| Carl Setterlund. 6th May, 2006 - 5:37 am
 Picks:
1st Round: Haloti Ngata, DT, Oregon (12)
2nd Round: Chris Chester, C, Oklahoma (56)
3rd Round: David Pittman, CB, Northwestern State (87)
4th Round: Demetrius Williams, WR, Oregon (111); PJ Daniels Jr., RB, Georgia Tech (132)
5th Round: Dawan Landry, S, Georgia Tech (146); Quinn Sypniewski, TE, Colorado (166)
6th Round: Sam Koch, P, Nebraska (203); Derrick Martin, CB, Wyoming (208)
7th Round: Ryan Lacasse, DE, Syracuse (219)
The Ravens didn’t go fancy in this draft, they just went for need. Although the names they took aren’t all that high-profile, other teams should have taken a clue from the Ravens’ course. Trading up for Ngata probably wasn’t necessary but all the same, he’s going to be huge (literally) for the Ravens defense. Ngata is going to free up Ray Lewis more and you know that Baltimore is at their best when Ray Lewis is at his best.
Chester was a nice pickup especially considering the options at center after him. He’s got nice upside. Pittman was another decent pickup and probably should have gone higher than the late third round. Baltimore really needed some cornerback depth and he’s going to be great in nickel situations.
Demetrius Williams in the fourth round was a steal, and although the Ravens’ receiving core was starting to look formidable, you can never give Kyle Boller (or Steve McNair potentially!) enough help.
I thought Derrick Martin in the sixth round was another smart move as he has good upside and again adds a little more depth to a Ravens secondary that is essential to their success. There isn’t much else to talk about here other than Baltimore picked up a little special teams help late, which never hurts.
Looking before the draft, I had thought that work on both the offensive and defensive lines was the most pressing need and the Ravens followed suit and upgraded on both sides in the first two rounds. I still don’t like that they ignored safety for the most part (not a huge Dawan Landry fan), but you can’t always get what you want. For the most part though Ozzie Newsome was able to get what he needed.
Grade: B + |
