Why is a Ravens draft Always a work art.

[CJD]

(04-30-2022, 12:26 PM)Whatever Wrote: I seriously wonder why people complain about the size of the scouting department when they firmly believe that they should just draft off of Kiper's best available.

People lust for those As and B+s given by media figures in the days after the draft. And the Ravens have gotten 4 A+s so far because, in every scenario, they've taken the guy who was projected much higher but has fallen for one reason or another.

I am personally hesitant when it comes to guys who will "definitely go high" and end up falling a round or more later.

Ojabo is an understandable fall, as he suffered an injury during his pro day, but Hamilton falling to 14 tells me teams had doubts about his speed and athleticism. 

Travis Jones also fell nearly a round and a half from where he was projected. That tells me that teams doubted his ability to rush the passer as a 3T but also worried that he didn't have enough of an anchor to play NT. If he were what the media people say he is, a guy who is big enough to play NT but also fast and savvy enough to play 3T, he doesn't last until the 3rd round.

and Linderbaum, although I love him as a prospect and still would have liked to have picked him if he were there at 31, is undeniably a risky pick because, in order to be successful, he must be an outlier, as very few players succeed with arms as short as his. Plus, being under 300 lbs is not great either.

So, the Ravens took 4 guys who COULD be amazing. Or, they could have fallen for legitimate reasons that show up later in their careers. We'll have to see.

I still remember being ecstatic when we drafted Andrew Billings in the 4th round after he was mocked to us in the 1st round all off season.

Turns out, there's a reason he fell 3 rounds further than media people thought.

Cuz he wasn't very good. And the NFL scouts saw that.

It'll be interesting to see if what the NFL scouts saw in these 4 comes to pass as well.