Hello all, and welcome to this week’s edition of the Ravens Weekly Roundup. Here in this segment of articles on The Baltimore Feather, we take a look at and review all of the most important news and happenings surrounding the Baltimore Ravens. This week, the NFL world, along with the Baltimore Ravens, were completely engulfed in the NFL Draft, and basically all of our news has to deal with the three days of the NFL Draft, except for one important piece.
Thursday, April 27, 2017 – Day One of the NFL Draft
On Thursday, the NFL Draft kicked off in Philadelphia. The first round was held that night, and it sure made for good television. Besides the first pick in the draft, no one really knew how it would pan out. The Bears surprised everyone by trading up one spot to snag North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, despite having signed free agent quarterback Mike Glennon, and the Browns made out like bandits, as they had three selections in the first round. These selections were DE from Texas A&M Myles Garret, S from Michigan Jabrill Peppers, and TE from Miami David Njoku. The Ravens picked Marlon Humphrey, CB from Alabama, in the first round with the 16th overall pick. Humphrey is a solid pick, and will be first in line in our Draft Review series, which we will touch more on later.
Friday, April 28, 2017 – Day Two of the NFL Draft
On Friday I made the journey out to Philadelphia to be at the NFL Draft in person. It was a fantastic experience, as it was very well put together. My favorite part was the draft selection room in the Franklin Institute, where all the draft picks were being called in near a gigantic statue of Benjamin Franklin. The only downside was standing outside in the hot weather waiting for the picks to be announced. At one point, the NFL was three picks behind. In the second round, the Ravens selected Tyus Bowser, a linebacker from Houston. I actually projected the Ravens to select Bowser in this Mock Draft, however with a third round pick instead. They later went on to snag Michigan DT Chris Wormley, and Alabama OLB Tim Williams in the third round, perhaps the steals of the draft. Their first four picks were all defensive players, which shows Baltimore’s commitment to the defense.
Saturday, April 29, 2017 – Day Three of the NFL Draft & CJ Mosley
Back at home for the final rounds, I sat through the full 6 hours of rounds 4-7, granted that I multitasked and get some other personal things done. The Ravens had three picks in these rounds, one in the 4th, 5th and 6th. With their 4th round pick the Baltimore Ravens selected Nico Siragusa, guard from San Diego State. I actually had the Ravens taking him in my full 7 round Mock Draft as well, however I projected a trade to give the Ravens another 4th round pick, and thought they would use that to select Siragusa. In the 5th round, the Ravens selected another guard, Jermaine Eluemunor, from Texas A&M. Eluemunor was actually born in London England, before he moved to the United States at age 14. He also used to play rugby before becoming a football player. The Ravens will play in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars in September, so it will be an opportunity for Eluemunor to return to his hometown. With their final pick in the draft, the Ravens selected Chuck Clark, safety from Virginia Tech, in the 6th round. Clark will probably be a developmental prospect who will be used as depth early in his career. We also learned on Saturday that the Ravens picked up CJ Mosley’s fifth year option, meaning that they will extend his contract through the 2018 season, making him a Raven for a while more. I would also expect them to keep Mosley after his rookie contract expires, unless something drastic happens between now and then.
Draft Review Series
Starting Monday of this week, we will start a new series on The Baltimore Feather, where we will review the Ravens’ draft, and all of the selections. The Ravens Draft Review series will kick off tomorrow with a full review and analysis of the Ravens 2017 draft. On Tuesday we will review Marlon Humphrey, and continue on daily with each ensuing pick. We will only take a break from posting a review on Sunday, because of the this article segment.
