The Ole Miss product dazzled at the combine, but the Ravens should look elsewhere to improve their offense.
The Baltimore Ravens will certainly be looking to improve upon their passing game throughout the 2019 NFL Draft. Many pundits and draft experts believe that the Ravens should select Ole Miss WR D.K. Metcalf at pick 22 to accomplish just that.
The physical tools are all there for the Red-Shirt Sophomore who comes in at 6’3″ 228lbs. Metcalf was a beast at the combine as he as ran a blazing 4.33 in the 40 yard dash. He also managed to run a 4.5 in the 20 yard shuttle as well as put up a total of 27 reps on the 225lb bench press portion of the exhibition.
Metcalf put up huge numbers in his seven games last season as a Runnin’ Rebel amassing a total of 26 catches for 569 yards and 5 touchdowns. That average yards per catch of 21.9 ranked him fourth in in the NCAA last season. Metcalf could very well prove to be the explosive playmaker that the Ravens currently sorely lack.
Lance Zierlein, NFL analyst says the following of Metcalf in his draft overview:
"“Big, explosive talent with projectable upside to become a home-run threat as a WR1. Teams seek out pass-catchers with rare height, weight and speed dimensions and Metcalf has those for days. While he has the talent to become a full-field threat, Metcalf is still an unpolished gem who was the second-best receiver on his college team. Until his skill-set is more developed, he could begin his career as a hit-or-miss long-ball threat. However, once it clicks, defenses could struggle to find solutions for him.”"
So why I am convinced otherwise? Metcalf appears to be a slam dunk and the Ravens would be lucky if he even made it to the 22nd overall selection in the upcoming draft.
There’s a reason he is being mocked there at 22. Metcalf only played a total of 21 career games at the collegiate level due to to various injuries. In 2016, Metcalf was projected to not take a redshirt season but broke his foot in the second game of the year.
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He bounced back nicely in his Red-Shirt Freshmen season picking up 39 catches for 646 yards and seven touchdowns before putting up the aforementioned numbers in another abbreviated season last year. Metcalf missed the final five games of last season with a neck injury. Two season ending injuries in a span of three seasons establishes you as injury prone.
One of the other concerns with me for Metcalf is that he wasn’t even the best WR on his own team. That honor belongs to A.J. Brown. Brown took some attention away from Metcalf which may allowed him to flourish. It is also fair to reason that Metcalf took some of the defensive attention away from Brown as well providing the deep threat ability to take the top off of defenses. Brown didn’t miss a beat without Metcalf last season though tallying 44 catches, 586 yards and four touchdowns.
With Metcalf being surrounded by such and elite talent, I would be concerned to see how he would respond to being the de-facto WR1 for a Ravens receiving corps that is below average at best. In fact, it can be argued that the group is currently one of the worst in the NFL.
Metcalf’s other major concern for me are his hands. Some of the weaknesses of Metcalf according to Zierlein are:
"“focus drops when working back to the ball and drop rate was too high over last two seasons.”"
The Ravens just lived through the Breshad Perriman hands experience and I for one am in no rush to see another first round WR that struggles to catch the football. Working back to the ball is a prominent trait for the Ravens to look for as Lamar Jackson looks to improve upon his overall passing accuracy this season.
Metcalf also put together an ugly 7.38 three cone drill at the combine. This performance would have ranked Metcalf first overall among offensive linemen. Garrett Bradbury, my dream pick at 22, ran a 7.41 in that drill to take the top spot. Yikes!
Metcalf’s freak of nature stature and big play ability make him awfully tempting, but there are too many red flags in his resume to justify the Ravens taking him with the 22nd overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.