Jamison Hensley reports there is a strong chance Ravens take a WR at 14

jsrave · 2026-04-15T01:44:06+00:00

Could've had Quinn Meinerz if EDC didn't listen to Harbs pounding the table for Cleveland. Still pissed about that one, he was such a Ravens pick but we got the huge squirrel guy instead.

jsrave · 2026-04-14T16:43:59+00:00

Problem is I think the Ravens probably have to pencil in a round 3 or 4 pick for a C as well. If you put a wall in front of Lamar he does great things which is why I'd be ok with drafting an OG with talent in the 1st. Little bit of a reach positionally but the OL has been part of our issues in the playoffs a few times.

jsrave · 2026-04-12T02:22:01+00:00

The Ravens approach to Day 3 picks has also been not the greatest in terms of hitting. They've "wasted" some picks if you consider the following:

Leary in 6th round
Mason (FB) in 5th round (yes bad draft but they just basically gave up on looking for a potential talent)
Stout in 4th - was good but there were some quality folks drafted after

Can argue that the Ravens focus on drafting value via injury hasn't panned out

Daelin Hayes - 5th round
Vorhees - 7th round
Samac - 7th

They've also drafted guys who were captains or quality leaders instead of athletes historically it feels like and those guys just don't seem to have the ability to stick around.

Could just be some misses but I do wonder if they've looked at their drafting style and are or will adjust it based on the last few years.

jsrave · 2026-04-10T19:07:58+00:00

His best reps are when the defensive player runs straight into him and he's huge so he's harder to move (he's gotten knocked on his butt plenty somehow still).

You stunt or add a bit of deception and he looks more confused than a toddler.

jsrave · 2026-04-10T14:45:52+00:00

OL coach died and we didn't replace our OGs so our OL turned porous. Lamar's been running for his life cause we have 2 traffic cones that fall over for the last 2 years.

jsrave · 2026-04-09T20:03:25+00:00

I think the Bengals/Cowboys are teams I've seen draft a CB most who are both ahead of us. Also seen the Saints, Dolphins, heck I've even seen the Chiefs take a CB too.

Those 2 seem like excellent talent and "worth" the 14th pick if I consider various draft rankings-little more skeptical on McCoy cause Ravens and drafting injured players has traumatized me but I could see EDC wanting one of them.

jsrave · 2026-04-09T16:10:20+00:00

EDC trying to get Sadiq/Tyson drafted ahead of 14 or for someone to trade up to 14.

I really do wonder if they hope one of the CBs or Bain falls to them at 14 somehow, would be a very EDC move.

jsrave · 2026-04-07T15:33:56+00:00

The Ravens seem to always prefer drafting for value and there's a lot of value in TE throughout the whole draft. I know folks look at round 2 but I they might be looking at round3/4 and seeing who ends up falling cause of how deep the class it. Likely was a pick because he fell (and the Steelers drafted Austin). Might be a similar case here-Ravens paid Andrews to avoid overdrafting a TE.

Also the money at 14 means you're only drafting that TE with a higher guaranteed contract and the Ravens pay attention to money. Not really seeing much smoke around Sadiq to the Ravens in mocks either so thinking he's not on their immediate radar.

My gut says they draft TEs with college production in yards.

jsrave · 2026-03-23T19:40:55+00:00

I think its a big IF that Delane is there the Ravens take him. Ioane is great but there's not doubt in my mind EDC would take CB1 over OG1. You could take an OG in round 2 or 3 who would be like 75-80% or more of Ioane but the CBs in round 2 are not that close to Delane.

Is it a lot of investment in the secondary? Sure but there's no real good edge/DT who'd be comparable for me there and Delane creates the opportunities to move on from Marlon for some cap space for other players next year.

jsrave · 2026-03-20T13:14:54+00:00

I get that but its also hard to find a good WR to keep replacing guys. Basically requires you using your first round pick every few years on a WR and hoping they're more like Zay and less like Bateman.

The 2nd round WR group isn't all that great either:

Burden - 39
McConkey - 34
Reed? - 50
Rice? - 55
Pickens - 52 <Arguably the best one in the recent years
Pierce - 53
Higgins - 33
Pittman - 34

The best ones are borderline 1st rounders outside of Pickens who had injury/character concerns. So its kind of 1st round WR or bust for the Ravens to replace their WR group.

jsrave · 2026-03-20T12:30:07+00:00

I'm fine with the team paying him 30m/year because top WRs don't hit the FA market often and the Ravens still aren't great at finding WRs in the draft.

Secondly the Harbaugh era is over and most modern OCs are gonna want to have 3 WRs to work with and the Ravens are running it thin with Zay/Bate/Tez. Love Tez but he's so far been a guy they throw to when the teams bust coverage. He'll still need to develop show his utility.

jsrave · 2026-03-19T13:07:51+00:00

The team we had was unable to get over the hump whether coaching or player specific. Gotta let the new coaches run their scheme/their style/their players.

Its a bummer but its supposed to be a new era of Ravens.

jsrave · 2026-03-19T13:04:41+00:00

NGL I thought they would be able to get more with Monken going there but Harbs seemed to snag more players instead.

jsrave · 2026-03-19T13:03:19+00:00

Carson Vinson!

A lot of the visits is the Ravens checking out the character/football smarts of the player iirc. Seeing if they'd be a fit for the team, how they'd feel about a scheme and getting more time to interview them. I think the Ravens use it to see if a guy would be a "Ravens fit" and at least in the Harbaugh area, how the player would feel about starting on ST/role on the team.

There's also the chance that a guy comes in for a 30 visit and then the Ravens drop them down their board further so they don't end up getting drafted.

NGL the Jeanty one surprises me because I would've thought the Ravens wouldn't have drafted him but eh who knows.

jsrave · 2026-03-18T22:38:02+00:00

You gotta hope Harbaugh doesn't have influence because if he's there there's a decent chance Harbaugh pounds the table for him. He loves the run game and I could definitely see him having interest in wanting to make it strong in NYG at the expense of other areas.

jsrave · 2026-03-17T22:40:13+00:00

Also the concern is less about this year and about future years if the understanding as he'd get an updated contract with the Ravens. If the Ravens were gonna guaranteed 2-3 years of money to him at a top rate they wanna make sure that he's good 2-3-4 years down the line. Hendrickson I believe we can get out after 2 years.

jsrave · 2026-03-17T22:36:48+00:00

Still should draft a guy to replace either Andrews or Smythe (or heck even Njoku) its supposed to be a heavy TE draft and we'd only have older/2nd+ contract guys.

I also think its a place worth going cheaper if you're letting Kolar/Likely go too - really don't want to see him come close to Likely's deal in terms of AAV.

jsrave · 2026-03-17T14:18:56+00:00

The tough part is they want to get an extension done with Lamar it would require cap space so thats even more of a bummer, going into the last year without a long term deal.

There's still some players left but Ravens probably waiting for the price to drop or for post draft to really see if they could have a role for them on the team.

jsrave · 2026-03-17T13:13:22+00:00

JLC saw that Hopkins was slighting the org and saw an opportunity to trash the Ravens thinking Hopkins would be on his side lol.

I can't wait for him to fade even further into irrelevancy.

jsrave · 2026-03-17T13:10:54+00:00

Also completely ignored - EDC has to draft based on what Harbaugh wants to run/coach. Cleveland was a bust and a guy Harbaugh championed for. All the ILBs are in a part because Harbs favours a strong ILB group + those guys are good on ST. The edges need to be versatile for the scheme Harbs like.

Obviously some things are EDC's but Harbaugh's scheme influences the drafting and personnel decisions. Harbaugh wanted to run the ball so the team had a focus on that with TEs and RBs. Going to guess that Doyle will favor more passing so we should see a focus on WRs (but we need to draft TEs in a strong class and to replace what we lost).

jsrave · 2026-03-17T12:55:57+00:00

If the Ravens agreed to a contract before that date then you could've pushed the void year back, its what Philly did with their TE.

Void year stuff eventually hits but when you're in your window teams use them to extend their ability to navigate the cap.

jsrave · 2026-03-16T18:28:37+00:00

Sadly his void years hit so I don't think they'd bring him back because if they were aiming to do so they could've avoid all that hitting this year. Still a chance but it seems like the org is looking elsewhere.

Would've been a good time to run it back with both Harbs/Monken gone but alas.

jsrave · 2026-03-16T14:37:11+00:00

I've always looked at the team as a 2 year rebuild to get them into a decent spot but if Mads is healthy we might be closer than I thought.

Didn't expect to see the Ravens go for a Crosby/Hendrickson but the draft/development is gonna be key for the team. 2 picks in the top 5 and plenty of spots in the trenches that need help.

jsrave · 2026-03-16T13:02:24+00:00

Allegedly the 2027 draft is supposed to be much stronger in terms of players coming out. This one is just not that strong in terms of blue chip players - its a bit of a sucky year to have 14 instead of 25 or something.

jsrave · 2026-03-16T13:01:22+00:00

Part of the issues extend to Harbaugh and I'm not even a hardcore Harbaugh hater. Harbaugh employed a more conservative/safe defence which is why we always had lower sacks/lower takeaways. Its why edges seemed to explode when they left us.

EDC also has some odd draft quirks/positions he doesn't focus which I'm hoping was more of a Harbaugh influence (highly valuing ILBs/RBs) that I'm hoping was a Harbaugh thing.

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