Ravens Finish Draft Strong, Find Good Day Three Value
After having a very solid day two, the Ravens have finished with an even better day three. Here is who they took.
Round 4, Pick 98- Gino Gradkowski, C, Delaware- The Ravens have loved him for months. They went to work him out, they had him in for a visit and they had him graded really highly on their board if you believe Jason LaCanfora. The Ravens Brass thinks he can be the long term answer at C and i know he has the physical tools. He has prototype C size at 6’2″ 300 lbs and he is a very good athelete. he is a very nice fit for a zone scheme offense, which the Ravens are clearly making a bigger part of their playbook as evidenced by the picking of Bernard Pierce in the third round. They had their choice between Gradkowski, Phillip Blake and Ben Jones. They chose Gradkowski. That says everything you need to know about how they feel about him.
Round 4, Pick 130- Christian Thompson, FS, South Carolina St.- I’m not going to B.S. you guys, i don’t know a ton about this guy. I’ve only seen him play once and to be honest i was watching a different player and not paying a ton of attention to him. So i quickly went and watched a few of his game tapes. just my first couple thoughts on him are I like his frame. he is only 6’1″ but he plays like he a lot taller. He has very fluid movements and flips his hips very well, he is able to maintain top speed while changing directions. he has good but not great instincts but has trouble disengaging from blocks and can be pushed out of plays. I think the Ravens found a solid backup S, similar to Haruki Nakamura in the late fourth round. he looks like a solid grab.
Round 5, Pick 169- Asa Jackson, CB, California Polytechnic- Jackson was my second favorite small school player in the draft behind only Brian Quick. Jackson has great speed and solid, but not impressive, size. He plays big and physical which is somewhat surprising for a guy thats only 5’10 1/2″ tall. Jackson excels in man coverage and gets his hands on a ton of passes(though he only average 2 INTs per season). I love this pick, he was one of two players i was really pulling for today.
Round 6, Pick 198- Tommy Streeter, WR, Miami(FL)- If someone tole me on Tuesday that 197 players would be selected before Tommy Streeter, I think I would have laughed at them. Streeter was the second player i had in mind for the Ravens today. He is a monster. At 6’5″ he runs a solid 4.4 flat 40 and he plays just as fast. He is raw, although not as raw as Stephen Hill, and only has one season as a starter under his belt. but he has immense physical skills and always seems to be wide open when he makes catches. That is because he excels at finding soft spots in zone coverages and reads defenses really well. He brings a lot of size and speed to the Ravens WR corp. Streeter has starting potential, he just needs to be developed. He Brings an immediate Redzone threat as he stands 2″ taller than the next tallest Ravens WR, and 4″ taller than any of the Ravens Starters and he brings big play ability right away. He will make mental errors and drop passes though.
Round 7, Pick 236- Deangelo Tyson, DE, Georgia- Tyson is a guy that was limeted by his college system. In a system where he was ore a an attacker than a gap plugger he could have easily been a third round pick. He has good size to be a DE in a 3-4 at 6’2″ 315 lbs. Tyson adds another player with potential to an already extremely deep defensive line. Tyson was also a team captain at Georgia.