobbins, flat out. i think hell be the best rb of the class.

A- justin madubuike was an absolute load up front and with him you can either double team him, or hes gonna make/influence the play, he did it the whole second half of the season, and you cant run a stretch with him on the field.

C- duvernay looks like a stud returner at least, jury is out on offense.

D tyre phillips looked pretty bad for the most part, he wasnt horrible at G but idk if hes ever gonna start and he likely wont be filling any swing roles, and i believe harbaugh had visions of him at RT when zeus leaves, but pls no.

C malik harrison i think is about to establish himself as a player, and we'll comfortably move on from LJ fort in his year 3.

D- bredeson is cheeks

D- broderick had a role here, idk if hes under any consideration in year 2 aside from a warm body.

C+ jury is out on proche but the hands and just sharp crisp play style are as advertised

F stone is gone

if this was school, that would be a D+ average, but this is the NFL draft, so to have day 1 and 2 consist of 2 As, a B, and 2 Cs, im gonna call that a B+

Nitpicking but you forgot to add Phillips's day 2 grade.
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
We had more picks than usual in the first 3 rounds which obviously makes it tougher to grade vs our other drafts - but as a general rule you're looking for 2+ starters to have a successful draft - on that alone this draft already looks like a success - obviously it's said it takes about 3 years to evaluate but this class looks to have started well

now for me personally this draft gets an A++++++ simply because we picked Madubuike who was my dude - realistically i'd probably still give it a B+

i can quibble with the low value positional picks (LB and RB in rounds 1 and 2) but the players have been great

B: Queen started well - there's a high learning curve but he's made some splash plays and at critical moments - also promising that he pulled himself out of the mini-slump he had in the mid-season - this is a massive offseason for him

A+: Dobbins has been amazing - needs to sort out those hands - the clearest progression for him to make is to become a better receiver (both hands and route-running) because he's already an awesome runner

A+: Madubuike's been awesome - really promising to see him come on strong at the end of the year - got his first sack (and it was a good'en) - he's showing signs that he might hit the high ceiling he had as a prospect

C-: Duvernay has showed out as a returner and it was nice seeing him take over punts too, but I'd expected more of him as a WR prospect - showed no progression through the year as a route runner (maybe that's scheme related, maybe it's rookie-wall related etc.) and ended up losing all the snaps he'd gained in the middle of the year - this offseason is critical for him especially if we bring in new faces at the position

C: Malik was another guy i liked as a prospect - fits that older mould of a LB which makes sense as to why his highest snap counts were both Titans games and New England - showed as a rookie exactly what you see on tape - a guy who's going to be physical and powerful coming downhill in the running game - if he's a situational 1 or 2 down linebacker for his remaining 3 years I can live with that as a pick but I think there's some coverage upside with his wingspan that we can tap into

D+: My thoughts on Tyre haven't really changed since he came into camp - he was thrown into the fire this year and didn't fare particularly well - it's wild that he somehow won the camp battle for RG (tells you what the organisation thought of everyone else there) - i think he was a reach with some nice upside and he's going to have to progress mightily (and hope we don't add any competition) if he wants a shot at getting his RG spot back - he is not an NFL tackle

C: Bredeson - day 3 pick who did well as the 6th OL - too early to really say anything definitively about him - hopefully he's next in the long line of day 3 OL guys who step up in year 2/3 for us

D: Expected nothing from Washington when we drafted him (literally hadnt even made my list of guys to watch and evaluate last year) and he peaked my interest in week 1 and then very quickly exited my thoughts after that - he's got some play-strength to him but he'll have to be active to prove anything

D+: Proche - was nice not to worry about punts with him back there albeit he wasnt ever a threat to actually break one (hence Duv getting the job) - the few flashes he showed got me excited but he never played more than like 5 offensive snaps in a game - and despite that i think he was the target on 2 lamar picks and only had 1 other target (reception for a 1st down) - i like him as a complementary piece but he has to win his way onto the field which clearly he didnt as a rookie - if Duvernay's gonna be the PR and KR, Proche's roster spot is suddenly in immense jeopardy

F: Stone - there's a clear pathway for late round DBs to make this team - special teams - dime - starter - the fact that he couldnt make the special teams unit (even when cover guys were dropping like flies) said everything there was to know about his chances of sticking here - and now he's gone - a good example of how flawed PFF's grading is when assessing coverage
 

RL52TheGreatest

Ravens Ring of Honor
  • Queen and Dobbins are studs in the making. I think once Queen's thought process is able to catch up to his fast game-speed, he's going to be a dominant LB for us. He's already shown plenty of flashes in his rookie year and has made multiple critical plays for us. Dobbins is basically the next coming of Ray Rice in terms of how versatile he is and should be a near-lock to make the Pro Bowl next year. He's got great vision, is able to make people miss or just break through arm tackles, and has pretty good hands when catching the ball. As others have said, he's likely the best RB to come out of last year's draft class and we got him in the 2nd round. Absolute steal.
  • Madubuike is a beast. If he stays healthy and on the field then he's going to be a problem for other teams.
  • Duvernay definitely has potential, but he needs to show more as a route runner. Part of it may be due to our offensive scheme, but he still needs to improve in that area. He is ELECTRIC when he has the ball in open space so if he can just work on his route running then he has breakout potential.
  • Not really sure what to think of Proche so far. Yes, he has GREAT hands, but hasn't shown much else. Unless he can turn himself into a Derrick Mason with how well he runs routes then I just don't know if I can see him becoming anything less than a backup and ST'er.
  • Tyre was definitely disappointing. I've never been great at evaluating OL play, but it seems that he struggled a lot at RT when we had to move Orlando over to LT. He might make a decent backup for G if we can coach him up, but seems that any dreams of him being our future RT are probably shot.
  • Harrison showed some flashes in his rookie season of being a good sidekick to Queen. His lack of playtime probably says more about LJ Fort than it does him because Fort was rock solid all season long.
  • I won't even try to make any comments on the rest of the class as I haven't really paid any attention to those guys.
 
Top