A little bored at work, so I thought I would give an analysis of the Baltimore Ravens' draft picks from what I have seen on tape.

Courtney Upshaw, OLB

The first thing I notice is he's NFL ready. He's got the build and strength that should allow him to contribute early on. Fantastic run defender. I feel he can come in right away and be an above average run defender with the potential to be elite there. In terms of pass rushing ability I think people's expectations need to be tempered a bit. Not to say he's a bad pass rusher, but it's unreasonable based on tape to think he will just come out and give double digit sacks. He gets compared to Suggs, but doesn't have the first step or anticipation that makes Suggs elite. He does however have a fantastic bull rush and uses his hands pretty well. It's a great move by him to try and lose a few as that could help with the short area quickness. If he can become really good at anticipating the snap it would really improve his pass rush ability. I think Kruger will take over as the primary pass rusher as I think he's the better of the two at this point. I see him more as a 7-8 sack guy and elite run defender, but this kid is violent and knows how to play the game so I wouldn't be shocked if he proves me wrong. He will be fun to watch.

Kelechi Osemele, G

Obviously the first thing that stands out is he is HUGE!! He's got great size and Strength. He was a 4 year starter at LT, but on tape you see why he translates better to G. Struggled in space a bit and had a tough time with speed guys. Kicking into G he won't have those problems as much and can use his strength and freakishly long arms as it's more confined inside. Once he engages his man it's game over for the defender. His strength is really impressive and I think he can play early as well. Some were concerned about him in our zone blocking scheme, but for his size he is pretty athletic and I think he will be fine. more of a waist bender than a knee bender which he needs to work on to win the leverage, but he does have the strength to compensate for that. The LG position should come down to him or Jah in what will be one of the best battles in camp.

(More analysis on the other Ravens draft picks after the 'Jump')

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I know many people are panicking right now, but there really is no reason too. This is one of the deepest defenses we have had in awhile and the next man will step up. Our defense is not built around one player and that is what makes our D so good. We have some of the leagues finest at all levels of the defense and I know they will help pick up the slack along with some of our younger players. While Terrell Suggs will be missed and can't be replaced individually, let me tell you why we will still have one of the top units in 2012.

1) Offense will be better:

While it's basically the same unit, the chemistry will be huge for the progression of our offense. Joe Flacco had a lot of new and young weapons to throw to last year and at times it caused some issues. The lockout hurt the situation even more since some of these young guys couldn't really get in a good off-season program. Still will the lack of chemistry, Flacco played his best when he was called on against the better teams in the league. He had a great playoff run and played some of his best games of the year against Pitt 2x, San Francisco, Houston, and Cincy 2x. I think Flacco and the offense takes another big step forward and that should relieve some stress off the D.

2) Kruger & Upshaw can put up similar numbers to Suggs & JJ:

I know some are thinking I am crazy, but let me explain. While Suggs was an animal and pulled out an amazing 14 sacks, his counter part only pulled out 2.5. I think Paul Kruger and Courtney Upshaw combined can pull a similar total number. People really underrate Kruger as a pass rusher. If you go back and watch his tape last year he consistently dominated his man. He had 5.5 sacks as a situational guy, but was constantly pressuring the QB when he didn't get to him or just missed out on a sack because someone else got there first. He has a big arsenal of moves and I think he takes over Suggs position as the top pass rusher. I won't be shocked to see a 9-11 sack season.

I think Upshaw will take over JJ's role and transition great there. U pshaw is already very good at stopping the run and has potential to be elite. He has NFL ready strength and I think is ready to contribute day one. He is a much more gifted pass rusher than JJ and will have a lot of one on one match-ups to work with on the other side. If he can play the run well and give us 4-6 sacks, which I think he can, he will have done his job.

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Draft time is one of my favorite times of the year. I really get into the drafts and spend countless hours going over scouting reports and film rather than doing the things I'm supposed to be doing like school and work. With getting so close to the draft I just thought it would be fun to have a little draft Q&A before we get started as well as what's your dream draft? I'm sure Malor and others who are big on it as well would help join in. I just thought it would be fun to get different people's opinions on prospects as it's nearly impossible to fully gauge how well a prospect will translate to the next level. This will also help with anybody who has questions on certain prospects or just want more knowledge. Many of us have some knowledge of the first round and some second round guys, but this would also help for those who want to know more about guys beyond that. So basically this is pretty much just a pre-draft open thread, so fire away.

My dream draft.

1. Stephen Hill WR

2. Ronell Lewis OLB/MLB

3. Brandon Brooks OG

4. Phillip Blake C

5. Janzen Jackson FS

5. Devon Wylie WR/KR

6. Rokevious Watkins OG

7. Hebron Fangupo DT

I'm sitting at work bored so thought hey why not make a mock draft? I have made two different scenarios, so tell me which one you like best, if any.

Option 1- no trades

Round 1- Stephen Hill WR

Pick that has been of serious debate, but for me I take him in a heartbeat. People say he has no production, but when your offense only throws it 19% of the time and you are able to get 800+ yards at 30 YPC that is not too shabby. He does need some work, but has shown potential in both route running and he has natural hands, so with more reps the kid will be a stud.

Round 2- Bobby Wagner/Mychael Kendricks MLB

Tough for me to decide out of these two, but I love both their games. Wagner I feel will drop because he was unable to workout at the combine and pro day because of pneumonia, but really underated player. After Kuechly he is the most productive LB in this draft. since his sophomore year he has had at least 114 tackles every season and with his athleticism and explosion he is being looked at as an OLB as well. Also a great coverage guy. Had a great senior bowl and was dissappointed he didn't get to perform at the combine. Kendricks is similar. Impressive athlete with some explosion as well as production being he was the pac 12 defensive player of the year. Really flies downhill after the ball carrier. Knock on him is he's only 5'10, but has impressive athleticism and leaping ability to make up for it. If he's a couple inches taller he probably goes first round.

Round 3- Senio Kelemete G

Bit of a raw prospect, but tremendous upside. Former LT in college, but due to his size and not having the feet for the positions looks to be an imposing G. Strong lower half and shows potential as a dominant run blocker that can create some big movement up front. Good athlete which will help with the pass blocking and blocking in space, but needs to work on his technique a bit.

Round 4 comp pick- Brandon Taylor FS

A guy who I think gets overlooked when he's played with guys like Claiborne, Mathieu and Peterson at LSU, but a guy I think has some potential. Has good range and instincts at the position and played a key role in arguably the best secondary in the nation. Not a speedster, but decent speed. Needs to work on tackling and probably needs to add a few pounds, but a guy I think could potentially become a starter down the road based on his smarts and instincts.

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There has been a ton of confusion from fans, players, media, and well, everybody as far as the scenarios.Obviously the simplest way would be NE or HOU to lose so we get the #1 or #2 seed locked if we win out. However, if there is a 3 way tie then it gets a little confusing, so I'm going to do my best to clear this up for everybody. These are the rules in order according to NFL.com. These are the wild card tie breakers and these are the same tie breakers applied to a three team tie who are in different divisions.

1.

Apply division tie breaker to eliminate all but the highest ranked club in each division prior to proceeding to step 2. The original seeding within a division upon application of the division tie breaker remains the same for all subsequent applications of the procedure that are necessary to identify the two Wild-Card participants.

None of us are in the same division, so onto the next one.

2.

2.Head-to-head sweep. (Applicable only if one club has defeated each of the others or if one club has lost to each of the others.)

This one is ruled out because we haven't played the pats and they haven't played the texans.

3.

Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference

If we all win out we would all finish with a 10-2 conference record so again that is thrown out.

4.

Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.

Because there is a minimum of four games and all 3 teams have to face the same opponents this one gets thrown out as well.

5.

Strength of victory.

I was misinformed on this previously and strength of victory is the combined record of teams you have beaten. Pats .418 Texans .403 Ravens .519

Strength of schedule.

More than likely rule 5 would decide it, but just thought I would throw out the next one just to let you guys now. As mentioned, the easiest way to get a first round bye is for Hou or NE to lose a game and we win out.

Thanks OC52 for clearing this up. This is the updated picture and as you can see the Ravens strength of victory is much higher than Texans and Pats. Again sorry for the confustion so if we win out we will be the #1 seed

Final schedules

Bal: SD (6-7), Cle (4-9), Cin (7-9)

NE: Den (8-5), Mia (4-9), Buff (5-8)

Hou: Car (4-9), Ind (0-12), Tenn (7-6)

http://www.nfl.com/standings/tiebreakingprocedures

Didn't see one up here yet, so just thought I would go ahead and throw one up here. I'll just start off by saying I have a lot of respect for your organization and the fans we have talked with on the beatdown have been very classy. Our Teams will be linked for quite some time due to our young QB's, so it's a good idea to get to know each other. So fire away and I'm sure other's will join me as well.

I was just bored and thought I would make a fanpost to talk about what we are going to do when the lockout ends. All signs are pointing to the deal becoming official this thursday at the owners meeting. From what I have heard it sounds like there will then be a three day window to sign our own guys and then we can bring in guys from other teams.I just wanted to make a post to discuss all this chaos that will happen and how does everyone think we will approach it? Which guys do we let test the market? Who do we plan on bringing in? Which rookies are you most excited to see in camp? It will be a very exciting time this weekend and I am looking forward to the rush of news we will all be hearing.

Here's a highlight tape of all our rookies for those of you who haven't got a chance to look at all of our picks.

Baltimore Ravens Draft Class 2011 Highlights (via BmoreLikeBaltimore)

Now that the draft is over we can start to have a better idea of what our Baltimore Ravens will look like. We also have many questions and every move is very critical because we are a Super Bowl contender. Starting or not starting, cutting or not cutting a certain guy could be the difference between a championship or another disappointing loss. Let's look at some of the interesting scenarios.

Who are going to be our starting OT's?

As of right now Michael Oher has the LT spot, but that could change. I think the drafting of Jah Reid pushes Jared Gaither out, however what if we end up playing by last years rules? If that's the case Gaither stays with us if not traded and now we have two LT's. I personally thing Gaither is the better LT, but the Ravens will also have to decide if they want to pay him that money. If we end up going by last years rules the Gaither situation could be interesting.

Oher will be the LT if Gaither is gone, but who on the right? Reid is the first guy who comes to mind, but some people have forgotten about Ramon Harewood. Harewood is a project, but he is very intelligent and has ideal size for an OT. He was one of the four player who showed up at the facility to workout on Friday, which tells me he is ready to work. Reid needs some work on technique as well, but could be the starter right away. This should be a very interesting battle come training camp.

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Rumor has it that Talib more than like will be released by the Bucs once we get the CBA figured out. I am one of the people that believe we are perfectly fine at CB, however there's no denying Talib is one of the top young talents in the league. He definitely comes with a lot of baggage and is a high risk, high reward type player. Do you think our veteran lead locker room could keep him in check? I don't know if I want to bring him in or not, but definitely feel we should look into it as a possibility. He has great size which our CB's don't have and could be the guy to handle some of the bigger Wr's we go against. If we feel we can keep him focused and under control I think we should make the move.What is everyone's opinion on possibly bringing in Talib if he's cut?

         I represented our Baltimore Ravens in a live mock draft and wanted to share my picks with you all so far. This one does not have a clock so it's gone rather slow. I wanted to do a full write up of all my picks, but I'm not sure how quick it will all be completed. For now I will go over our picks up until the 3rd round and let me know what you all think?

Round 1- Justin Houston, OLB , Georgia.

       The Ravens really lacked a pass rush opposite Suggs and Houston should provide an immediate impact in pass rushing situations. Some of us Ravens fans see Houston as Suggs 2.0 and feel he is more than capable of adjusting to OLB in our 3-4. He has an amazing first step and is big for an OLB and should be great against the run with a little more technique. Not really sold on any of the OT's in this draft other than Carimi who was already off the board. I also considered Jimmy Smith because of his talent, but ultimately felt the Pass rush is a much bigger need than CB and that Houston has the potential to become one of the top pass rushers in the draft. See highlights here.

Round 2- Titus Young, WR, Boise St.

       The Ravens were hoping Hankerson or Baldwin would be there, but are perfectly fine with Titus Young. He adds the speed and playmaking ability the Ravens really need. I am not big on Torrey Smith and feel Titus Young is much more elusive in the open field. Young is one of the best in the draft as far as exploding in and out of his breaks which is not easily taught and while his route running needs some work, he has the potential to be one of the top route runners in this draft. This will give us our deep threat we desperately need,should keep the defense honest, and keep take some attention off the running game which was not the same last year. The Ravens have now added two playmakers on each side of the ball and also filled two of the top three needs. See highlights here.

Round 3- Clint Boling, OG, Georgia Tech

       The Ravens add Clint Boling to an offensive line that struggled last season. We would have love to add an OT in the 3rd, but felt Boling had better value than any still on the board. Boling reminds me a lot of our own Marshall Yanda with his versatility and experience playing OT and G. Although Yanda's better position is G, he filled in fine at OT last year and Boling should be a day one starter at G. Boling is a tough nose hard worker who some analysts have said plays with a mean streak at times. Our running game was not the same last year and Boling should be an upgrade at G. With Boling being a potential 2nd rounder I feel he has too much value to pass up in the 3rd. Ever since Round 2 ended we were targeting Boling or Greg Little and with Little off the board this pick was pretty easy. We have now helped our top 3 needs in our first 3 picks and I believe found guys that can contribute from day one. See highlights here.

Round 4- Lee Ziemba,OT, Auburn

        The Ravens select Daniel Ziemba because OT is another major need and Ziemba is a guy with a ton of starting experience and who could eventually be a starter on the right side. He's coming fresh off of a national championship and plays in the extremely tough SEC. While he needs to learn more technique, he has the foot speed and size to work his way to becoming a starter. We would really like him to turn into a solid starter so that Yanda can go back inside to guard which is his best position. See highlights here.

That wraps up our first four rounds and would like to know what you guys think? You can see the whole draft here.

Tom Zbikowski is coming off a first round knockout recently, but won't get to enjoy it for very long. He has already scheduled three more fights in the next month and a half. His next fight will be March 26th and will fight again two weeks later on April 9th. He will then fight again later in April. He is keeping himself busy and at least we know that he will be in shape. Read the rest of the story here.

 Now that we are officially in a lockout, who do we select in the draft if there is no agreement by then? A lot of us have debated on who to select with our picks, but one thing many of us are forgetting are the risks we are also taking by not selecting certain positions. OT is one of those positions that could be a major problem if we do not select one. We all saw the inconsistent line play last year with the absence of Gaither and believe that could all be fixed by either re-signing Gaither or finding an adequate replacement. We have no idea what the Gaither contract situation was looking like and they cannot begin talking until a deal is in place. If the lockout carries on past the draft, not selecting a OT would be a huge risk if we are unable to re-sign Gaither. We could end up running into similar problems as last year and that would leave us very thin at OT.

We also have some free agents at CB and WR. If  we were to not select any of those positions and lost some of those players, that could also create some holes for our team. I know a lot of us are on the fence about wanting to bring Mason back and most would agree to let Housh and Stallworth go, but it may not be that easy. I feel WR is up there as a major draft need, but that WR may not even be able to contribute very much this season. If this lockout cuts into training camp then this rookie class will be way behind on learning playbooks,schemes and what it's like to go against NFL talent. WR is a tough position to transition from college and if we select a WR, I'm not sure how much contribution he really will give us. Whether we like it or not we may be forced to bring back Mason and Housh or Stallworth because they are familiar with the offense.

We really may not be able to expect much from this rookie class depending on how long this lasts, we may have to try and keep as many vets as we can if this does last long. I am wondering how everyone thinks we should approach this draft? This off-season needs to be handled very delicately because we have a team that is not far away from making the Superbowl and one move we make or don't make could get us there or keep us right where we have been the last few years. Do we play it conservative or do we not let this bad situation dictate how we approach our off-season?

I made a fanpost a couple days ago about Tom Zbikowski getting back in the ring this saturday to pursue boxing again. It now looks like he already knows who he wants to fight after. Zbi has now challenged Chad Ochocinco to get in the ring with him for a charity event. Ochocinco started the war on twitter, where he was talking about Zbi's lack of speed and that he would cause him to go "nite nite." Zbikowski responded back by saying  "Dear Ocho Cinco (I won't call you Johnson cause you only get one name change in my book), thanks for following my career. … You and me at M&T Bank Stadium, charity four-round boxing match. You wear Orange and Black and I will wear Purple and black. If we do it in May, that should give you enough time to get ready. … You game?" Zbi later posted on twitter that he was serious and asked Ochocinco's agent to make it happen. It's almost guaranteed this would never happen, but how awesome would that be? Read the whole story and war of words here.

There has been speculation on whether Willis McGahee will be back with us next season and it's looking more and more unlikely we will see McGahee wearing purple next season. Drew Rosenhaus has stated that McGahee will not be taking a pay cut. Rosenhaus was quoted saying, "We don’t expect to be back unless they’ll pay him his contract." We all know once Rosenhaus gets involved that things are likely to go sour and it is unlikely the Ravens and McGahee will come to an agreement. Between losing Willis and possibly McClain, the RB position now has become a greater need and something the Ravens may need to address through the draft or FA. Read the whole story here.

I was just reading through ESPN and saw that Tom Zbikowski will fight March, 12 as an undercard fight on PPV. He will be fighting on the Miguel Cotto Vs. Ricardo Mayorga undercard. For those of you that don't know much about Zbikowski, he boxed throughout college and has fought one fight professionally before. Looks like he won't be out of work for too long if there is a lockout. What is everyone's thoughts on this? Read the rest of the story here.

Mike Preston has reported that the Balitmore Ravens plan on cutting Willis McGahee. He did also report that the ravens could also bring him back, but at a reduced rate. I think many of us saw this coming due to the 6 million dollars owed and I am wondering what is everyone's opinion on this? This could be a move to also possibly re-sign McClain now to a backfield that will need some help now. You can find the story here.

It was announced today that the Tennessee Titans have released Jeff Fisher as Head Coach. A lot of people here on BB are saying that we need some major changes, how about this one? Harbaugh currently is not under contract with the Ravens and Fisher has now just hit the market. I personally don't think we should, but know there will be several others who think that we should. Just making this post to see what all of your opinions would be on bringing in Fisher and letting Harbaugh go? Once again I am not suggesting we do this, just interested in the opinions of others. Follow the link to here the whole story.Jeff Fisher Fired.

 According to Yahoo-Sports' ranking of the best LB groups, We're only ranked 11th. They only gave props to Ray and put all of our other linebackers down. I agree that Suggs had his worst season, but he is still talented. They claimed that Tavares Gooden and Jarret Johnson were "just guys'. First of all, they must not watch us too often, considering JJ was one of our top defensive players, if not the best defensive player last year. Second, Tavares wasn't even our starter towards the end of the year, Ellerbe took over and played at a high level. But they didn't even mention Ellerbe's name once. They also were bashing Kruger who is more than likely not even playing LB next year. Yahoo-Sports also failed to mention that we drafted Sergio Kindle, but they mentioned other rookie LB's for other teams. I just think some of the people at Yahoo-Sports need to watch a little more Baltimore Raven's football.

See all the rankings here.

It has been reported that Brandon Marshall was given a first round tender today. Intstead of us having to give up multiple draft picks, we only have to give up a first. I don't know about the rest of you, but I would do this in a heart beat. Instead of drafting a receiver who may bust, we can go out and get a pro-bowl receiver who is pretty much a lock for 100 rec. and 1000 yards.If we could do this and re-sign mason, our receiving core will be solid and we can address our pass rush and CB situation with our other picks or FA. We also tendered Gaither for a first, so if someone picks him up we would get their first. We possibly could get Marshall and move up in the first round. What do you guys think?

Did anybody hear about Darrell Green supposedly running a 4.43 forty on his 50th birthday? If this is true, it is really an amazing feat and shows how Athletic Darrell Green is. Has anybody heard anymore of this and did anybody catch this on tape? I don't know if I believe this, but then again he could fly back in the day. Even at 50 I would take him over most of our current corners lol.

Hey all,

I'm new to the beatdown and just wanted to say I look forward to talking to all of you about our amazing ravens team.I'm sure you all are just as excited as I am about this year and the progress we have made.This young offense is going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come and our D speaks for itself.Those steelers should be very worried.GO RAVENS