Baltimore Ravens: 5 takeaways from the 2018 NFL Draft
By Cory Hughes
Takeaway 1: With the future waiting in the balance in Lamar Jackson, Joe Flacco now has a small margin of era going into 2018
It was quite the final draft weekend for future Hall of Fame general manager Ozzie Newsome. But the biggest pick of all was his second first round selection, Lamar Jackson. Going into the first round on Thursday night, one of the more significant questions was: Where would Lamar Jackson go? After Ozzie traded back twice and took tight end Hayden Hurst, Baltimore fans were quite underwhelmed at the fact that the organization wouldn’t end up drafting the Louisville QB. Ozzie shocked us all by trading back in and taking the playmaking quarterback that has continued to make college defenses look silly these last two years.
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Now that the future of the franchise has been added to the team. The draft may be over, But Joe Flacco just went on the clock. Last season we saw former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith have quite the start to the season. You might say it was the fact that the Chiefs front office decided to select Patrick Mahomes in the 1st round.
Having the young competition gave Smith an extra incentive to perform. Knowing the guy that would end up taking his place, was right there waiting. The Ravens drafting Lamar Jackson hopefully will have the same effect on Flacco. And if it doesn’t, it may cause the fanbase and the media to go on a swirl and call for the Ravens coaching staff to play Jackson.
This past season, Flacco didn’t have all that much to work with regarding skilled positioned talent. That isn’t quite the story going into 2018. Flacco doesn’t have the same excuses he did the last couple of seasons. If he does struggle the Ravens have the future waiting in Lamar Jackson.