What I want to see happen at the beginning of the draft

[mic79e]

When the draft begins I’m going to be hoping that teams go for the “skill” position players and the fast risers early and often. I want to see Aaron Rogers, Alex Smith, the top running backs (Ronnie Brown, Carnell Williams, Cedric Benson), and especially the top receivers (not so much Mike Williams, but definitely guys in the next group like Troy Williamson and Mark Clayton) go as high as possible. The more “skill” position players gone the better, and the higher they go the better too. It’s likely they’ll all be gone before 22, but exactly when they are drafted, is still important for the Ravens. The reason why it’s important is because, the quicker the top players at a position get snapped up, the more chance there is of other teams, who wanted those guys, reaching for other prospects at the same position. The majority of teams in the league are susceptible to doing this, especially at skill positions like receiver. An example would be a team really wanting Mike Williams, and then drafting Troy Williamson instead, but purely because they missed out on Williams but have decided they want a receiver. Teams should never draft a player for any reason other than they want him on their team, they’ve scouted that individual and because of what he brings to the table he is a guy they want. But a lot of teams take the approach that they want a DT, and because the three they wanted are gone, they take the next best at that position, rather than looking at all the players left and picking based on the individual himself, and not a position.

So hopefully a couple of positions have a run of players taken, and other teams reach for fast rising players that have made their names at the combine rather than on the field. That way proven top players at other positions, like Ed Reed, Ray Lewis and Todd Heap, can fall to us.

I think this will happen, especially in a draft with a lot of closely ranked prospects, and that is why I've never been concerned with the possibility of us staying at 22.