Random Ravens Thoughts: New Forum Edition

[DreamKid]

Would you rather- 

1. Turn Ronnie Stanley into Jonathan Ogden, so poof we now have a 22 year old Ogden to anchor down the left side of the line for 10+ years.

OR

2. Keep Ronnie Stanley, but add a 22 year old Steve Smith to the team.

 

Which would you pick?

[Danand]

5 hours ago, DreamKid said:

Would you rather- 

1. Turn Ronnie Stanley into Jonathan Ogden, so poof we now have a 22 year old Ogden to anchor down the left side of the line for 10+ years.

OR

2. Keep Ronnie Stanley, but add a 22 year old Steve Smith to the team.

 

Which would you pick?

1. by far. Receivers even as good as Steve Smith in his prime are role players whereas Ogden was a generational talent at a position that impacts every snap.

[diamondbull424]

7 hours ago, DreamKid said:

Would you rather- 

1. Turn Ronnie Stanley into Jonathan Ogden, so poof we now have a 22 year old Ogden to anchor down the left side of the line for 10+ years.

OR

2. Keep Ronnie Stanley, but add a 22 year old Steve Smith to the team.

 

Which would you pick?

I’ll take Steve Smith. Stanley does enough to not be a problem on the left side. The only extra component about Ogden would be the durability factor and the run game dominance.

This is a passing league. Steve Smith has attitude and can take a short pass and turn it into gold. In his prime he was a 1500 yard receiving threat. Pairing his abilities with Hollywood and our TEs? How could this offense be stopped? Pick your poison. Whereas with Ogden we’re still one dimensional and haven’t confirmed a fix at the receiver spot.

[DreamKid]

Hmmm.

 

1. Mark Andrews 22 TE/SWR

2. Orlando Brown Jr. 23 RT

3. Marlon Humphrey 23 CB(Just turned yesterday, so happy birthday to Marlon)

4. Ronnie Stanley 25 LT

5. Tavon Young 25 SCB

 

Not bad, I could see all of them becoming Top 5 at their position in the league- some already are imo.

Strong candidates for a 25 & Under ranking next year would include Chuck Clark(24), Marquise Brown(22), Lamar Jackson(22), Kenny Young(24), Gus Edwards(24), Justice Hill(21), Zach Sieler(23), Tyus Bowser(24), and Jaylon Ferguson(23). All of them have the right age & potential opportunity share. 

[DreamKid]

PFF's Five NFL Draft Risks that paid off in 2018- https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-five-2018-nfl-draft-risks-that-paid-off-in-2019

 

TE MARK ANDREWS – BALTIMORE RAVENS

In their ideal world, the Ravens would have a roster composed of entirely tight ends. Jokes aside, for a team that has put significant draft capital into the tight end position in recent years, the Ravens are still lacking a true field-stretching receiving threat at the position. They took two in the first three rounds of last year’s draft trying to find just that – Hayden Hurst in the first round and Andrews in the third. There is risk associated with spending two premium draft picks on the same position, especially a position such as tight end that has already seen a surplus of players cycle through in Baltimore. However, Andrews appears to finally offer a long-term receiving option at the position.

He ended the season with an overall grade of 73.6 and a receiving grade of 75.5. Among 70 qualifying tight ends, Andrews’ overall grade ranks 13th and his receiving grade ranks 11th. His 199 receiving yards on passes 20-plus yards downfield finished behind only Travis Kelce, as Andrews offered a legitimate field-stretching threat for a run-centric Ravens offense. He was one of only five tight ends with 30 or more targets to finish the season with 2.0 or more receiving yards per route run, as well. He was used in-line and in the slot, but Andrews spent more time in the slot with 213 snaps there compared to just 163 in-line. The Ravens realized his value comes as a receiver, and that is how they’ve used him thus far. It appears they have finally found a tight end to stick on.

T ORLANDO BROWN JR. – BALTIMORE RAVENS

Brown Jr. was coming out of Oklahoma with three seasons of improving play, culminating in a 90.8 overall grade in 2017. Though Brown possessed ideal size and length for the position to go along with that strong tape, his combine results were…less than stellar. His 40-yard dash came in at 5.85 seconds, and he ranked dead last among offensive linemen in broad jump (6’10”), vertical jump (19.5”) and bench press (14 reps). Those results took a sledgehammer to his draft stock, as teams were just unsure that he would be good enough of an athlete to perform at a high-level on Sundays. As a result, the Ravens picked up Brown Jr. in the third round of the draft – a far way to fall for a tackle of his physical build and pedigree.

An injury to right tackle, James Hurst, opened the door for a starting role for the rookie tackle, and he didn’t give it up once he took it. Brown ended the season with a 66.6 overall grade lined up at right tackle, ranking 19th among 36 qualifiers at the position. He was particularly impressive in pass protection; in 378 pass-blocking snaps including the playoffs, he only allowed 18 pressures. That pressure rate allowed of 4.8 percent finished eighth-best among all right tackles. Coming from a third-round rookie tackle, that performance is promising for his future development. The Ravens were able to look past his abysmal combine results, and it appears that they’ll be glad they did.

[DreamKid]

 

[berlin calling]

ironic that the Ravens drafted 2 tackles who excel in passblocking rather than run blocking, yet try to build this run heavy offense.

[drd23]

16 hours ago, diamondbull424 said:

I’ll take Steve Smith. Stanley does enough to not be a problem on the left side.

This would be my choice too and for the same reason. 

The difference between Ogden and Stanley isn't bigger than the difference between SSS and whoever our best WR is right now.  Plus it would give us an elite player at one position and a good one at another, compared with an elite player and an average (or even mediocre) player between the two spots

[DreamKid]

Lamar Jackson day official. Congrats LJ8. Hope you get one in Baltimore some day .

 

[DreamKid]

 

[DreamKid]

 

Routine commentary tbh, but this was a weird line - "Stalwart defensive tackles Brandon Williams and Michael Pierce have been less effective than they were a few years ago"

Pierce had his best season in 2018, so I don't know what this guy is talking about. I'll guess he just googled base stats and saw Pierce had 2 Sacks in 2016, 1 in 2017, and 0 in 2018. Thus assuming Pierce had his worst year last year. Some process ....

Brandon has fallen off some, but the Falcons game last year was a good example of how effective he can still be. Also, what doesn't show up in the stats is the deterrent effect caused by Pierce & Williams. The two behemoths have essentially eliminated inside runs as a realistic option against us, and many teams don't even try to test our run D. Inside or out. 

[sp6488]

1 hour ago, DreamKid said:

 

Routine commentary tbh, but this was a weird line - "Stalwart defensive tackles Brandon Williams and Michael Pierce have been less effective than they were a few years ago"

Pierce had his best season in 2018, so I don't know what this guy is talking about. I'll guess he just googled base stats and saw Pierce had 2 Sacks in 2016, 1 in 2017, and 0 in 2018. Thus assuming Pierce had his worst year last year. Some process ....

Brandon has fallen off some, but the Falcons game last year was a good example of how effective he can still be. Also, what doesn't show up in the stats is the deterrent effect caused by Pierce & Williams. The two behemoths have essentially eliminated inside runs as a realistic option against us, and many teams don't even try to test our run D. Inside or out. 

Yep.  In 2018, opponents only did 4.0 YPA or better in 5/16 contests.  Only did 4.1 YPA or better in 3/16.  Only hit 5.0 in 1/16.  When you consider that league average for the season was 4.4 YPA, and two teams averaged greater than 5.0 for the entire year, that's pretty damn good.  Only teams with better season averages were Texans and New Orleans.  In terms of the consistency measures (what I put forth above), the Texans were similar if not a bit better while the Saints were wildly more inconsistent on a week to week basis (they were 6/16, 6/16 and 1/16, respectively, with that 1 being 6.9 YPA whereas the Ravens' was 5.0 on the dot).

[DreamKid]

Funny response from a Chargers' fan. Seriously though, I've seen the direct quotes and it isn't as much of a dig as the general headlines suggest, it's more specific praise of the Ram's CB's certain traits. Like "The best I've ever played with in terms of X, Y, Z", not a sweeping judgement. Either way, who cares? Weddle saying something doesn't make it true. We can't expect him to get on his knees in praise for the team that booted him, or the players that are no longer his teammates. However, if he does start taking direct shots- he'll have to answer for them. 

Besides, why would our CBs care? I mean, you have to imagine they're too happy to ever feel slighted. I'm sure they all were jealous about Jimmy Smith getting to suit up alongside such a legendary player like Ed Reed, and now they too will get to play with a truly great Safety. Something that's been missing from our defense for years.... 

 

[Danand]

I think some of Weddles "leadership" abilities stems from talking up and hyping his fellow teammates. It seems every high profile player and coach comes to a new team which then sports some of the best players/organizations in the league.

I don't get how Chargers fans have been so mad at Weddle since his last season. It seems the Chargers organization did everything to piss him off, and the fans blame him instead of the organization.

He is right however, that Weddle was slow. What he brings as a veteran free safety with the ability to disguise coverage worked great in 2017 where we faced a lot of backup/rookie quarterbacks. Despite him being slow he got a lot of interceptions. We played a much stronger group of QB's in 2018 and that resulted in zero interceptions. That is pretty telling for what Weddle brought to the secondary.

[DreamKid]