even more important now that we finally have a stable of quality weapons for him to work with too...
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2022 Draft: Most Discussed Area of Need?
- Thread starter JoeyFlex5
- Start date
even more important now that we finally have a stable of quality weapons for him to work with too...
Grim
Ravens Ring of Honor
OL, DL, DB.
Biggest need may be S if Wink stays or not because if he stays you need a guy who can do what is needed since Wink relies on his safeties a lot. If he goes you may need a safety even more because who knows if Clark is just really good at the current system or just an excellent player. He’s also had a down year along with Marlon. Hopefully Washington can step into De’Shon’s shoes and replace him.
Biggest need may be S if Wink stays or not because if he stays you need a guy who can do what is needed since Wink relies on his safeties a lot. If he goes you may need a safety even more because who knows if Clark is just really good at the current system or just an excellent player. He’s also had a down year along with Marlon. Hopefully Washington can step into De’Shon’s shoes and replace him.
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Clearly OL right? If we lose because of the defense I can live with that, but I can’t live with Lamar having to play the way he’s had to play at times this season, with the OL being so bad. We haven’t made an early pick at OL since Stanley and it shows, we nailed a lot of day 3 picks on the OL in the late flacco days and then we got Orlando, so I feel like we’ve gotten comfortable with drafting OL late, but that lack of investment is starting to show itself. We simply can’t give Lamar a mega deal and then not protect him.
build 1 dominant unit and see what you can do elsewhere - this offence is so close to unstoppable and we've now got high quality weapons for lamar - if we could find a blue-chip talent to add to this OL (especially if it's a tackle) we could really be in business
Argentina Raven
Practice Squad
I'm starting to feel more comfortable selecting a safety / cb in the first round, preferably with a ball hawk skill.
Ol is necessary, but, someone better than Villanueva can be achieved in 3/4 round, in secondary there does not seem to be as much depth as in other positions
Ol is necessary, but, someone better than Villanueva can be achieved in 3/4 round, in secondary there does not seem to be as much depth as in other positions
ChainedBird
Practice Squad
I don't think Vilaneuva is going to be around next season.
There are exceptions, but typically at 3/4 you're getting either a significantly flawed depth level tackle or a traitsy raw tackle who miiiiight be a starter, but won't be playing for a while. In general we can't expect to take a mid-round tackle, thrust him into AVs current role and expect good results.
Having said that, I could see them getting a none-first round developmental tackle if they see someone else on the board they really like, just with the knowledge that they really don't want to play them for a while.
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Argentina Raven
Practice Squad
Rick Wagner was a 5 round and started his 4 years, OBj was a 3 round, I think with the various selections we have in those rounds we can get competent tackles.
The luck of having Lamar is that they do not need first level, with long arms and that they can push the rusher out of Lamar is enough, that's why Orlando looked great here and suffers in KC, Mahomes goes back much more and gives time for fast rushers to recover especially.
In my opinion, Lamar's problem occurs when the interiors cannot open a small hole for him where he can pass, there he gets stuck and suffers capture.
The luck of having Lamar is that they do not need first level, with long arms and that they can push the rusher out of Lamar is enough, that's why Orlando looked great here and suffers in KC, Mahomes goes back much more and gives time for fast rushers to recover especially.
In my opinion, Lamar's problem occurs when the interiors cannot open a small hole for him where he can pass, there he gets stuck and suffers capture.
for sure you can find those guys - but also worth pointing out that none of those guys were great right away - rick wagner had to wait until year 2 and orlando didnt start until after the bye week in 2018 in his rookie season
2021 is one of the most hyped up tackle classes in recent memory and even so im looking at those guys and only 2 or 3 of the non-1st rounders have started so far (and only a couple started early)
cosmi
eichenberg - who's been a trainwreck
spencer brown
dan moore jr - who's been at times genuinely awful
walker little has just started playing in relief of injured cam robinson
larry borom just took over at RT for the bears
so many of these tackles in this good-looking tackle class have ended up playing inside this year
i dont think you can rely on plugging and playing a 3rd or 4th rounder - for context eliminating the top 2 rounds would leave you with only spencer brown, dan moore jr and larry borom of the above 6 starting OTs
Argentina Raven
Practice Squad
I don't pay too much attention to what the "specialists" say beyond reading and comparing, some forum members have a better reading than them, and of the names, then I see them and I imagine them in the Ravens uniform, some I like, others I don't , it's just an opinion, but between rounds 3 to 5 without going deeper, munford, kinnard, max mitchell, jamarie slayer, cunninhgam, raimann, dawann Jones, obina eze, they don't seem worse than villanueva / Mekari so to speak, obviously if this petit frere or ekwonu I would not hesitate in them, but if they are not, I would not care about a cb, a safeti, a lb, any other position
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BloodRaven
Pro Bowler
I'm interested to see who agrees/disagrees but this is what I believe are the only positions that should selected in the first round:
QB
CB
LT
WR
Edge rusher
C
Positions outside of the first (Some exceptions for rare DT/ILB talent)
HB
DT
ILB
G
S
TE
Positions that shouldnt be drafted
FB
KR/PR
P
K
QB
CB
LT
WR
Edge rusher
C
Positions outside of the first (Some exceptions for rare DT/ILB talent)
HB
DT
ILB
G
S
TE
Positions that shouldnt be drafted
FB
KR/PR
P
K
100% you can and should draft a DT in the 1st round and i dont think it's rare that you should - but not a NT (unless they're an athletic freak like Vita Vea)...
no way im turning down derrick brown, javon kinlaw, quinnen williams, ed oliver, jeffrey simmons, christian wilkins, vita vea, jonathan allen, deforest buckner, kenny clark, chris jones (who should have been drafted in round 1 but wasnt), arik armstead, aaron donald
DL is a lot like EDGE in that if you want to find premium talents you've got to pay premium capital to get them
otherwise no real issues with how you've hamstrung it - i will say that I'd have no qualms about a RT at the end of the 1st either but they'd have to be supremely talented
obviously all of these positions have exceptions with generational talents at positions you wouldnt normally focus on in round 1 (e.g. kyle pitts, derwin james/minkah fitzpatrick, quenton nelson) and i think you're pretty bang on generally
whenever a team drafts a LB or a RB i always like it because of the talent it pushes down to us
BloodRaven
Pro Bowler
I should explain that this is through the lens of drafting for our team, we never really have access to the elite DT prospects in the draft because we rarely ever pick high.
Out of the stud DTs you named (all worthy of 1st round picks) only Buckner, Clark and Jones were available to us because we had a high pick in 2016. In a redraft taking Buckner would cost us Stanley.
sure - i mean i also didnt include a few later guys too and some other guys who did get taken earlier
just pointing out the kinds of potential game-changers you can find in round 1 at DL who aren't necessarily generational talent type guys
and i also think the ravens probably havent been looking that high at DL for a while partly because of Ngata and then BWill and then because of Pierce and then because of Campbell... not that they wouldnt have taken a stud if they were there but you're right that they weren't available to us
but that doesnt mean we should eliminate them from consideration as the kinds of guys who should be drafted by the ravens in round 1 - and i think there's at least a decent chance a DL is our guy in round 1 this year if there's someone we like
i cant wait to properly start getting into these tackles
but the OTs im most interested in straight away:
Evan Neal
Ikem Ekwonu
Charles Cross
Trevor Penning
Bernhard Raimann
Daniel Faalele
Nicholas Petit-Frere
ChainedBird
Practice Squad
Jordan Davis looks crazy, he's been my draft crush for a while.
I really like Daxton Hill and his connection to the club. He's probably a first rounder and I feel we have bigger fish to fry there, but if he slips to the second round...
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
I really like Charles cross and Trevor penning and NPF
this is a really good point looking at the draft and potential strategies (general proviso that i have no idea what this CB class is like yet) - but we clearly continue to value elite CB play incredibly highly - obviously a lot depends on what we do pre-draft with Peters, Tavon, Averett etc. but even if we do keep Peters and Tavon it's hard to imagine we won't still be looking very intently at this CB class