Two years ago, “The 15 Ravens Draft Do-Overs” was presented in the April issue of the PressBox. It was a fun look back at some of the worst picks in team history with a reflection on who the Ravens could have had instead.
Now I want to look at the idea from the opposite perspective. Given that the Ravens have had MANY good tips over the years, let’s go over their successes.
How good were the ravens’ first 25 draft classes? Players who narrowly missed this list include Jermaine Lewis, Adalius Thomas, Jarret Johnson, Lardarius Webb, Dennis Pitta, Jimmy Smith, Torrey Smith, Brandon Williams, CJ Mosley, Nick Boyle, Matthew Judon, Orlando Brown Jr. and Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown to name a few!
Here we go. Here are the best tips in Ravens history (IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, FRIENDS) and what we’re happy with was NOT the selection. We’ll call them “The 15 Ravens Draft Bullseyes”.
1996: Round 1, choice 4
Selection: OT Jonathan Ogden
Could have been: RB Lawrence Phillips (# 6 overall)
It is truly remarkable that the first major hiring decision the Baltimore Ravens ever made is still considered the most significant 25 years later. The choice between Ogden and Phillips, by the way, was the defensive end of Cedric Jones, who ended his career with just 15 sacks.
1996: Round 1, selection 26
Selection: LB Ray Lewis
Could have been: LB Reggie Brown (No. 17)
This one is a notorious story. It was stupid luck that the Ravens had their greatest player in franchise history. The team notoriously had Brown (whose career was sadly cut short due to an injury) on the board before Lewis, but the Lions swapped to get him. Had the Ravens Phillips ranked 4th, they might have been 26th on the tackle market. And three of the next four picks were tackles! The Carnage: John Michels was out of the league after two years, Jamain Stephens after five and Andre Johnson (not this one) after three … career games.
Oh, and most Ravens fans wanted Leeland McElroy in 26th place. The running back scored four touchdowns in his two-year career.
1997: Round 1, choice 4
Selection: LB Peter Boulware
Could have been: CB Bryant Westbrook (No. 5)
That too is BRYANT Westbrook (who doesn’t run back to BRIAN Westbrook) who was made a choice later and, to be fair, had a pretty good season in his six year career.
1999: Round 1, choose 10
Selection: CB Chris McAlister
Could have been: WR David Boston (No. 8) or QB Cade McNown (No. 12)
Since this list will be a topic over time, the Ravens spent a good portion of their history needing a quarterback and receiver. They could either have approached in 1999 but instead found a three-time pro bowler who might be in the ring of honor if it weren’t for something awkward from the field.
2000: Round 1, choice 5
Selection: RB Jamal Lewis
Could have been: RB Ron Dayne (No. 11)
If we were to assume that with an established defense the Ravens would definitely go on the offensive (remember, they also put Travis Taylor in 10th place with a wide receiver), they wouldn’t have it too bad the next turn off the board made (Thomas) Jones at No. 7). But Raven’s fans were more than a little in love with Dayne, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and all-time college football leader.
2001: Round 1, selection 31
Selection: TE Todd Heap
Could have been: WR Quincy Morgan (No. 33)
What’s interesting is that Heap was sandwiched between two historically great picks (Reggie Wayne and Drew Brees) and the next tight end of the board was also very good – the quadruple Pro Bowler Alge Crumpler. But the ravens needed weapons. Morgan had a solid season in 2002 but was eliminated from the league in 2006. And if Freddie Mitchell (# 25) had fallen, he too could have been the choice.
2002: Round 1, selection 24
Selection: S Ed Reed
Could have been: DB Phillip Buchanon (No. 17)
Reed was actually the second member of his own college secondary school to enter in 2002. While the first had a solid decade-long career (albeit with little performance to speak of), it could be argued that the Ravens probably had the right one.
2003: Round 1, choose 10
Selection: LB Terrell Suggs
Could have been: QB Byron Leftwich (No. 7)
While it took the Ravens a few years to find a caller, that mistake went down on draft day – the Ravens tried to act, the Vikings didn’t announce the deal in time, and the Jaguars ran up and took Leftwich – as one of the most random mistakes in the story of the ravens.
2006: Round 1, choice 12
Selection: DT Haloti Ngata
Could have been: QB Matt Leinart (No. 10) or DT Brodrick Bunkley (No. 14)
If you still need a quarterback, imagine the Ravens would have cared about the former Heisman winner if he had slipped a little further. Phew And luckily, they didn’t take the next defensive tackle that came off the board, as Bunkley did very little in his nine-year career.
2006: Round 6, pick 203
Selection: P Sam cook
Could have been: G. Tyler Reed (No. 200), C. Marvin Philip (No. 201), TE TJ Williams (No. 202)
The former Nebraska punter has played more games than any other player in Ravens history in his outstanding future career as the Ring of Honor. The three players selected immediately before him in 2006 COMBINED to play a total of ZERO games. That seems remarkable.
2007: Round 3, choose 86
Selection: OL Marshal Yanda
Could have been: G Andy Alleman (No. 88)
The next offensive lineman selected after the potential future Hall of Famer was Alleman, a former Akron Zip. And while he may not have been an eight-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion, his LinkedIn page suggests he has found a nice career as an account executive for Slack, and one man could certainly do worse.
2008: Round 1, option 18 and round 2, option 55
Selection: QB Joe Flacco and RB Ray Rice
Could have been: QB Brian Brohm (No. 56)
I’ll sum up Flacco and Rice to point out that the Ravens were clearly in the market for a quarterback after Steve McNair retired. The next quarterback selected in this draft started two more career games than you would have bet. (And two more in the CFL!)
2016: Round 1, choice 6
Selection: T Ronnie Stanley
Could have been: QB Jared Goff (No. 1) or QB Carson Wentz (No. 2)
After Flacco sustained a significant injury, there were some Ravens fans who would have been willing to see the Ravens pick his replacement if one had slipped a little in this draft. The teams that took these quarterbacks liked them so much that they were traded away this off-season.
2017: Round 1, selection 16
Selection: CB Marlon Humphrey
Could have been: WR John Ross (No. 9)
As in many other years, we all thought the Ravens were in the receiver market in 2017. But the top guys (Corey Davis in 5th place and Mike Williams in 7th place) got off the board early and while not being superstars they were drastically better than Ross, the third recipient. Fortunately, the ravens didn’t reach for him. The next recipient in this class was only selected at # 37 and was, it is said, Zay Jones.
2018: Round 1, choice 32
Selection: QB Lamar Jackson
Could have been: QB Sam Darnold (No. 3) and QB Josh Rosen (No. 10)
While the other two quarterbacks worked out pretty well or incredibly well in this first round (Baker Mayfield in 1st place, Josh Allen in 7th place), the adverb we’d use for these guys would be something like “horrific.”
Photo credit: Kenya Allen / PressBox
Issue 268: April / May 2021
Originally published April 14, 2021
Comments are closed.