Scott Garceau: Can You Feel The Draft?
Get ready for prime time in New York next Thursday night when the 3-day Hundred Yard Sale kicks off. It's a made for TV event, complete with a green room, with NFL teams plotting their futures and young football players achieving their dreams.
Thursday night the first round student-athletes will become multi-millionaires complete with agents, financial advisors and all the distractions that will challenge them from becoming the player their drafting teams expect them to be.
If you wear purple and like all things Ravens relax and let Ozzie and friends improve your football team. Mr. Newsome, Eric DeCosta and company are damn good at this, not perfect but better than most. They'll be the first to tell you that projecting 22 year olds futures is a crap shoot but their preparation and feel for the draft has delivered remarkable results.
Has any franchise ever started with a better 1-2 punch in their first draft than the Ravens?
Ozzie knocked it out of the ballpark in 1996 and is the person most responsible for the Ravens continued success.
Ozzie's Best by Round
1. With the first pick in Ravens history Newsome passes on a need position and RB Lawrence Phillips and selects Jon Ogden the 4th pick in the first round has a Hall of Fame career. Later in the same round with the 26th pick comes Ray Lewis. Some considered Ray undersized today many consider him the best linebacker in the history of the game.
Ed Reed was selected with the 24th pick of the first round in 2002, like Ogden and Lewis Reed will have a spot in Canton. Boulware, McCalister, Jamal Lewis, Heap, Suggs, and Ngata all became Pro Bowl players and Joe Flacco is a franchise quarterback.
2. Best Ravens pick in the 2nd round Ray Rice. Jamie Sharper and Torrey Smith get honorable mention.
3. Lardarius Webb was a steal here and is coming off a Pro Bowl caliber year at one of the NFL's most important positions. Marshall Yanda is a Pro Bowl guard.
4. No super stars in this round but some quality Ravens lead by linebacker Jarrett Johnson. Linebacker Ed Hartwell, O-linemen Edwin Mulitalo and Jason Brown and Pro Bowl fullback Ovie Mughelli were all 4th round picks.
5. Pro Bowl kick-returner and Super Bowl star Jermaine Lewis lead the 5th round picks.
Jeff Mitchell the center on the Ravens Super Bowl team, Pro Bowl fullback Le'Ron McClain and Pernell McPhee in this group.
6. Adalius Thomas a 2-time Pro Bowl selection leads the 6th round picks. Super punter Sam Koch and running back Chester Taylor were steals down here.
7. Pretty much a swing and a miss here. The Ravens have drafted 19 players in the 7th round and not one of them ever started an NFL game. Anybody remember these quarterbacks, Jon Stark, Wally Richardson, Wes Pate? Ralph Staten, Anthony Poindexter, Brian Rimpf and Texas Mike Smith all 7th rounders who had a cup of coffee in Baltimore.
Can you feel the draft?
