Heading into the 2009 draft the Baltimore Ravens did not have all that many holes to fill. So they did not have the pressure heading into the draft that many of the other teams did. Over the past few years it has been the M.O. of this team to make a big splash with one player, and then use the later round picks to load up on picks of guys who can come in play special teams and develop into NFL players.
Both Linebackers Bart Scott and Adalius Thomas were brought along like that and both have gone onto become Pro Bowl players. This is a system that works and the Ravens loaded up on a lot of these kinds of projects in this year’s draft.
The Ravens had the 26th pick in the first round, and their main needs were a playmaker Receiver who could help stretch opposing defenses, they were also looking for a RT to come in and challenge veteran Willie Anderson and eventually replace him, and a TE since Todd Heap has had problems staying healthy.
Now General Manager has one of the better draft records in the NFL, and he has solidly built up this team via the draft, the buzz heading into draft weekend was that his team would look to trade down and acquire more picks. With only six picks in the 2009 draft it didn’t seem likely they would be able to trade up to get a star receiver, and they were unwilling to package a bunch of picks to Arizona for WR Anquan Boldin.
Instead there made a trade with the New England Patriots who were intent on moving out of the first round. That trade moved the Ravens up to 23rd in the first round and there they selected, Tackle Michel Oher from Mississippi.
Oher was the fifth ranked Tackle in this draft, and is so versatile that the Ravens could use him at any O line position save for Center. At 23 the Ravens made him the fourth Tackle drafted. With that in mind and given his versatility we have to grade this pick as an, A.
Heading into the second round, with the 57th overall pick the Ravens had the chance to address another one of their needs by having the pick of the litter at Tight End. At 57 only TE Brandon Pettigrew of Oklahoma State had been selected, but this is a team that always follows their draft board and they selected DE/OLB Paul Kruger out of Utah. Kruger was the fifth rated DE in this draft, and is very versatile and will fit in at end or OLB in the Ravens 3-4 scheme. The team is hoping that he will be a complementary pass rusher to be paired with OLB Terrell Suggs. With that in mind we have to give this pick an initial grade of B+.
With all that being said a look at the Grades for the 2009 Baltimore Ravens draft:
Round One- A
Round Two- B+
Talent- A
Need-B
Average- B+
And now a more complete look at the 2009 Ravens draft:
Round one- 23rd overall OT Michael Oher Mississippi
Round two- 57th overall DE/OLB Paul Kruger Utah
Round three- 88th overall DB Lardarius Webb Nicholls State
Round five- 137th overall ILB Jason Phillips TCU
Round five- 149th overall TE Davon Drew East Carolina
Round Six- 185th overall RB Cedric Peerman Virginia
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