thundercleetz

Real shame he wasn't on the Super Bowl team. JJ put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears as a Raven. Tough for him to go out as a Raven after the 2011 AFC Championship loss.

Interesting point from Weinman @KenWeinmanSport: Interesting point re #DeflateGate http://t.co/fqLide4fol

For the record, I don't think what Brady did was bad at all. If a legal football has a range of X PSI to Y PSI and Brady likes his footballs closer to X than Y, he tells the equipment staff to deflate the balls. I don't know anything about football pressures, but if the balls come in a little below X weight, no big deal IMO. The problem here is Brady lying. If Brady was innocent and had nothing to hide, he'd have released his statement of what happened. From the text messages, there does not seem to be much room for Brady to be innocent. It would truly take some sort of extraordinary circumstance for Brady to have had no knowledge of what was going on. And it goes back to the cell phone. Any sort of appeal, or legal proceeding, is going to require that cell phone to be handed over. One more thing, the league had knowledge of the deflated balls prior to the Colts game. The league could have been more strict in its regulation that week. Or issued a warning to both teams stating they were going to pay close attention to ball pressure. The league could have prevented this from becoming an issue.

@RavensInsider: Robert Kraft statement: 'Tom Brady has our unconditional support. Our belief in him has not wavered.' I wonder what's going on here?

I hope Brady wins his appeal. Pats play the Steelers week 1. I don't want them to get off easily. Ideally, the Pats losing their first rounder and being fined $1M is just fine. The fourth rounder in 2017 is almost to afflict public shame and to ensure no one forgets about Deflategate. Two things here, Kraft swore up and down the Pats did nothing wrong and would want an apology from the league. Either Brady lied to Kraft for him to say that, in which case Brady surely has a problem with not only the NFL but with Kraft too. Or, Kraft was in on the lie.

Paredes continues his tear at the plate! Maybe Paredes is a late bloomer who could be our Joey Bats or Edwin Encarnación. Heck, if he's at least half of that it would be huge for our lineup! Agreed its division or bust for us. The AL Central and West look strong this year, a WC might be tough. Hopefully Boston continues to fizzle out. What's the deal with Garcia? Is he truly a good enough talent to waste a roster spot on?

Ed Reed is probably my favorite Raven of all time. What I loved most about Reed was every play you felt the Ravens defense had a chance to score a touchdown. When he had the ball in his hands, his elusiveness was on an elite level. He was only 5'11, but man his strides ate up ground like he was 6'4". Reed in his prime was the definition of a playmaker. Even when Reed lost a step, like Ray, his football IQ was off the charts which allowed him to be in the right position at the right time. Yes, his tackling ability was frustrating toward the end of his career, however, he was a great mentor to the rest of the secondary and made everyone better. Ed showed up in big games, as evident that he's the all time playoff leader in INTs and had the pick in the SB. IMO Ed's best game was the home playoff loss to Manning and the Colts. Manning was in the prime of his career and Ed picked him off twice (three times if you count the one called back due to a bogus call, and Ed had a couple of other close picks). Ed was a big part of holding that explosive Colts offense to no TDs. Today, outside of Earl Thomas, there are not any more playmaking, ball hawking free safeties (maybe if you want to include Eric Berry or Jarious Byrd who were out last season). The NFL had three Hall of Fame talents in one generation with Reed, Polamalu and the late Sean Taylor. Every team is struggling to find a true free safety who can play center field.

I agree with you for all games except the Steelers game. I love the idea of purple towels when we play the Steelers to turn the terrible towels into Ravens colors. For all other games, ditch the towels. Thundersticks are a cool idea. They work really well in hockey.

Actually a good opportunity for players to save a few dollars by negotiating their rookie contract on their own. Matt Elam did that a few years ago.

ESPN Scouts Inc. likes Boyle a lot more than the other scouting report in this topic: A 1 is Scouts Inc.'s top grade and is considered 'Exceptional'. Receiving skills aren't there yet, but he had big hands and a very good short shuttle. Sounds like he will compliment Williams and Gillmore well.

I want to see some clean deep balls this year between Joe and Perriman. The PI calls were nice, but Joe and Torrey never seemed to be on the same page.

Fifth round seems high for a prospect of his skill set and experience. But if he had a good Senior Bowl and game against his team's toughest opponent of the year, maybe we saw something. Scouting reports indicate he had a better 2013 than 2014.

I think we hit home runs on the first five picks (Perriman, Williams, Davis, Smith, and Allen). I am a little weary of the three FCS guys we drafted. I love the Waller pick. Overall I'd say a A- . Personally, this is one of my favorite draft days to watch/talk about given we filled needs and finally drafted a potential #1 receiver in the first round with elite physical tools.

Streeter and Mallette didn't have the bulk Waller has. Lots of tall, skinny fast receivers. With Waller's height and bulk? Not so much. Not saying that makes him more likely to succeed, just more intriguing of a prospect.

I forgot about Za'Darius Smith! @RavensInsider: Ozzie Newsome on Za'Darius Smith: 'We think he can line up and play behind [suggs] at the rush spot.' @RavensInsider: John Harbaugh said Za'Darius Smith reminded him of Pernell McPhee a lot, physicality, heavy hands, pass rush skills

This is a Trestman pick! Big receiver with good ball skills. Could be our version of Marquess Wilson for the Bears or Chris Matthews of the Seahawks.

Good write up, Max. On the defensive line, don't forget about Brent Urban and Kaperon Lewis-Moore, who were on the IR last season. We are stacked. This was probably one of the "sexiest" drafts the Ravens have had. We drafted potential instant playmakers at WR and TE our first two picks, and a mammoth of a physical specimen DT with our third pick. All three guys have Pro Bowl potential, and will get an immediate chance to prove themselves with playing time. What I love even more, Carl Davis and Maxx Williams are angry after falling in the draft. They will come to camp with a chip on their shoulder. The icing on the cake was jumping the Steelers to take Williams. Beyond our first three picks: Allen at RB is a good fit for our system. Good looking physical numbers, and great production at USC against top competition. He has starter potential. There is debate on Walker already on the board, but his size, speed and ballhawk combination is intriguing. Both guys will get an opportunity to get significant playing time. The rest of the guys seem like projects that might need a year in an NFL weight room and practices. We filled a lot of needs today. The team will look good going into camp.

Looking at the depth we currently have on the team at CB, no way we'll cut a fourth round pick. After Smith, Webb and Jackson, I'll take Walker over anyone else we have. Even if he sucks in camp, we'll find a way to IR him before cutting him.

At the very least he should give us better depth than what we had toward the end of last season.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000479099/article/brandt-georgia-techs-darren-waller-could-be-2015-draft-steal Very intriguing prospect!

Seems like a late bloomer! He will be a guy to keep an eye on in training camp. Might be an "IR" candidate.

NFL Network slammed Meyers. Said his tape against FCS competition looks great, however he was completely overmatched from a strength perspective at the Senior Bowl. Sounds like a long-term project for us, which is good considering KO is likely to leave next season. Meyers needs time in the weight room, but football IQ and the frame sound like they are there.

@jeffzrebiecsun: Ravens fourth-round pick Tray Walker had 9 interceptions in 42 career games at Texas Southern. Maybe they were looking for ball skills, but I would have liked to see Lorenzo Doss if that were the case.

40 time, SS and vert are all average. Ravens haven't had much luck with drafting small school corners either. I guess we'll wait and see on this one.

My little brother, a UK alum and huge Wildcats football fan, loves this pick. Says relentless motor, great run stuffer and excellent character. Only started playing football in 2010, but is an extremely hard worker who can play right away.