Consensus Mock Draft - Post Combine - Pick 22 - Baltimore Ravens

[DreamKid]

7 hours ago, Shanedorf said:

Does the Ray Rice incident make it harder for the Ravens to pull the trigger on Simmons ?

That's been one of the main subjects in the Raven's draft thread the whole offseason. We hope not. Rice isn't a villainous figure in Baltimore. He's seen as a player that made a one time heinous mistake, and has done everything right in response. He's put in incredible work to fix himself, strengthen his family, and help others stay on the correct path themselves. Counseling, outreach, etc etc. Harbaugh and the front office bring him in every year to meet with our new class of Rookies. And DeCosta has mentioned the possibility of adding him to the staff at some point. 

We did steer clear of non ideal character profiles for a while, but recently have added guys like Patrick "Peanut" Onwuasor who dealt some coke. Tim Williams who failed a couple drug tests and had a gun charge iirc. Jordan Lasley who we drafted last year had some minor arrests and a bunch of team disciplinary strikes. On the PR side, we also pursued Jarvis Landry who was investigated for some DV stuff and had his own "Negative PR" video out there. Jeffrey Simmons was a teenager who reacted inappropriately to a conflict involving his sister. By all accounts he's done nothing but mature into a problem free leader and example for his teammates and school. I really don't think the incident is going to affect his stock that much, and frankly it seems like 80% of surface level draft media don't even know about the video. I've only seen in depth pundits mention it. If the Ravens do draft him there will be 2 twitter articles that will get coverage for a couple days and then *poof* no one will care. Such is the nature of American news and how football media covers players. 

So I hope the Ravens aren't weary of what will be extremely minute, if present at all, push back for selecting Simmons. Trying to win a "character contest" in the AFC North, isn't a championship strategy. I'm sure the Ravens will continue to avoid the 10% worst, and should. Jeffrey Simmons isn't in that 10% though, and he seems like a perfect addition for a team entering a new era.  

[Shanedorf]

14 hours ago, DreamKid said:

Trying to win a "character contest" in the AFC North, isn't a championship strategy

Nice write-up and thx for the insight on Rice/Simmons