2025 Offseason Thread

[rossihunter2]

duv was terrible at wr in college, im sorry. After i seen his senior bowl reps and he couldnt get open 1vs1, its no way we thought his tape was good. Didnt even like him at kr… only could run in a straight line so i dnt really think the agility drills matter. im not saying wester should be some starter, im simply saying if we gave duv some wr reps, and is considering giving wester some, it should be more than just gadget reps cause duv was not good in anyway to me.

senior bowl is not real football lol

and he ran a very texas route tree - lots of slants, lots of slot fades, lots of post routes - he came into the NFL as a bad route runner but an explosive straightline athlete and they schemed him into space and let him be fast and physical after the catch

duv was by far the superior prospect as a WR purely based on film, let alone tools

 

[rossihunter2]

Doesnt zay and him have similar arm length and wingspan? Yea zay is much better but im sure their catch radius are similar just like all 5”9 guys.. im not saying he should start for us but id like to see him get some wr reps. Shit tylan wallace hasnt done shit at wr for us regardless of how much we try to hype him up and he still get reps every so often.

tylan wallace gets reps because he's great on special teams and therefore active on gamedays and also a decent blocker

 

[Dom McRaven]

we had a terrible WR corps while duvernay was here
and duvernay had much better college tape than wester, played at a bigger program, ran a 4.39, was bigger, more explosive and even outdid wester in the agility drills

and then he became a pro bowl kick returner

of course duv was getting kept, the only question with duvernay was how high he'd be in the WR depth chart... not whether he'd be on the 53

That 2022 WR corps when Bate went down was not for the faint of heart. Man those were some rough times.

 

[Simba]

I genuinely hope Wester proves me wrong. I enjoy when any player the Ravens pick that I'm not high on proves me wrong. I don't hate the guy by any means, but he's a pure back end of the roster type until proven otherwise.

It feels like Wester is a pure case of statbook and testing numbers scouting and not tape scouting though. Any time I see someone say he's some deep sleeper it's always: 10 touchdowns and 900 yards! 4.4 speed! Playmaker!

I do think he has enough qualities to get a schemed rep or two on offense every now and then, but nothing about that WR tape in college says he's going to be any real threat as a pass catcher. If we're talking about him as a pure WR, there are 8 guys I'd take over him on the roster currently without second thought. His return ability is going to be what has him in the hunt.

 

[Truth]

Duvernay was worth his spot, if anything, for his outstanding ST contributions. I personally didn't have high hopes for him as a receiver coming out of college because I thought he was extremely tight-hipped. Not that he couldn't contribute, but I thought his odds were longer than expected to carve out a significant role. But anyone who can be a top-level special teamer will almost always have their slot cemented. I am not too familiar with Wester. I liked some of the flashes that I saw in college, though I expected him to go undrafted I thought we'd go elsewhere. For small and explosive WRs, I had Tez Johnson at the top of the list when Wester went. Cheering for Wester now that he's part of the team and am hoping he blow everyone away.

 

[Deebo813]

senior bowl is not real football lol

and he ran a very texas route tree - lots of slants, lots of slot fades, lots of post routes - he came into the NFL as a bad route runner but an explosive straightline athlete and they schemed him into space and let him be fast and physical after the catch

duv was by far the superior prospect as a WR purely based on film, let alone tools

It was 1vs1 reps. Just the cb and wr.. wr always has the advantage in those scenarios and couldnt get open lol. He wasnt a top prospect therefore those senior bowl reps mattered.. anyother time we are hyped up by our guys when they do well in senior bowl and training camp but when they look terrible, we never give that same energy..

 

[rossihunter2]

I genuinely hope Wester proves me wrong. I enjoy when any player the Ravens pick that I'm not high on proves me wrong. I don't hate the guy by any means, but he's a pure back end of the roster type until proven otherwise.

It feels like Wester is a pure case of statbook and testing numbers scouting and not tape scouting though. Any time I see someone say he's some deep sleeper it's always: 10 touchdowns and 900 yards! 4.4 speed! Playmaker!

I do think he has enough qualities to get a schemed rep or two on offense every now and then, but nothing about that WR tape in college says he's going to be any real threat as a pass catcher. If we're talking about him as a pure WR, there are 8 guys I'd take over him on the roster currently without second thought. His return ability is going to be what has him in the hunt.

and he'll still have to beat out guys like keaton mitchell and rasheen ali in that competition too - and i do wonder if keaton's a big option there to get him touches despite being behind henry and justice

 

[rossihunter2]

It was 1vs1 reps. Just the cb and wr.. wr always has the advantage in those scenarios and couldnt get open lol. He wasnt a top prospect therefore those senior bowl reps mattered.. anyother time we are hyped up by our guys when they do well in senior bowl and training camp but when they look terrible, we never give that same energy..

because that's only 1 part of the puzzle

the reason people overhype the senior bowl is because they're actually watching guys as draft prospects and because every practice rep is highly scrutinised so it has a larger media footprint than the 50 snaps a guy had in an actual game

i dont think there's a ton of value in the senior bowl reps tbh, and i have to relearn that every year - if someone does poorly, it may well be that they're trying out a new technique for the first time, if someone does great, it might be because they were going against someone who was trying out a new technique for the first time

one of my biggest pet peeves was watching people talk about mike green's sneaky "power" because he absolutely destroyed josh conerly in a 1v1 rep that was more about conerly's footwork and technique and playing at RT for the first time than it was about green

the on-field portion of the senior bowl means a whole lot less than we think it does

 

[Deebo813]

because that's only 1 part of the puzzle

the reason people overhype the senior bowl is because they're actually watching guys as draft prospects and because every practice rep is highly scrutinised so it has a larger media footprint than the 50 snaps a guy had in an actual game

i dont think there's a ton of value in the senior bowl reps tbh, and i have to relearn that every year - if someone does poorly, it may well be that they're trying out a new technique for the first time, if someone does great, it might be because they were going against someone who was trying out a new technique for the first time

one of my biggest pet peeves was watching people talk about mike green's sneaky "power" because he absolutely destroyed josh conerly in a 1v1 rep that was more about conerly's footwork and technique and playing at RT for the first time than it was about green

the on-field portion of the senior bowl means a whole lot less than we think it does

Dont get me wrong, i agree and understand But duv just looked so bad, it made me lose all faith in whatever it is he had to offer.

 

[rossihunter2]

Dont get me wrong, i agree and understand But duv just looked so bad, it made me lose all faith in whatever it is he had to offer.

don't get me wrong either, i was one of his biggest haters as a raven lol - i thought he was not a good receiver

but the comp vs wester is night and day

 

[QtR Nevermore]

wasnt a draftable WR for me either
notable that in the post-draft presser they mostly talked about his return ability and that they've been looking for a returner for a while and that chris horton was a big fan of him

which tells you everything about why they valued him there, nothing to do with him being a WR

No, I didn't like the Wester pick either, just don't thunk we can write him off before he's even taken a preseason snap.

I don't like the idea of a small skinny returner who isn't blazing fast. It just says bigs hits and fumbles to me and that's before we get to the question of whether a punt return specialist is even worth rostering as kick off returns seem to have become more of a RB role these days.

If he's a special returner OK, but if not letting Tylan Keaton and maybe an RB4 could take that roster spot and field some punts too.

 

[rossihunter2]

No, I didn't like the Wester pick either, just don't thunk we can write him off before he's even taken a preseason snap.

I don't like the idea of a small skinny returner who isn't blazing fast. It just says bigs hits and fumbles to me and that's before we get to the question of whether a punt return specialist is even worth rostering as kick off returns seem to have become more of a RB role these days.

If he's a special returner OK, but if not letting Tylan Keaton and maybe an RB4 could take that roster spot and field some punts too.

ive got no problem with spending a 6th round draft pick on a guy you think can compete for actual snaps (in this case return snaps)

im absolutely not writing anyone off
just being realistic about the skillset he offers

 

[redrum52]

@Deebo813 now you think elliot a good safety huh

 

[Deebo813]

@Deebo813 now you think elliot a good safety huh

Never ever ever. Could be that just him and chuck clark together made it bad but naw he still ass

 

[Simba]

Along with JAD, apparently Awuzie has been getting S reps. They really like how Tampa came into the offseason and would like for him to win the CB4 job.

 

[Davesta]

Along with JAD, apparently Awuzie has been getting S reps. They really like how Tampa came into the offseason and would like for him to win the CB4 job.

Our safety depth is ass huh

 

[Simba]

Our safety depth is ass huh

They really like how Kane showed up too, but yeah, there are certainly some questions there. I get the sense it's more about building versatility and providing opportunities for good players to get on the field though.

 

[rossihunter2]

Along with JAD, apparently Awuzie has been getting S reps. They really like how Tampa came into the offseason and would like for him to win the CB4 job.

was very talented for a guy we picked in the 4th round - i had a late 2nd rounder on him based on the tape grades... obviously the testing was poor but he's really long and smooth and changes direction well

my guess is with the potentially less competent backup safeties, they want to cross train as many of the CBs they like who maybe won't factor into the starting roles so that when they get into nickel and dime they're able to get their best DBs on the field even if they want to stay in (nominally) 3 safety looks

ultimately it's not like they need to be "real" safeties either, but comfortable in cover 2 as split safeties and maybe playing the centre-field in cover 3 so that you can continue to be multiple with kyle hamilton (and malaki starks and marlon humphrey) on the back end

 

[QtR Nevermore]

was very talented for a guy we picked in the 4th round - i had a late 2nd rounder on him based on the tape grades... obviously the testing was poor but he's really long and smooth and changes direction well

He was #49 on the pre=draft consensus board, even after the testing

 

[Simba]

was very talented for a guy we picked in the 4th round - i had a late 2nd rounder on him based on the tape grades... obviously the testing was poor but he's really long and smooth and changes direction well

my guess is with the potentially less competent backup safeties, they want to cross train as many of the CBs they like who maybe won't factor into the starting roles so that when they get into nickel and dime they're able to get their best DBs on the field even if they want to stay in (nominally) 3 safety looks

ultimately it's not like they need to be "real" safeties either, but comfortable in cover 2 as split safeties and maybe playing the centre-field in cover 3 so that you can continue to be multiple with kyle hamilton (and malaki starks and marlon humphrey) on the back end

That's my understanding.

And they aren't too enamored with the vet S options either. Know they have a couple they would move on if they needed to but they greatly prefer staying in house on this one. The vet S market has been a disaster for them.