glazeduck

Yes. Next question...

I was maybe his biggest hater on this board when we drafted him, and he made me look smart last year. But yeah, he definitely flashed a number of times last night! That'll never change the fact that we took Ed Oliver and Cody Ford over DK Metcalf, but I'll be glad to be wrong about him if he keeps showing out!

Here's the thing -- the entire Ravens offensive identity is built around HIM; not players like him (because there are none), him. To move on from him as their franchise QB would mean a much more organizational and structural adjustment that will likely create a domino effect of changes within that organization for multiple years-- and they all know that. But so does Lamar. To those, and there are many, saying he should get an agent, I don't understand this line of thinking -- the price for franchise QBs is only going in one direction, and arguably no QB (Russell being maybe the one exception) has more leverage because of my point in the first paragraph. He clearly understands that he has all the leverage -- why does he need an agent to manage that for him? I won't go so far as to call that notion racist, but you don't see that kind of criticism and scrutiny over most players, certainly not ones that are playing their hands as well as LJ, so why? Yes, he's making a gambling on himself and gambles don't always pay off -- he could certainly get hurt and miss out on guaranteed millions. But to pretend that he's somehow bungling this all up -- when he's the one most in control of his body and what happens to it (for reference, he's set records the last 2 years in NOT getting hit when running). Winning while disrupting the power structure is pretty rare, I think it's pretty cool what he's doing, frankly. Lamar knows his worth -- both to the organization and throughout the league. The longer the Ravens kick the can down the road, the more they're going to end up screwing themselves on the backend.

I think I've mentioned on this board that I had the great privilege to have gotten to know Marv and his family a little bit, a few years back. I'm not easily star-struck, and have met probably more than my fair share of celebrity types in the line of work I used to be in, but I can vividly remember how giddy and nervous and awestruck I was to meet him. The best part? Marv is often called "the Gentleman of the NFL" and he's an even better human being than that (or his general reputation) gives him credit for. There's probably a handful of people on this earth that could supersede that (though I can't think of any off the top of my head), but getting to spend time with Marv Levy will forever be one of my all-time life highlights. Happy Birthday to a truly special and wonderful man!

All 3 of these ideas are terrible.

It's not a financial thing, it's an optics thing...

His injury is such that he could quite literally DIE if hit wrong. I'm guessing no NFL team wants to take that responsibility on. If Ross wants to continue playing competitive football, it'll probably need to be in one of the spring leagues or in the CFL...

Lack of attention to WR could be a scheme change, could be bad luck, or could be not wanting to put a rookie in a key spot that they may not be ready for... There's still decent deep threats available in FA, and given how the first 3 rounds shook out, guys like Chase Claypool (YES PLEASE, also how awkward was it watching him announce his replacement???), Marquez Calloway, Jalen Raeger, Denzell Mims, Kadarius Toney (doubtful, but worth listing), and Rondale Moore. Definitely feels like we need another weapon...

Not a very good football player, unfortunately...

I know this is a joke, but I just have to say... for a team that just broke records for not punting, the obsession over a rookie punter with this fanbase has been... perplexing to say the least.

This is weird to me but you do you. It's not the route I would take, but I also don't think Dane Jackson is particularly good...

I don't necessarily disagree, but I also think a year ago we probably wouldn't have included DE in a similar list and took Basham in the 2nd. Again, FAR from a lock, but I think there's enough reasons to justify it if that's the way they go...

Kind of depends on how tonight breaks out... ideally you can play the Ravens' game and let 2 quality players fall to you. If you assume my math is accurate, really only means 12 picks between 33 and our pick in the 3rd that have to be "off" and we'd have our choice of that list. But obviously that doesn't incorporate need, runs, flags on players, etc. I'd be open to moving anything from our 3 down for the right player/pick, but that'd need to be a pretty big swing...

You can certainly make that argument. I think if you look at the way the league is trending, our impending need at safety, how we use our safeties and the fact that said safeties are both converted CBs, I think there's an easy enough argument to be made for at least including them in the discussion.

We've got 2 picks in the next 57 selections. From those spots, it feels likely that at least 4 QBs will go, I'll conservatively say 11 DL go, and we could conceivably find use for picks at just about every position. So that means 2 picks in the next 42 with any real consequence to our roster building. I see a pretty clear tier of quality guys and then... less-so guys. Here's hoping we can figure out a way to get 2 of these 30 (qbs/dl removed)... Breece Hall Kenneth Walker George Pickens Christian Watson Skyy Moore Alec Pierce Jalen Tolbert John Metchie Trey McBride Bernhard Raiman Rasheed Walker Nic Petit-Frere Sean Rhyan Dylan Parham Darrian Kinnard Jamaree Salyer Nakobe Dean Christian Harris Leo Chenal Chad Muma Troy Anderson Channing Tindall Brian Asamoah Andrew Booth Kyler Gordon Roger McCreary Tariq Woolen Jalen Pitre Jaquan Brisker

If it were literally anyone else, I'd be DYING for Seattle to take Strong in the 2nd just so FFadpecr could come back and talk about how right his process was (regardless of how ludicrous it was), but John Schneider is too good of a person to wish that on...

Something's up with him, so certainly interviews may nix him entirely, but he's got talent, fix the other stuff and you've got a low investment chance at something solid.

@FFadpecr your day has arrived! Still feeling this confident in Strong???

I will straight up boo the pick if we end up with Cade Otten. That guy is NOT a quality NFL starting TE...

Okay, go get speed, fine, but if the talent isn't there there's no sense in forcing it. To me it's a class of one in terms of difference-makers who are actually burners. My whole point is that I see no sense in using a valuable pick on a guy who doesn't move the needle just because he's fast. Either pivot your strategy and take a better player (ie. Pickens) or sign a fast free agent and use the draft pick elsewhere.

2 different statements. Pringle & Hardman were KC's 3/4/5 options. Diggs is somewhat comparable to Hill/Kelce, Davis is not.

A lot of mostly good thoughts here, but I think by aligning player type to player type, you're overcomplicating things. First of all Pringle and Hardman are their 3 and 4 -- sometimes their 4 and 5 with Kelce and pass-catching RBs in the formations, so there's that. While Diggs is comparable in talent to those guys, Davis is not (so we're already losing in your apples:apples) AND it's underestimating the stress that Hill's freakish speed puts on the defense. Diggs might be the more polished/talented player, but he doesn't force the defense's hand like Hill does. So in many ways, to what you're saying, we're already -2. If you want to identify speed, then fine. Yes, McBeane has said many times they'd like to get faster, and I believe them. But there's only so many talents like Hill out there. YES, you can find guys who run fast 40s, but that's not a particularly valuable skill if they don't have the route running ability, the ability to setup dbs, the hands, etc. If all we're looking for to make safeties respect Josh Allen nukes is a guy to run windsprints, then trade a 6th rd pick for Jalen Raeger or sign Will Fuller. What we should be (and I think McBeane ARE) looking for, is guys who can create mismatches and strain defenses. As I mentioned, speed is one way, but there are others (again, already mentioned those). To draft a guy early with a fast 40 because we have a slim chance at getting the guy we want feels VERY silly to me when there are more talented options who have better chances as panning out and providing advantages in other ways.

Adding a vertical element to the offense is certainly one approach, and yes, Jameson Williams fits that absolutely perfectly. There's also more of the alpha/bully/big-bodied WR, and I think Pickens fits that mold (to say nothing of his 4.47 being both not slow and ESPECIALLY not slow coming off a major injury). There's the YAC/get-the-ball-in-his-hands and let him make plays mold, that I think Wilson and Burks fit... There's a lot of routes you can go. I don't say this to be dismissive of your points at all, but there's SOOO much more to it than the 40 time and there are reasons why Danny Gray and Bo Melton are being projected as 3rd and 4th round picks and why other guys are looking at going in the top half of the first. You act like wanting a "big name" is a bad thing -- I want those guys because they're fantastic football players. You're right that people slept on Davis, but he's also worked his butt off to become what looks like a mid-level WR2, and yes, with Diggs in tow, the rookie will probably be, at best WR2b, but that doesn't mean you can discount how they fit in or how you would want to use them. The 2nd and 3rd round options you like are fine, I guess, I just don't think any of them are special and we're in a window where we should be looking for special. I think in that range, guys like Justyn Ross and Tolbert at least have a chance to be special (or dynamic in a way we don't already have).

Having met Marvin Lewis in person... that may not be a good thing In all seriousness, I think people are overestimating the quality of play in the Pac12 over the past few years. It's one of the reasons I'm so down on the UW corners, and White didn't exactly tear up the conference to begin with...