2018 draft talk

[DreamKid]

15 minutes ago, Danand said:

Btw, if he hadn't played above mine (and many others) expectations this year, I believe Marlon Humphrey could be an elite safety talent. He can run, hit, wrap up, take on blockers, go down in the box and stuff the run, rush the passer or cover both tight ends, slot receivers and running backs.

He will have more value as an outside cornerback, especially if he can keep playing the ball better, than he did in college. But at worst, I think we could have a truly supreme player at the safety position in Humphrey.

I love the idea of Marlon at safety, loved it before the draft last year and still do. With the logjam at the position(CB) you'd think it would open up the possibility but it seems to be a too forward thinking move for this current staff. I was the biggest Marlon supporter here and still believe he's an All-Pro at either position. I'm sure we'll just keep ol' liability Weddle out there with better cover men riding the bench.

 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

As long as Weddle is relegated to a FS role and Jefferson is the box safety, we should maximize their talent there.

[DreamKid]

50 minutes ago, Darth Pees said:

As long as Weddle is relegated to a FS role and Jefferson is the box safety, we should maximize their talent there.

Agreed. Weddle around the LOS is a disaster waiting to happen and often did, him getting pressure off a designed blitz once or twice made Pees go overboard and stray too far from convention.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

5 minutes ago, DreamKid said:

Agreed. Weddle around the LOS is a disaster waiting to happen and often did, him getting pressure off a designed blitz once or twice made Pees go overboard and stray too far from convention.

Agreed as well. It's not hard to figure these things out, either. Weddle played his best as a FS, and the stats back that up. There's also ample tape showing how bad of a tackler he is.

On the flip side, Jefferson was signed here AS A BOX SAFETY, and his tape on Arizona is as a box safety. These things should be obvious.

[DreamKid]

1 minute ago, Darth Pees said:

Agreed as well. It's not hard to figure these things out, either. Weddle played his best as a FS, and the stats back that up. There's also ample tape showing how bad of a tackler he is.

On the flip side, Jefferson was signed here AS A BOX SAFETY, and his tape on Arizona is as a box safety. These things should be obvious.

Jefferson's ability to cover TEs was drastically oversold but he is efficient at getting to the ball carrier and as a blitzer. He's slow to react in coverage often times and is too soft for the AFC North imo as is Weddle. He was utilized incorrectly more than frequently, but his general play at times was also just inexcusable.

Tony and Eric are classic examples of players who buy into the culture, have great blue chip personalities and work ethic, a good skill set, but ultimately just don't click with the team. You can't forge a defensive identity when an entire positional group constantly gets bullied, it just doesn't gel.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

At least with Weddle he gets turnovers. I agree he and Jefferson aren't AFC North players, but at least Weddle can play FS and make plays. Jefferson last year was dreadful no matter what we asked him to do. If Martindale continues to play him as a deep safety, we're going to suffer as a result.

[Danand]

9 hours ago, DreamKid said:

I love the idea of Marlon at safety, loved it before the draft last year and still do. With the logjam at the position(CB) you'd think it would open up the possibility but it seems to be a too forward thinking move for this current staff. I was the biggest Marlon supporter here and still believe he's an All-Pro at either position. I'm sure we'll just keep ol' liability Weddle out there with better cover men riding the bench.

 

Playing safety as a centerfielder (and the Troy Polamalu roaming type) I unfortunately know, that a team can perform better with a less athletic/fast safety who have his strenghts as a good wrap up tackler, take the right angles, don't give up the big plays and don't let the quarterback move him around with his eyes - IF it puts a better cornerback on the field.

Thats why there is i a place for the Kevin Byard and Eddie Jackson and not just the Earl Thomas types of players on the back end.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

Here is NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah's first mock. It has us passing up on both Calvin Ridley and Rashaan Evans for an OT (Orlando Brown).

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000908233/article/jeremiah-mock-draft-10-browns-jets-fins-redskins-take-qb?campaign=tw-cf-sf179709652-sf179709652&sf179709652=1

[DreamKid]

12 minutes ago, Darth Pees said:

Here is NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah's first mock. It has us passing up on both Calvin Ridley and Rashaan Evans for an OT (Orlando Brown).

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000908233/article/jeremiah-mock-draft-10-browns-jets-fins-redskins-take-qb?campaign=tw-cf-sf179709652-sf179709652&sf179709652=1

Couple things

1. We won't pass up on Ridley for any of the tackles, it just won't happen. Another high level tackle would be great for the team and we need someone to be able to man the left side in Stanley's annual missed games but value wise it doesn't match up. Ridley is a bonafide #1 option, open constantly, high field awareness, catches easy, explosive with YAC ability and a game mentality. 

2. Wow Marcus Davenport at 7, been calling that ish for a month now. One of the few BPA options I would be cool with the team going for instead of Ridley if there.

3. I hope some of the corners show out in the pre-draft process and get teams to reach in efforts to activate their own Lattimore effect.

4. Interesting he has Tremaine Edmunds over Roquan Smith. I thought Edmunds flashed things many of the other LBs in the class didn't but he has this one trait that makes me want to rip my face off. He stops like a second or two early on every play and you just can't do that. I get that he's trying to preserve energy but so many times plays don't end on first contact or a tackle doesn't happen and LBs have to pursue to the end in the NFL. It just annoys the #$%^&* out of me.

5. No Courtland in the first round. Interesting. Interesting.

 

[berlin calling]

DJ saying Kirk is the most polished WR in this draft makes me smile as i feel the same as mentioned earlier in this thread. He may not be OBJ but some team will be very happy with him, won't be the Ravens though 

too bad as i would take him at 16. don't overthink things and just take the guy who fits your offense and will be a steady 1k receiver. need a returner? he can do it. has the build and competitiveness to succeed in the AFC North. 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

@DreamKid Absolutely agreed about the Ridley thing. If he's there when we're on the board, Ozzie makes that pick without any questions asked. Now, whether or not he's worth that pick remains to be seen. I wasn't impressed with him in the Championship game, but granted I've only seen one game of tape on the kid.

[diamondbull424]

6 hours ago, DreamKid said:

Couple things

1. We won't pass up on Ridley for any of the tackles, it just won't happen. Another high level tackle would be great for the team and we need someone to be able to man the left side in Stanley's annual missed games but value wise it doesn't match up. Ridley is a bonafide #1 option, open constantly, high field awareness, catches easy, explosive with YAC ability and a game mentality. 

2. Wow Marcus Davenport at 7, been calling that ish for a month now. One of the few BPA options I would be cool with the team going for instead of Ridley if there.

3. I hope some of the corners show out in the pre-draft process and get teams to reach in efforts to activate their own Lattimore effect.

4. Interesting he has Tremaine Edmunds over Roquan Smith. I thought Edmunds flashed things many of the other LBs in the class didn't but he has this one trait that makes me want to rip my face off. He stops like a second or two early on every play and you just can't do that. I get that he's trying to preserve energy but so many times plays don't end on first contact or a tackle doesn't happen and LBs have to pursue to the end in the NFL. It just annoys the #$%^&* out of me.

5. No Courtland in the first round. Interesting. Interesting.

 

1. I disagree. Orlando Brown has the potential to be an All Pro LT/RT. He’s big, physical, and has talent. He’s proven to be a better player at OT than Ridley has shown to be a WR. I believe we just need more playmakers. So whether that plan is to draft Ridley, cool. But if it’s to draft Brown and then target a dominating RB to make plays behind an elite OL, even better. Or perhaps with dominant bookend tackles we can let our TEs block less and be more active in the passing game.

5. I agree that Sutton isn’t worthy of the 1st round unless reached on. Think he’s a poor man’s Jordan Matthews from a few drafts ago

[DreamKid]

3 minutes ago, diamondbull424 said:

1. I disagree. Orlando Brown has the potential to be an All Pro LT/RT. He’s big, physical, and has talent. He’s proven to be a better player at OT than Ridley has shown to be a WR. I believe we just need more playmakers. So whether that plan is to draft Ridley, cool. But if it’s to draft Brown and then target a dominating RB to make plays behind an elite OL, even better. Or perhaps with dominant bookend tackles we can let our TEs block less and be more active in the passing game.

5. I agree that Sutton isn’t worthy of the 1st round unless reached on. Think he’s a poor man’s Jordan Matthews from a few drafts ago

Ridley didn't get the opportunities to show how good he is with Alabama's offense, yet he's still the consensus top guy, there's a reason for that. He separates better than a lot of WRs in recent years and is just so NFL ready. He's a weapon we likely won't have a shot at again if we plan on being a winning franchise. He doesn't project to be a Calvin Johnson or Nuk type unstoppable player but an offense can flow through him and he can hurt defenses in a variety of ways. 

If people really believe Orlando can be an elite tackle then I don't mind it but elite tackles aren't usually allowed to drop out of the top 10. I don't know why we would have a shot at him if he's that good. The types of guys that fall are the ones that project to RT at a high level and while that could help our team out, it's easier to find a high level player at RT then it is a high level player at WR, especially for this franchise. A player like Ridley would take pressure off of our line with how quickly and consistently he gets open and would upgrade an F position for us. Austin Howard is a serviceable player at the position and Alex Lewis could be an option with our group of players at guard. I love the idea of bookends but the team might prioritize C over RT if Jensen leaves. We know how inside pressure affects Flacco and we don't need the big DTs of the AFC North living in our backfield, luckily it's the best class in years for centers apparently. We'll need to get some new blood at the TE position if we want to see them do anything in the passing game, these guys aren't built for it.

Yea I don't like Sutton either which sucks cause I'm convinced he'll be the pick even though I try to shut it out.  

[coordinator0]

To be fair Hopkins didn't quite project to be the beast he is now either. Very good yes, but not elite. Not saying that applies to Ridley although I do think he's a great wide receiver prospect that the Ravens would be extremely lucky to have (they won't, just look at what happened with the top wide receivers in a somewhat shallow class last year).

[DreamKid]

1 hour ago, coordinator0 said:

To be fair Hopkins didn't quite project to be the beast he is now either. Very good yes, but not elite. Not saying that applies to Ridley although I do think he's a great wide receiver prospect that the Ravens would be extremely lucky to have (they won't, just look at what happened with the top wide receivers in a somewhat shallow class last year).

Yea I thought Hopkins physical profile would limit him to a very strong #2 WR role. I didn't take age as seriously back then as a tool for projection, he was super young and just grew into a monster steadily. 

The only positions we have straight bums at are WR and TE, we get no impact from those positions at all. I hope the FO recognizes that and does something. We got our corners, we have our pass rush pieces (they just need to be utilized better), we have steady play at our tackle positions(though an upgrade wouldn't hurt at RT), we have a running game, we have a QB that can win in the postseason. All we need is some pass catchers that are consistent and capable of making plays.

We should just bite the bullet and trade up for Ridley. This team needs impact players to jolt us out of the mediocrity we've toiled in for too long.