What Would Progress In Year Two Mean For Ravens’ 2023 Draft Picks?
Bo Smolka, PressBox
ILB TRENTON SIMPSON (THIRD ROUND, NO. 86 OVERALL)
Barring a Josh Bynes-type veteran signing, not many Ravens will have greater opportunity this year than Simpson, who figures to succeed Patrick Queen and play alongside Pro Bowl linebacker Roquan Smith in the middle of the Ravens’ defense.
When the Ravens drafted Simpson in the third round out of Clemson last year, this appeared to be the road map all along. With Smith signed to a $100 million extension, Queen’s 2024 departure was viewed as a likely repercussion, and indeed, Queen signed with the archrival Pittsburgh Steelers as a free agent. Now Simpson is the next man up.
Simpson played primarily on special teams as a rookie, but in the regular-season finale, when the Ravens opted to rest several starters, he showed off the speed and instincts that initially drew the Ravens to him. Simpson had a sack and finished with 13 tackles.
Year Two progress for Simpson would mean: He slots in seamlessly as the starter, absorbing everything he can from Smith and showing the pursuit and open-field tackling that he flashed in that regular-season finale. He also demonstrates coverage ability that makes new coordinator Zach Orr keep him on the field as a three-down linebacker. Inside linebackers pile up tackles in the Ravens’ system, so if Simpson is healthy and consistent, 90 tackles and 3.5 sacks — Queen’s total last year — are realistic totals.
The case for the Ravens drafting Texas WR Adonai Mitchell in the first round
Jonas Shaffer, The Baltimore Banner
This year’s class, for instance, is especially rich with potential “X” receivers like Mitchell, who have the size, speed and strength to line up on the line of scrimmage, defeat press coverage and win their one-on-one matchups downfield. Bateman and Flowers both primarily lined up out wide last season, but Bateman did not command targets, and Flowers was often sent in motion before the snap. Beckham was actually the team’s most effective option as an isolated wide receiver, averaging an impressive 2.8 yards per route run in those alignments, according to Sports Info Solutions, far ahead of Flowers (1.8 yards) and Bateman (1.7 yards).
Athletically, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Mitchell is a rare breed. His 4.34-second 40-yard dash is in the 97th percentile for wide receivers and the 99th percentile for players his size. His broad jump, a measure of lower-body explosiveness, is in the 99th percentile for wide receivers and the 100th percentile for players his size. His vertical jump is in the 92nd percentile for both groups. His 6-foot-5 wingspan is also above average.
Even in an offense starring the lighting-fast Worthy, Mitchell was the Longhorns’ most popular deep threat. He had eight completions on 22 targets of at least 20 air yards last season, both team highs, and he caught 88.9% of the deep shots that were considered on-target, according to SIS.
In a Ravens attack with a long-inconsistent downfield passing game, Mitchell could develop into a much-needed safety net: savvy enough to separate downfield, fast enough to get behind safeties and big enough to win jump-ball throws along the sideline.
NFL Draft: In an ultra-deep offensive line class, take your pick from a variety of styles
Nate Tice, Yahoo Sports
BYU’s Kingsley Suamataia is a tackle who can be maddeningly inconsistent but has the length and light feet of a starting NFL tackle. He has length and big hands, and consistently stays square with the ability to recover if he loses right away. Suamataia’s eyes and awareness are all over the place right now, but when he is able to narrow his focus you can see his movement ability shine. There is some need to grade to the flash for Suamataia and he will need to be in a good situation to stick in the league, either with a good line coach or not having to be the starting left tackle right away (or both).
Spots like the Eagles, Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens, San Francisco 49ers or Chiefs are all landing spots that would make sense for Suamataia, Paul and Guyton.
[Jordan] Morgan has below-average length, but is a good athlete with clean feet that can keep up with the better athletes on the outside. He should get a chance to play right tackle, but his strength and movement ability project to make him a good starting guard, who perhaps could be unlocked by a team that values its linemen moving in space, like the Miami Dolphins or 49ers. A potential starter at three spots (with emergency left tackle ability) is going to give him plenty of fans.
2024 NFL Draft: Highest-graded edge defender in every category
Mason Cameron, PFF
LATE-DOWN PASS-RUSH GRADE: MOHAMED KAMARA, COLORADO STATE: 90.8
Kamara uses his natural leverage advantage to win with power, a trait he flashed frequently on late-downs. On third and fourth downs, the former Ram produced 25 total pressures, five of which resulted in a sack, on just over 100 late-down snaps. That effort amounted to an incredible 27.2% pass-rush win rate.
LATE-DOWN RUN-DEFENSE GRADE: NELSON CEASER, HOUSTON: 82.3
Ceaser profiles well as a late-down rotational edge defender at the next level due to his understanding and use of leverage, particularly in the run game. The former Cougar racked up five run stops of third and fourth down to pair with a phenomenal 20.4% positively graded play rate compared to just 2% on the negative side.
2024 NFL Draft: How three trends in pro football connect to this year’s prospect class
Chace Daskalos & Jack Habegger, NFL.com
Prospects are getting lighter and faster
Since 2003, wide receivers participating in the combine have run increasingly faster in the 40-yard dash, but no receiver class has been quicker than the 2024 crew, which just set the event on fire. In fact, the class clocked the fastest average 40 time (4.44) of any WR group over the last two decades.
The trend extends well beyond the wide receiver position. The past few classes of quarterbacks, running backs, tight ends, edge defenders, linebackers and safeties have all been among the lightest over the past two decades. The only positions that have bucked the trend are in the trenches: offensive linemen and defensive tackles. While lighter and faster edge defenders might be more explosive as pass rushers, they can become a liability when trying to set the edge in the run game. Similarly, new-look linebackers will be more equipped for coverage than taking on blocks and fitting the run.
The weight distributions at edge rusher and linebacker have seen a major shift since the turn of the decade, with both groups weighing nearly 5 pounds fewer on average.
The top four edge rushers in Daniel Jeremiah’s latest ranking of the top 50 prospects in the 2024 class (Dallas Turner, Jared Verse, Laiatu Latu and Chop Robinson) all weighed in under 260 pounds and clocked a sub-4.65 40.
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