Ravens 2008 Draft Picks

He gets the priviledge of hanging out at training camp, practice, etc. He interacts with everyone on the team including the coaches and most importantly, he studies every practice.

Nakamura made me upset one time that I can remember, we still won the game so its no big deal, but think back to the playoffs last season; last drive of the game for the Titans, Kerry Collins drops back and lets off a pass, it lands in Nakamuras hands, end of game! No, he dropped it, I just think that would have been awesome.

What do you guys think about Derrick Martin over Frank Walker?

Merlin11 may have been talking about more recent history. Let’s take a look back about five draft classes, but with a couple of caveats. First, lets leave out the most recent draft; obviously, we need to see what they can do in the NFL before making a decision. Second, I’d like to leave out last year’s draft, because I’d really like to see them in their sophomore years before passing judgement on them. I know we all have very high hopes for Flacco, Rice, and Gooden, but their second year performance will be very telling. Honestly, each had a downside the past year. Flacco performed poorly in the post-season, although we’re all glad that a rookie QB took us as far as he did. Rice had some injury trouble that kept him from being a bigger part of our offense in the latter part of our season. And Gooden also suffered from injury, only playing in three games.

So, let’s take a look at draft classes 2003-2007.

In 2003, Suggs definitely carried the class. We just signed him to a hefty contract, he does yeoman’s work as a hybrid LB/DE, etc. And then there’s our other 2003 first round pick. Kyle Boller is a nice guy, but not much more can be said about him without resorting to vulgarity. He may end up as a starting quarterback somewhere, but he didn’t live up to his first round draft status here in Baltimore by any means. In the third round, we drafted Musa Smith. According to his wikipedia page, he has played “sparingly” in the NFL. He suffered an injury that kept him out nearly two seasons, and is a major reason why horse-collar tackles are now illegal. Suffice to say that he didn’t quite live up to potential.

2004 had just second and third round picks. Our second round selection was Dwan Edwards. In 2007 (his best statistical year), he recorded one sack while filling in for the injured Trevor Pryce. At best, he is a solid backup to our usual starters, and is not expected to become a starter for us in the future. We drafted Devard Darling in the third round, who recorded 331 yards over four years. 326 of those yards came in his last year in Baltimore, and he still ended up in Kansas City.

2005 is a year of unmet expectations. Mark Clayton, picked in the first round, has shown flashes of potential, but has mostly had mediocre seasons. He nearly broke the century mark in his sophomore season, but has been inconsistent in other years, averaging 566 yards in those seasons. Dan Cody was selected in the second round this year. Again, hopes were high, but he never overcame strings of injuries, and was released before the 2008 season. Finally, Adam Terry was selected in the second round. He is another early-drafted lineman to be relegated to backup status.

2006 was an ok year, although is much affected by the first round pick. Ngata carries this class. He was our first round pick and has been stellar as part of our defensive line since joining the team. After him, we picked Chris Chester in round two. Chester was at one point thought to be the future at center, but has been relegated to a backup center/guard. David Pittman was our third round pick in 2006. He didn’t play his first year, then had one good game against Pittsburgh his sophomore year (seven tackles, three passes defensed, two interceptions), but played very lackluster football the remainder of the year.

2007 is probably the best overall draft of the bunch. Ben Grubbs was selected in the first round and has been a solid part of the left side of our offensive line since he was drafted. Marshal Yanda was selected in the third round and has been a solid contributer to the offensive line when he hasn’t been sidelined with injuries. The only weak spot in the top three of this draft class is Figurs, also selected in the third round. He was productive on special teams in his first year, but failed to impress last year. Many are surprised to see him make the team in 2009.

In summation, we have Grubbs, Yanda, Ngata, and Suggs who are now major contributors to the team. We have relatively disappointing backups in Figurs, Chester, Clayton (not really a backup, but still relatively disappointing for a first-rounder at this point), Terry, and Dwan Edwards. And we have total losses in Pittman, Cody, Darling, Boller, and Musa Smith. For those of you keeping track at home, that’s about a 29% success rate with our first-through-third rounders from 2003 through 2007, which I believe to be the most reliable five year span to judge in recent memory.

I guess what I’m saying is that Merlin11 has a point in that we haven’t had solid and consistent selections in the top of the draft recently. Here’s to 2008 and 2009 breaking the recent trend.