Baltimore Ravens 2019 Draft Thread

[diamondbull424]

9 hours ago, Danand said:

I have a feeling a lot of us got caught on keying in on the guy we wanted (Brown/McLaurin types) and the guy we didn't want in N'keal Harry.

My guess is a guy like Brown didn't really stand out to me as a special project, but not a player I would be unhappy with in the right spot.

Again, I was concerned Metcalf would be Breshad Perriman all over again. I don't know if he would work as well with Lamar as he does with Wilson, but should I pick between him and the Browns' for our offense, I would still prefer either A.J. or Marquise.

Yeah I was in the id take Metcalf in the 2nd crowd because our 2nd round picks have been wasted anyway and while he had obvious pro bowl potential, his durability was very questionable. I wanted us to trade our two 3rd round picks to move up for a WR on a double dip. You knew with all that WR talent that the chances increased of getting dominant pieces with more opportunities in that spot.

Hindsight being 20/20, I would’ve gone AJ Brown in round one (apparently liked him more than Hollywood at the time anyway) and then Scary Terry in a trade up in round three. Would’ve given us that deep threat we’ve been looking for as well as that game breaking WR option.

Though going Hollywood and then trading up for DK Metcalf would have also been an intriguing option as well. Metcalf had obvious superstar traits when he was on the field. Probably would’ve had him #1 above JJAW if not for his durability. But I really didn’t trust him to stay healthy. It’s honestly shocking to me how he’s been so healthy to this point in his NFL career after losing two seasons to injury in college.

[SalvadorsDeli]

I think AJ Brown would have stood a better chance at thriving with us compared to Metcalf. Obviously Metcalf's talent is through the roof but he's also benefitted from getting to work within a Russ Wilson-driven offensive system. To the extent Hollywood has bucked the trend on our horrible WR development, it seems to be because he was an incredibly refined prospect before he even got to Baltimore - someone who came from a true passing game factory at Oklahoma and has also had the chance to work out with and get pointers from a Hall of Fame talent in Antonio Brown. There are nuances to his game - in terms of the cuts he makes when he's running his routes, how he chooses to accelerate and decelerate, etc. that on some level you do need taught to you - we don't seem to be very good at teaching that in-house so you sort of need guys to come in who already understand that. 

Our wide receiver development for the most part still seems pretty weak - Hollywood being farther along developmentally when he got here is a big part of why he has worked out but Boykin is slowly playing himself out of the league. If we have Metcalf in Baltimore, he probably does shake loose for some big plays, particularly last year, but you need to consistently be great on your deep passing like Russ is in order for him as a rook to be more than just a role player, let alone give him the base to then develop further as he's doing now. 

AJ Brown coming into the league basically already being unstoppable on crossing routes would be true no matter what system he plays in and it's a skillset that's a lot easier for teams to integrate into any team's passing game - and also fits in very well with a QB who excels when he's throwing over the middle of the field. He's the kind of player who would ball out with Lamar even without Roman or David Culley adding anything at all to his game. 

[diamondbull424]

1 hour ago, SalvadorsDeli said:

I think AJ Brown would have stood a better chance at thriving with us compared to Metcalf. Obviously Metcalf's talent is through the roof but he's also benefitted from getting to work within a Russ Wilson-driven offensive system. To the extent Hollywood has bucked the trend on our horrible WR development, it seems to be because he was an incredibly refined prospect before he even got to Baltimore - someone who came from a true passing game factory at Oklahoma and has also had the chance to work out with and get pointers from a Hall of Fame talent in Antonio Brown. There are nuances to his game - in terms of the cuts he makes when he's running his routes, how he chooses to accelerate and decelerate, etc. that on some level you do need taught to you - we don't seem to be very good at teaching that in-house so you sort of need guys to come in who already understand that. 

Our wide receiver development for the most part still seems pretty weak - Hollywood being farther along developmentally when he got here is a big part of why he has worked out but Boykin is slowly playing himself out of the league. If we have Metcalf in Baltimore, he probably does shake loose for some big plays, particularly last year, but you need to consistently be great on your deep passing like Russ is in order for him as a rook to be more than just a role player, let alone give him the base to then develop further as he's doing now. 

AJ Brown coming into the league basically already being unstoppable on crossing routes would be true no matter what system he plays in and it's a skillset that's a lot easier for teams to integrate into any team's passing game - and also fits in very well with a QB who excels when he's throwing over the middle of the field. He's the kind of player who would ball out with Lamar even without Roman or David Culley adding anything at all to his game. 

Agree completely. His game just seems to fit very well into a vanilla offense like ours. I mean, let’s be real. It’s not as if the Titans are doing a crazy amount of exotic looks in their passing attack. But consistently it doesn’t matter because you just need to get the ball to AJ Brown and he can create off YAC over the middle. I could just see Lamar connecting with AJ against the zone looks we saw last season and Brown simply shredding it with YAC. He also performs well against 1v1 looks too.

I think Hollywood and AJ are similar WR talents and in an offense with Russ, Hollywood would be lighting up this league as well... and perhaps Lamar develops that same level of deep ball accuracy, but AJ with some of the same intermediate looks Hollywood gets where he gets 15-20 yds and falls down because he’s outsized, AJ would be able to body a defender and take it for a house call occasionally. He’s not the same deep threat option in the slightest though, but considering that is Lamar’s second weakest element to his passing ability (below IMO the passes outside the short passes outside the hash marks), I’m not sure it matters as much. 

That all said, Hopefully no one is reading this thinking I’m against Hollywood in anyway. I think Hollywood was a better fit for us than DKM because of his quickness to get clean separation. In retrospect I’d probably only pick AJ Brown ahead of Hollywood at WR from that class in a redraft effort.

[RavensTillIDie]

All this AJ Brown talk forced me to finally try out the FF search feature on the new forum. Have to say, it is much improved compared to the old site.

 

 

Think Campbell could still be a beast if he could stay healthy, but boy did I miss bad on Butler. At least I was right about Brown. 😄