Enjoyed this deep dive by Connor Orr into the Ravens' draft strategy, and how they stay away from spending capital on lesser talent at premium positions in favor of the top players and undervalued positions.
No team has dominated the middle rounds like the Ravens under former GM Ozzie Newsome and now Eric DeCosta. This year, the Ravens had six fourth-round picks, the most fourth-round selections by any team in NFL history. Starting in 2013, a look at their draft pick history shows a distinct widening in the middle rounds simply by understanding the value of letting certain players walk in free agency and what it would cost them in capital to sign new players. These picks have turned into Brandon Williams, Kyle Juszczyk, Nick Boyle, Za’Darius Smith, Tavon Young, Matt Judon, Mark Andrews, Orlando Brown Jr. and so on. You get the picture. Baltimore is paying less for better talent than any team in professional football. |
Good read, especially when you consider the previous regime's allocation of capital.
So “fleecing the NFL” wouldn’t be how I would describe it.
So “fleecing the NFL” wouldn’t be how I would describe it.
You're not necessarily wrong. But alot goes into winning and losing football games, especially across an entire year. Might just be a semantics game.
I look at the point being made as, constantly, BALT is snatching up mid round players that become starters...which is enough to be considered a good hit, but they're above average starters. Again, this seems to happen constantly. Of course, all of what i just said doesn't equal deep playoff runs straight up. Again, might be semantics but looking at some of their decisions and drafts, they are certainly "fleecing" some teams in the NFL.
Why would you say the 3rd round is not the middle rounds?
Among the remaining three, Nick Boyle caught one pass and Tavon Young had a PFF rating well below average, playing about half the snaps. He was not brought back for 2022.
Mark Andrews is a good player; that's one.
The accuracy of the present tense in the statement, "Baltimore is paying less for more talent" depends pretty much entirely on how the 2022 draft class turns out.
Which is an unknown at this point.
Quote:
Brandon Williams, Mark Andrews, and Orlando Brown Jr. were 3rd round picks.
Why would you say the 3rd round is not the middle rounds?
Yeah I’m confused by this too. There is 7 rounds. 3-4 round are the definition of middle round.
Link - ( New Window )
Think Brown was a 2nd rounder. Could be wrong
Quote:
Brandon Williams, Mark Andrews, and Orlando Brown Jr. were 3rd round picks.
Think Brown was a 2nd rounder. Could be wrong
He was a 3rd rounder. I was so pissed when Gettlemen didn't draft him, but drafted Lorenzo Carter, then BJ Hill instead of him.
JFC, the guy was a unanimous All-American. So what if he had a bad combine?!? In the 3rd round he was an absolute steal!
Which keeps cost down and gets the best at players at those positions later.
Exactly. There are some people trying to poke holes but there’s no doubt the ravens have done a great job drafting early or mid round talents over the years.a team could still beat them in January but that doesn’t erase their draft record.
They hit on their middle rounds picks ... so? How is that cheating?
Run 55 times a game, I guess.
Which keeps cost down and gets the best at players at those positions later.
It works if you hit on those prime positions later. If you don't ... you're Dave Gettleman.
Run 55 times a game, I guess.
The author's / reporter's hypothesis is based off of that: that the Ravens believe they are better off having an All-Pro caliber TE in Andrews (as No. 1 receiver) and giving Rashod Bateman a chance in their passing game than overpaying Hollywood Brown or a guy like Hunter Renfrow.
Also extends to drafting the 5th or 6th ranked WR in the first round when they can take the top safety in Hamilton.
As long ask they keep doing it they will be set up well for whenever they figure out QB. This isn’t the Colts where they drafted really well for a few years, blew their chance, and haven’t gotten back to an elite level roster. Baltimore seems to always have a top roster. I’d rather be them than 25+ other NFL teams.
Good post. I like what the Ravens do as well, by figuring out how they want to play and then create a draft strategy around it. It still requires to be sound in player evaluations as any draft strategy would of course.
The Giants under Gettleman though seemed to draft in desperation with little strategy in mind and certainly underwhelming player evaluations. The best thing he did was to be bad at his job, leaving his successor 2 high first round picks.
I think there are a lot better examples of teams over the last 10 years than the Ravens. Every one is judging them on what they did prior to their Superbowl win in 2012 which they were dominant for 10 years. The last 10 have been good not great.
Pitt had a QB for 15 years
KC has had their QB and will for the next X years
The Ravens have been competitive for a very long time with Flacco and then a very flawed passer in Jackson (he was turned into an MVP specifically due to transitioning their team building). They haven’t been able to get that franchise altering passer at QB but they’ve basically nailed everything else over the years.