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Scott Garceau: Ozzie's Best & Worst Round By Round

A draft in the Windy City, how appropriate. The 2015 NFL draft moves to Chicago's Auditorium Theatre and it should be quite a show. The last 50 drafts have been held in New York City, since 2006 the selection show has been held at Radio City Music Hall.

Tampa Bay is scheduled to start the primetime show with the first pick on Thursday night, April 30th the Arizona Cardinals will end it with the 256th pick (Mr. Irrelevant) sometime Saturday afternoon in May. Three days and two months what an ESPN and NFL Network show!

The 2015 NFL draft is the 80th for the NFL and the 20th for the Baltimore Ravens. Ozzie Newsome has been behind the wheel for all 20 and is one of the best in the business when it comes to building consistent winning teams through the draft. This year he comes in with 10 picks and Baltimore fans have confidence several of those picks will become quality Ravens.

When Newsome started his first draft by selecting Hall of Famer Jon Ogden and lock Hall of Famer Ray Lewis he was on his way to building one of the best draft resumes in the game. Twenty drafts later his brings the same work ethic and passion to the draft room. Like the rest he's had some flat out busts but top to bottom he might be the best in the NFL on draft days. Here's a look at some of his best and worst round by round.

Round 1

Ray Lewis is in the conversation among the greatest linebackers to ever play the game, 25 teams passed on him before Ozzie selected him in the Ravens first draft. Earlier that day he also selected Jonathon Ogden with the fourth pick. In his first draft with his first 2 picks 2 Hall of Fame players, nice start! He got great late first round value with Todd Heap pick 31 in 2001 and another future Hall of Famer Ed Reed at pick 24 in 2002. Peter Boulware, Chris McAlister, Jamal Lewis, Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngatai, franchise QB Joe Flacco and C.J. Mosley were all first round gold. The worst of the first include Kyle Boller, Mark Clayton, Michael Oher, and Matt Elam?

Round 2

Nothing spectacular in this round but rock solid players like Jamie Sharper, Ray Rice (best of round 2 class) Torrey Smith, Kelechi Osemele and Timmy Jernigan. In 4 drafts the Ravens didn't have a 2nd round pick, misses include DeRon Jenkins ('96), the 2005 pair of Dan Cody and Adam Terry and the 2010 Daily Trouble of Sergio Kindle and Terrence Cody. Note to Oz, stay away from players named Cody in round 2.

Round 3

Not much in this round until they hit a home run with Pro Bowl Guard Marshall Yanda in 2007, it's not an exact science, the Ravens took Yamon Figurs before they took Yanda in that 3rd round. Lardarius Webb was a 3rd round hit in '09 and Center Casey Rahbach was a solid third round pick ('01). In the last 2 drafts Brandon Williams and Crockett Gilmore look like good picks. Not so good, running backs Jay Graham, Musa Smith, WR Devard Darling, and corner David Pittman.
Round 4-- Nice picks here in 1999 with Guard Ed Mulitalo and WR Brandon Stokley. The Ravens hit the Daily Double in '03 with Jarrett Johnson (best of class) and FB Ovie Mughelli. Ed Hartwell, Jason Brown, Dennis Pitta and Kyle Juszczyk all were nice selections. Not so good Tyrus McCloud (LB '97), Ron Johnson (WR '02), Demetrius Williams (WR '06), David Hale (G '08), Tandon Doss (WR "11).

Round 5

After knocking it out of the park with Lewis and Ogden in his first draft Newsome crushed it in round 5 with WR/KR Jermaine Lewis a star in the Ravens Super Bowl XXXV win over the Giants. The following year came future starting center Jeff Mitchell. Safety Dawan Landry was a 5th round pick and more recently Arthur Jones ('10), Pernell McPhee ('11) and Rick Wagner ('13) were 5th round scores.

Round 6

A couple of winners here with LB Adalius Thomas in 2000 and Sam Koch in 2006. Thomas was a big play guy in Rex Ryan's defense and Koch has been one of the NFL's best punters over the last 9 years. Kapron Lewis-Moore a 6th round pick in 2013 could help the Ravens defense this season.
Round 7

The Ravens have scored with undrafted free agents (see Bart Scott and Priest Holmes) but round 7 has basically been a bust. They've made 23 picks in this round and consistently missed. Perhaps a glimmer of hope recently with Defensive Lineman DeAngelo Tyson (2012) and Michael Campanaro (2014).

Here we go 20 years of Ravens drafts in Baltimore, soon the board will be set and the cards will be turned in and Ravens fans will repeat the mantra "in Ozzie we trust" and for good reason.

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