The Ravens had a chance to draft JuJu Smith-Schuster and it will haunt the franchise for years to come:
The Baltimore Ravens should have drafted JuJu Smith-Schuster. It is something that was obvious during the draft and it is becoming more and more obvious as Smith-Schuster continues to impress. On Sunday Night Football against the Lions, Smith-Schuster put up seven receptions for 193 yards and a touchdown. When is the last time the Ravens had a young receiver put up those kinds of numbers?
On the season Smith-Schuster has 24 receptions for 424 yards and four touchdowns. Breshad Perriman has four receptions this season and he only had 33 receptions in 2016. As a rookie, on a team that is fully equipped with other weapons, Smith-Schuster has outproduced every wide receiver on the Ravens roster. If that doesn’t keep Ozzie Newsome up at night, what will?
The Ravens gave the Steelers a chance to get better. That makes the Ravens mistake of passing on the USC product even more painful. The most dire position on the roster is wide receiver, and the Ravens passed on a future number one target in the NFL.
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It’s not a knock on Tyus Bowser, who the Ravens took with the 47th pick. It’s an undeniable fact that Smith-Schuster would have helped the purple and black more than Bowser this season.
An unforgivable thought process:
The Ravens either ignored need or completely dropped the ball in their evaluation of Smith-Schuster. The Ravens didn’t even take a wide receiver in the 2017 NFL Draft. It Jeremy Maclin didn’t become available the Ravens would have been in a hopeless situation.
The Steelers are 6-2 and the Ravens are 4-4. What is the biggest difference between the two AFC North teams? The Steelers have invested in play-makers. Antonio Brown is one of the best receivers in the game of football. Bell is one of the best running backs in football. Now they have Smith-Schuster. This is a moment in time where Ozzie Newsome was incredibly wrong.,
Next: Ravens report card: Mid-season grades position by position
The Ravens didn’t even take wide receivers later in the draft. They ignored the position completely. How can we make any sense of the Ravens passing on Smith-Schuster? I banged the drum all offseason long that the Ravens needed a receiver. I wrote extensively about how Smith-Schuster was a player to target. The Ravens ignored the flashiest player available with the 47th pick. It’s that simple.