Ravens 2008 Draft

[cravnravn]

The pundits say it takes 3 years to grade a draft.

 

Joe Flacco, you have to give this an A+, we fans havent experienced this much success with our football team since the 74-77 Baltimore Colts.

 

Ray Rice, Double A+, at the time of the pick I thought a QB from Delaware, coupled with a RB from Rutgers??? Come on Oz what are you doing....

 

Tavares Gooden D-, This was supposed to be Rays understudy...

 

Tommy Zibikowski C He does OK sometimes than followsit up by being torched, need more consistant play from him.

 

Oneil Cousins No Grade Jury is still out on Oneil, hes only had 4 starts.

 

Marcus Smith F, Hes a great WR in Training Camp, but on Sundays he has the dropsies

 

David Hale F, no longer with the team

 

Haruki Nakamura, B another Oz steal on the last day of the draft, a 6th round pick who has contributed on defense.

 

Justin Harper Out of Football

 

Allen Patrick Out of Football

 

 

Overall this is probably the 2nd best draft in Ravens history, with our first being the 96 draft..It only took those 96 draftees 5 years to make it to the Super Bowl and win it..I'd have to give th overall draft grade an A, and say we are well on our way to keeping that 5 year plan on target.

 

 

 

 

 

[vmax]

 

It only took those 96 draftees 5 years to make it to the Super Bowl and win it..I'd have to give th overall draft grade an A, and say we are well on our way to keeping that 5 year plan on target.

 

 

"My thoughts coincide with yours, therefore, I concur."

 

 

Let's play out this 5 year highly probable and plausable plan of yours...

 

Key Ravens draft picks [after Ogden and Ray] before they won the Super Bowl were Jamal Lewis, McAlister, Stokeley, Dwayne Starks, Sharper, Jermaine Lewis and Boulware.

 

Key Ravens draft picks since 2008 draft are Oher, and Webb.

 

The jury is out on the 2010 class of Kindle, Cody, Dixon, Pita, Jones and Harewood. They may all be solid contributers when the Ravens hoist the SB trophy this year or next... I think one reason Ozzie isn't sweating the OT position is because of Harewood...and he may still have Gaither.

Then there is this years class...The Smith brothers are huge additions. Doss, Brown and Reid may be solid contributers as well.

 

Jury still out.

 

BUT....remember...McAlister, Starks, and Sharper didn't hit stride untill 2000. Jermaine had a career year that year.

In 1999 that team went 7-9.

 

Few holes on this Ravens 2011 team...just like 2000. It has playoff experience unlike the 1999-2000 roster.

 

There is one thing missing....can they get that nasty, 60 minute smashmouth attitude the 2000 unit had?

[Dunno]

I think you are way too harsh on some players like Marcus Smith and Tom Zbikowski. After the first two rounds, the odds of finding starters is really low and both those players are still on the team and core special teams contributors. While not home runs, that is solid production from players selected in the mid rounds.

 

An F really only should be given to players who fail to contribute to the team in any capacity either through injury, being inactive on game days or being cut/claimed.

[cravnravn]

I dunno, Dunno I really want this kid Marcus Smith to excel, we go out to camp and he looks like Jerry Rice, then we dont see him on the field on Sundays..So apparently hes running wrong routes in practice? or something else that the coaches see that we dont see..I like the kid, Im just a bunch disapointed that we dont see him on Sundays.

[cravnravn]

Let's play out this 5 year highly probable and plausable plan of yours...

 

Key Ravens draft picks [after Ogden and Ray] before they won the Super Bowl were Jamal Lewis, McAlister, Stokeley, Dwayne Starks, Sharper, Jermaine Lewis and Boulware.

 

Key Ravens draft picks since 2008 draft are Oher, and Webb.

 

 

Kinda funny how the tide turns eh, your key additions from then were mainly defensive players.

 

Our 3 years into the 5 year we've added Gaither(dont forget about him, he was a BIG part of the running game) Pitta, Bouldin, Housh, we'll have to wait to judge Jimmy Smith..

 

Should be real interesting to see how this plays out.

[ravinmaniac52]

Allen Patrick has spent time on many practice squads and was a Ram at the end of last season.

 

Justin Harper has been with the Ravens since he was drafted and I think he is a RFA this season.

 

And how in the world does David Hale get an F?!

[cravnravn]

Failure, thats how

[pumpkinhead]

I think you are way too harsh on some players like Marcus Smith and Tom Zbikowski. After the first two rounds, the odds of finding starters is really low and both those players are still on the team and core special teams contributors. While not home runs, that is solid production from players selected in the mid rounds.

 

An F really only should be given to players who fail to contribute to the team in any capacity either through injury, being inactive on game days or being cut/claimed.

I think F is way too harsh for Marcus Smith. I would give him a B.

 

He is on Kick cover, Kick return, Punt cover and Punt return. Only Burgess and D.Reed are on as many units. Plus he provides some depth at wideout.

 

He was a way bigger contributor last year than Stallworth was. The coaching staff loves him on ST's.

 

This staff seems to like putting wideouts on ST's over LB's, I guess they want more speed.

[cravnravn]

You cant give him a B, he was drafted as a WR and cant get on the field..FA's and undrafted FA's usually make up your Special Teams units with an occasional Ayanbedajo type thrown in once ina while.

[vmax]

Here's a mock re-draft from ESPN on the 2008 class....

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6528474

 

It has Ray Rice going off the board at #4 and Flacco at #10.

 

The #1 pick???? Matt Ryan....who hasn't won a playoff game yet.

[pumpkinhead]

You cant give him a B, he was drafted as a WR and cant get on the field..FA's and undrafted FA's usually make up your Special Teams units with an occasional Ayanbedajo type thrown in once ina while.

I don't think the FO and the coaching staff necessarily approaches the draft that way.

 

That is, I don't think they drafted him as a WR, expecting him to get on the field as a WR. I think they picked him to get on the field on ST's and provide emergency depth at WR.

 

I think Doss is the same thing this year. I think David Reed was the same thing last year, and he has been a stud on ST's. There seems to be a pattern of taking WR's in the mid rounds under Harbaugh and those guys seem to end up as major players on the ST's.

 

There was a similar pattern under Billick, but Billick seemed to take LB'ers where Harbaugh takes WR's.

 

Maybe they had other expectations of Smith in the FO and on the coaching staff, but IMO it seems like Smith has surpassed their expectations.