| Jeff Risdon. 21st May, 2007 - 8:34 pm
 The picks:
1st round, #29 overall--Ben Grubbs, G, Auburn
3rd round, #74--Yamon Figurs, WR/KR, Kansas State
3rd round, #86--Marshal Yanda, G/T, Iowa
4th round, #134--Antwan Barnes, LB/DE, Florida Intl.
4th round, #137--LeRon McClain, FB, Alabama
5th round, #174--Troy Smith, QB, Ohio State
6th round, #207--Prescott Burgess, LB, Michigan
Best pick: Grubbs
Worst pick: Figurs
Analysis:
When you’re as close to the Super Bowl as these Ravens are, and almost all your starters are returning, it’s hard to find glaring weaknesses. Grubbs and Yanda fill the biggest need, which is youth and physicality up front. Grubbs is NFL-ready at guard, a good athlete with picture-perfect technique in run blocking. He’s a very safe pick who should emerge as an above-average starter for years, though he will need to strengthen his base in pass blocking.
Yanda is a nasty, aggressive overachiever who can play G as well. He has the looks of a very capable utility lineman and the maturity and demeanor to embrace that role.
Figurs is (the Ravens hope) this year’s Devin Hester, a dynamic return man built like a starving 9th grader but highly elusive, tough, and possessing outstanding vision and innate feel for returns. As a WR he’s a major project and he’s not any better at it now than he was when he got to college in 2002. For a team with myriad needs Figurs would be a monumental waste in the 3rd round, but the Ravens have questions about their returning returner PJ Sam, and they can afford to risk the pick here.
Barnes is a 240-pound DE with great quickness that the Ravens believe can convert successfully to a pass-rushing OLB. They don’t need him to start right away and that’s a very good thing, because he’s another project-type.
I really like the McClain pick in the 4th round even though he probably won’t get more than 25 touches in the next 4 years. He is a big-time headbanging battering ram of a blocker, and he has an infectious spirit that will play very well in their locker room. He could be the next Lorenzo Neal.
I wrote a whole article about Smith but the skinny is that he wound up in an ideal situation for himself, and the Ravens risked little on a 3rd string QB with considerable upside and a history of beating the expectations and odds against him.
Burgess strikes me as one of those “Who is left that our fans might recognize from a big school” late-round picks destined for the practice squad at best.
Grade: B
The biggest holes they had headed into the draft were on the OL, FB, and youth at LB. Look at their picks and how well they mesh with those holes. They upgraded their run blocking and took on projects with good upside and little pressure to perform immediately on a team with some very strong veteran mentors. A more natural T and a true pass-rushing DE would have been nice in the later rounds. |
