Ozzie Newsome sits at the head of the table.
The Ravens' draft board, which represents tens of millions of dollars invested in the study of the players whose names are listed, is behind the Wizard's shoulders.
John Harbaugh sits at the other end of table, facing Oz and that board.
Another 25 scouts and coaches crowd in the Ravens' Draft Room, which is clearly marked for all others to stay out.
That has been the scene all week, beginning at 9 a.m. Monday. If the group keeps at its current pace, they will review, discuss and dissect every player of the 150 or so that the Ravens deem as "draftable" by later tonight. If conversation, which includes dramatic disagreement at times, drags, the entire group will be back at it early tomorrow morning.
Meetings Can Be Intense
"We do our share of scrimmaging in there. It can get intense, but that's not a bad thing. We want to hear from anyone with a strong opinion on a player," Newsome said yesterday. "Standing on the table for a player is a good thing."
"Ozzie is patient and willing to listen. He's not the general manager who puts his foot down and says, 'This is what we're going to do. My scouts know more. They've been at it year round,'" Assistant General Manager Eric DeCosta offered. "Oz lets the process play out and wants strong opinions from all of us."
In a good number of NFL franchises, "The Blame Game" is played. And, people get fired over it. Coaches will point the finger at the personnel department shouting, "You expect us to win with these players?" Scouts will come back – or start – with, "We give you all this talent, and we're not winning. Time to get new coaches."
When these two groups get on the same page and have each other's backs, even when they argue over player rankings, franchises usually win.
John Harbaugh believes "It is critically important to have these intense meetings. It's the only way to get to the truth. I love these meetings – the respect shown for every voice, the defending of your views."
Director of College Scouting Joe Hortiz, who sits to Ozzie's right next to Eric DeCosta, compliments Harbs and his staff. "First, John is a grinder. He's personally doing a thorough video study on at least 100 players. He comes in there with a studied knowledge. And, he expects and gets the same type of study from each of the assistant coaches."
Coaches making the extra effort to study the prospective draft choices goes a long way to healthy dialog. "Our area scouts are away from their homes 150 to 160 days a year," Hortiz explained. "Most of that time is spent on college campuses studying players, digging for information. These scouts also come to Baltimore, and they watch our practices. They learn from our coaches the type of players needed for various positions. A chemistry of trust is built with these visits. Coaches see we have the same common goal in the end – find the best players who fit what the Ravens do on the field."
Disagreements Happen
Newsome smiled when he was asked about recent "scrimmages" in the room. "I'm not giving you anything from this week, but ask Joe about Crockett [Gillmore] and [John] Urschel."
Tight end Crockett Gillmore and center/guard John Urschel were both drafted by the Ravens in 2014, Crockett in the third round and John in the fifth. Each has already started for us: Crockett – 11 games, and Urschel – 10.
Hortiz chuckled when asked. "Ozzie's OK with me talking about this?"
"With Crockett, Gary Kubiak (then the new offensive coordinator) deserves a lot of credit for us drafting him. He wasn't alone. Lonnie (Young, Ravens West Regional Scout) also liked Crockett a lot. But, we had other players with the same or similar grades to Crockett, plus we had just signed Owen Daniels prior to the draft.
"Gary wouldn't let it go. He kept saying that Crockett would help right away and be a starter eventually. If he didn't stand up, jump on the table as Oz likes to say, we probably would've taken someone else. Really, when you think about it, taking Crockett shows that our process works," Hortiz said.
"With Urschel, a couple of our scouts, Andy Weidl (East Region) and Mark Azevedo (Northeast Region), liked him a lot. So did I," Hortiz continued. "I put a third-round-type grade on him, but was confident we didn't have to take him then. Our intelligence indicated most teams considered John a fifth-round-or-later pick.
"The closer we got to that draft, the more I liked him. It was clear that some of our coaches didn't like him as much and wanted us to take a different position when we were picking in the fifth round. I got a little passionate about it. Ozzie invited me to give my plea on Urschel, and I let it go. I reminded people that I thought John, in my opinion, had third-round talent, and I added that I thought he could become a starter at center or guard. I even threw in there that I thought he'd have a long NFL career. My heart was pumping.
"A coach noted that we had taken a guard the year before, Ryan Jensen, and that we liked him, and that we should take another position with the same grade," Hortiz explained. "I was happy when Ozzie got on the phone with Urschel and told him that we were going to make him a Raven. I felt even better when Harbs came up to me and gave me a fist bump and told me, 'Way to stick to your guns.'"
Two weeks from today we will all know what we did with the sixth pick in the 2016 draft, and we'll be getting ready for rounds two and three that night. With respect to our play-by-play announcer Gerry Sandusky, our hay is not in the barn, yet.
"We'll do more tweaking in these last two weeks," Hortiz said. "Our board is basically set now, but our conversations this week lead to more digging. Maybe a scout will take one more look at a player the coaches don't see the same way. And, a coach will do the same on someone he has graded differently from the scouts. It's all good. It all leads to better answers.
"Our board will change some. But, it won't be like some player moving from the 140th spot to 80. It could be the 120th player moving to 116. We'll keep grinding."
I did ask Joe about "Ozzie's Way" – taking the best player on the board when we select. "Yes, we do have players with the same grade. You could have a receiver, tackle and safety with the same grade. What Eric [DeCosta] is very good at, and we do this a lot in our meetings this week, is asking questions like, 'We're on the clock, the receiver, the tackle and the safety are all there with the same grade, who do we take first? Who do we take second? It's all part of our process."
Fascinating. Can't wait to see what plays out. And, the draft can't come quickly enough. Think I've had enough of the mocks. Like you, I'm ready for the real thing.
No wait, I'm going to check Mel Kiper and Mike Mayock and see what their latest updates are on what we'll do with the sixth pick. What do they think the big trade between the Rams and Titans means to the Ravens? (Is this a sickness?)
Talk with you soon,
Kevin
P.S. No Monday night home game for the Ravens again. The Chicago Bears host two of these this season. Does that mean that the NFL believes the Bears will be the better team? Probably not. It means that Chicago is one of the largest cities in the world, and the Bears bring more eyes to TV sets. Remember, the NFL is a business, and there are a lot of factors that go into the scheduling of the primetime games.
