For the No. 26 pick in the second-annual Cincy Jungle Mock Draft, our very own Friar Bob selected for the Baltimore Ravens, who have the standard three picks. Here is the pick.....
With the No. 26 pick in the 2011 Cincy Jungle Mock Draft, the Baltimore Ravens select...
Adrian Clayborn, DE, Iowa
Last year the Ravens were fairly successful, contesting for the AFC-N crown until very late in the season, and giving the Steelers a run for their money again in the playoffs. Though they failed to get either the division title or a trip to the AFC Championship game, they still had a decent season that was rather respectable. But both their offense and defense were worse this year than last, and that's a trend that cannot be allowed to continue if they wish to unseat the Steelers in either the division or the conference. Nor was their drop confined to some tight subset of their game, as passing yards, rushing yards, and points per game were all lower on offense both in raw numbers and overall ranking in the NFL. On defense the reduction was fairly minor in both rushing yards and points per game, but there was still some lost ground, and passing defense was significantly worse. Oddly enough, many people predicted before the season that it would be, but for a completely different reason. Most of us expected their secondary to be garbage, yet while it was poor to start the year it got better as the year went on and appears to be no longer a source of "raw emergency", at least. It also managed to collect 16 Ints as well, which was at least decent if not elite. In contrast, however, they had only 27 sacks all year, tied with Cincinnati and Buffalo for one of the worst totals in the NFL (only Tampa, Jacksonville, and Denver were worse). Clearly, the defensive front seven is not getting enough pressure on the opposing quarterback, and this is likely a much bigger cause of the pass defense problems.
Injury played a very significant part in these stats, especially on offense. With Jared Gaither going down to injury before the season even started and Michael Oher struggling to convert to left tackle, the offensive line did suffer. Many pundits think that they should move Oher back to the right and draft a left-tackle, but Harbaugh is insistent that Oher is their LT. This could well be nothing more than a smokescreen, of course, but if it's not, then it's less likely they'll draft an OT in the first round, even if almost every Ravens fan seems to feel their most critical need is to improve their OL. And with the recent run on tackles I didn't see a candidate worthy of being drafted who wasn't at least some degree of a reach. They could also use a deep threat at WR, which Stallworth has spectacularly failed (so far at least) to provide, but again a prime target didn't seem to be available, and a later draft round (or free agency or a trade) could possibly provide this as well. Finally they really could use some improvement in the linebacker corps, for despite the presence of one of the best ILB's in the league they eventually do need to find his replacement (even if it may yet be a few years off... but then again it might not be), and they could also use some improvement to the OLB position as well. Yet once again there wasn't an available target that wasn't a significant reach (aside -- maybe -- from Martez Wilson, who was a redshirt Junior and also missed an entire year to a herniated disk injury, which leaves him too risky a pick), and this leaves us stymied here as well.Lacking any obvious choice in the need department, I thus fell back on the BPA. The best player available, at least according to the charts I consulted, was Adrian Clayborn. He was rated as a good pass rusher by both CBSSports and National Football Post, and while neither felt he was a superstar in the making he appears to be a potential contributor for many years. And since so many teams preach BPA, I decided to just give him to them and let the coaches figure out some way to use him effectively.
Adrian Clayborn Highlights:
Draft Overview:
# | Team | Picked By | Name/Positon of Pick |
1 | Carolina | James Shively | Nick Fairley / DT |
2 | Denver | sexsalad | Patrick Peterson / CB |
3 | Buffalo | Elguapo09 | Von Miller / OLB |
4 | Cincinnati | Jason Garrison +2 | A.J. Green / WR |
5 | Arizona | Broski | Da'Quan Bowers / DE |
6 | Cleveland | Joe Goodberry | Marcell Dareus / DL |
7 | San Francisco | Heybrown | Prince Amukamara / CB |
8 | Tennessee | Oxalis | Cam Newton / QB |
9 | Dallas | Jim0ijk | Robert Quinn / DE |
10 | Washington | Pardon_My_French | Blaine Gabbert / QB |
11 | Houston | Joe27 | Julio Jones / WR |
12 | Minnesota | CarsonOrBust | Tyron Smith / OL |
13 | Detroit | The_Black_Stripes | Cameron Jordan / DL |
14 | St. Louis | Jaegner | Aldon Smith / DE |
15 | Miami | JaredM | Mark Ingram / RB |
16 | Jacksonville | Whodatchemsit | JJ Watt / DE |
17 | New England (from Oakland / Seymour) | UpStateMike | Anthony Castonzo / OT |
18 | San Diego | Quickslant | Mike Pouncey / OG |
19 | New York Giants | TheDealio | Akeem Ayers / OLB |
20 | Tampa Bay | Doc Scratch | Ryan Kerrigan / DE |
21 | Kansas City | Indesignkat | Corey Liuget / DT |
22 | Indianapolis | Ddbumpus | Nate Solder / OT |
23 | Philadelphia | Buckeyenut12 | Gabe Carimi / OT |
24 | New Orleans | FriarBob | Cameron Heyward / DE |
25 | Seattle | IgnatiusJReilly | Jake Locker/ QB |
26 | Baltimore | FriarBob | Adrian Clayborn/ DE |
27 | Atlanta | TruWhoDey | |
28 | New England | UpStateMike | |
29 | Chicago | Bsmith4256 | |
30 | New York Jets | Polo_614 | |
31 | Pittsburgh | Jason Garrison | |
32 | Green Bay | Sean Weaver | |
33 | New England (from Carolina / Armanti Edwards) | UpStateMike | |
34 | Buffalo | Elguapo09 | |
35 | Cincinnati | Jason Garrison +2 | |
36 | Denver | sexsalad | |
37 | Cleveland | Jason Garrison | |
38 | Arizona | Broski | |
39 | Tennessee | Oxalis | |
40 | Dallas | Jim0ijk | |
41 | Washington | Pardon_My_French | |
42 | Houston | Joe27 | |
43 | Minnesota | CarsonOrBust | |
44 | Detroit | The_Black_Stripes | |
45 | San Francisco | Heybrown | |
46 | Denver (from Miami / Brandon Marshall) | sexsalad | |
47 | St. Louis | Jaegner | |
48 | Oakland | NoodleXV | |
49 | Jacksonville | Whodatchemsit | |
50 | San Diego | Quickslant | |
51 | Tampa Bay | Doc Scratch | |
52 | New York Giants | TheDealio | |
53 | Indianapolis | Ddbumpus | |
54 | Philadelphia | Buckeyenut12 | |
55 | Kansas City | Indesignkat | |
56 | New Orleans | FriarBob | |
57 | Seattle | IgnatiusJReilly | |
58 | Baltimore | Joe Goodberry | |
59 | Atlanta | TruWhoDey | |
60 | New England | UpStateMike | |
61 | San Diego (from NYJets / Antonio Cromartie) | Quickslant | |
62 | Chicago | Bsmith4256 | |
63 | Pittsburgh | FriarBob | |
64 | Green Bay | Sean Weaver | |
65 | Carolina | James Shively | |
66 | Cincinnati | Jason Garrison +2 | |
67 | Denver | sexsalad | |
68 | Buffalo | Elguapo09 | |
69 | Arizona | Broski | |
70 | Cleveland | FriarBob | |
71 | Dallas | Jim0ijk | |
72 | New Orleans (from Washington / Jammal Brown) | FriarBob | |
73 | Houston | Joe27 | |
74 | New England (from Minnesota / Randy Moss) | UpStateMike | |
75 | Detroit | The_Black_Stripes | |
76 | San Francisco | Heybrown | |
77 | Tennessee | Oxalis | |
78 | St. Louis | Jaegner | |
79 | Miami | JaredM | |
80 | Jacksonville | Whodatchemsit | |
81 | Oakland | NoodleXV | |
82 | San Diego | Quickslant | |
83 | New York Giants | TheDealio | |
84 | Tampa Bay | Doc Scratch | |
85 | Philadelphia | Buckeyenut12 | |
86 | Kansas City | Indesignkat | |
87 | Indianapolis | Ddbumpus | |
88 | New Orleans | FriarBob | |
89 | San Diego (from Seattle / Charlie Whitehurst) | Quickslant | |
90 | Baltimore | Jason Garrison | |
91 | Atlanta | TruWhoDey | |
92 | New England | UpStateMike | |
93 | Chicago | Bsmith4256 | |
94 | New York Jets | Polo_614 | |
95 | Pittsburgh | Joe Goodberry | |
96 | Green Bay | Sean Weaver | |
97 | (possible compensatory) | ||
98 | (possible compensatory) | ||
99 | (possible compensatory) | ||
100 | (possible compensatory) |