The College Football National Championship game had lots of NFL Draft prospects on the field. Here’s what the Baltimore Ravens can take away from the game.
The Baltimore Ravens 2019 season came to an abrupt end vs. the Tennessee Titans in the divisional round of the playoffs. The loss was heartbreaking, but it declared the start of 2020 NFL Draft season for the team. First on the list, watching the College Football National Championship game.
This year’s National Championship game featured two heavy-weight offenses in the LSU Tigers, led by Joe Burrow, and the Clemson Tigers, led by Trevor Lawrence. LSU pulled off the victory to the tune of 42-25 behind Burrow’s six total touchdowns.
Burrow, the favorite to be selected first overall in the 2020 NFL Draft, recorded a College Football record 60 touchdown passes in a single-season… Sixty! Last I checked, that’s a lot of touchdown passes. He also had five more rushing for good measure, giving him 65 total touchdowns in 15 games. There’s a 99.999999999% chance that Joe Burrow will be joining the AFC North in 2020 when the Cincinnati Bengals select him with the first overall pick.
Enough about Burrow and the Bengals, what can we take away from this game that we can relate to the Baltimore Ravens?
For starters, each team’s respective defense has some major playmakers. For Clemson, it’s all about Isaiah Simmons. Is he a linebacker or is he a safety? Who cares, just throw him on your defense and let him make plays. Simmons finished first on the team with 8.0 sacks and still racked up 104 tackles and three interceptions. Simmons is a freak. My comparison for him is a faster Kam Chancellor. For Baltimore to have a chance for him, they’d have to move into the top-ten picks of the upcoming draft; something very unlikely to happen.
On the other Tigers defense, LSU has some studs in players like edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson and cornerback Kristian Fulton. Fulton didn’t have the best game of his career, but he was exceptional all season long. Chaisson remained hot vs. Clemson and pressured Trevor Lawrence and co. all game long.
Offensively, Clemson wide receiver Tee Higgins put on a show in 2019. Higgins averaged nearly 20.0 YPR while scoring 13 times. Higgins, standing at 6’4″ 215-lbs., is an athletic marvel who would be perfect outside for the Ravens.
The biggest name to look out for is LSU wide receiver, Justin Jefferson. Jefferson was the best receiver no one talked about in 2019, putting up a gaudy stat line of 111 receptions for 1,540 receiving yards and18 touchdowns. Jefferson is also a bigger-bodied receiver at 6’3″ 192-lbs. While there isn’t one aspect of his game that stands out as elite, there’s a lot he does well. Baltimore should definitely keep him high on their draft board.
All in all, this year’s CFP National Championship game was loaded with future NFL players. The Baltimore Ravens likely tuned in and took some notes on some of the players eligible for the 2020 NFL Draft, but these are a few of the names who stood out to us the most.