No franchise or staff of scouts is more prepared to draft every April than the Baltimore Ravens. Luke Jones and Nestor dissect the eleven position players that Eric DeCosta selected in the NFL Draft over the weekend and the one kicker who will be in the Loop for all that follows life after Justin Tucker in Baltimore.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ post-draft outlook, focusing on the team’s six-round picks, including Malachi Starks, Bilal Cone A, Legende Wester, Aeneas Peebles, and Robert Longerbeam. They highlighted the importance of these players, particularly Starks and Green, in shaping the defense. They also addressed the uncertainty surrounding Justin Tucker’s future, noting the potential for Tyler Lop to step in. The conversation emphasized the Ravens’ consistent draft strategy and the potential impact of late-round picks, while also touching on the broader context of the Orioles’ struggles and the upcoming NFL schedule.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens draft, Justin Tucker, Malachi Starks, Mike Green, Tyler Lop, special teams, roster analysis, NFL schedule, Kyle Hamilton, Teddy Buchanan, Emory Jones, Carson Vincent, positionless defense, kicker competition.
SPEAKERS
8
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive it is the post draft. We’re gonna analysis and have analysis, and we’re going to be talking about kickers and and troubled rush edges and also new safeties and all sorts of roster stuff. Before we do that, I gotta tell you we’re going to be a Coco’s pub. Hence the Cocos established 1984 85 Luke was established at 83 so very close. We’re going to be there on Wednesday, giving out the Back to the Future scratch offs from the Maryland lottery. We’re also going to be at red brick station in White Marsh next Wednesday, the seventh putting together in aggressive crab cake tour schedule into June and July, before our 27th anniversary this summer, where I have baked up my 27 favorite things to eat in Baltimore. And I’m really I’m sampling some of that right now from chicken Rico and Highland town Luke Jones is here. Lot of draft, right? A lot of bad baseball over the weekend, and the Yankees in town, you know, I don’t know how the Ravens get back onto the front page here, after the Tucker thing, because they’re not going to play for five months. And this baseball train wreck that we’ve, um, we’ve been discussing has been, you know, front and center on a daily basis, and it will be all week long with the Yankees here, but going down the list to all these six round draft picks, Tyler loop will get the headline. The Mike Green sexual assault allegations will get the headline. We talked about Starks a ton that was so Thursday night ago, but all of these players, and 11 players, and the fact that they took them all and then they’re been on the phone all night, Saturday, night and Sunday, trying to sign other free agents. They didn’t need a backup quarterback because they signed coup brush. They do this better than anyone in regard to how we’re going to analyze it right now, Mike Green’s assault stuff aside, and Tyler loop whether he can kick or not, but they have a plan. They go into this with a plan, and we talk about the Orioles pitching, and there was no backup plan. Usually, Eric has thought these things through, and this is why they’re in the playoffs every year and have an opportunity Mark Andrews dropping the ball aside at the end to be in the hunt. And as much as our disappointment is extreme for the Orioles, and we’re monitoring that on a daily basis, the Ravens can’t disappoint us until, I don’t know, November or December, when they’re five and four or six and five, or something that would be underwhelming yet competitive. I don’t think we expect the ravens to be two and nine. You know, in November, something really awful would have to happen. They become the hope when the baseball team goes away, and that’s when third and fourth and fifth round draft picks become more interesting in August, when there might not be a spotlight around here on a baseball pennant run. And that’s crazy that I’m saying that out loud two three years into this.
Luke Jones 02:54
Yeah. I mean, I you know one comment, because I always think back to the 14 straight losing seasons, all of that that there was always a a mindset of, can the Orioles get us to training camp and then, okay, well, the Orioles struggle to get to the NFL draft at this point. The
Nestor Aparicio 03:11
problem with bad baseball is it goes away before freak the stag like, you know, the Orioles were so bad for so long. Katie Griggs didn’t understand this, so I wrote her a letter last week so she’d understand it, and the whistler too that how bad this is, that this season’s the worst, because there was hope most of the years. There was never a you’re like, Can the Orioles just get us to know? I mean, most years they they’re not most almost every year, other than the Palmeiro year, they were either bad or they were good, there was either hope or no hope. You know, with the ravens, there’s always hope.
8Luke Jones 03:45
Yeah, I mean, you made the comment. I mean, the Ravens can’t hypothetically disappoint us until October or November. I would, I would push back on that and say January, because, you know, again, boring, the extreme example of so many injuries, specifically to your franchise quarterback, who was one of the very best players in the league and has been for years now, they’re going to be there now. January has been a different story, but they’re there
Nestor Aparicio 04:13
Halloween. You know, they’re still very relevant,
Luke Jones 04:17
I’m sure. Yeah, so, but, you know, I’ll kind of start off with this, because I wanted to say this. And, you know, we’ve, we’ve already spent time talking about the earliest picks, and we’re going to get into the mid to late round guys. But some really good draft in terms of names, like, look at the names at the Ravens drafts. I mean, Malachi Starks, first of all, I mean, that’s, that’s a good name, right? But, but go through the list. I mean, you have, you have Bilal cone a, I can’t want to call him Malaki, by the way, but I know it’s Malachi. It’s Malachi, yeah, I know. But you have Bilal COVID, it’s cone. A, not cone, the six round corner out of Western Michigan con. A, okay, yeah. You have legionte Wester, who has a good chance to be their punt returner. You. Know, six round pick out of Colorado who really tiny guy, but couple returned touchdowns in his collegiate career at Colorado and John Tay Western, not Western, not Webster, not westburg. Western is with
Nestor Aparicio 05:15
8Lester. Lester. There you go. Yeah, you
Luke Jones 05:19
have Aeneas Peebles, not pebbles. Aeneas Peebles out of Virginia Tech. And you
Nestor Aparicio 05:25
think Aeneas, I’m seeing Aeneas with Aeneas Williams, the only one, yeah, I’m seeing this skinny guy that, you know, runs like a deer,
Luke Jones 05:33
right? Yeah, although, like I said in our previous segment, kind of a different body type, but I he’s not going to be a guy that’s going to be an everyday defensive lineman. I think he’s gonna be like a situational tweener kind of guy, sort of weird dude too. He went to Duke for a couple years, right? Well, you that’s kind of the new norm, though, but it’s so funny, because I’m gonna show you something for for anyone that you know kind of wants to know what it’s like to cover the draft out knowings Mills for every player they pass out a sheet. And you’re over the years. You’re so accustomed to seeing guys. You know, a guy went to Alabama, a guy went to Georgia, a guy went to Arizona, whatever. And for the most part, it was tended, tends to be guys that was at one spot. Now, you know, Malachi Starks still fits that profile. But now you look at it, and you see, okay, I know this guy was drafted out of Virginia Tech talking about an ESP bulls, but where else did he go? And you start looking, and you see multiple schools on these sheets. And it just speaks to the different world we’re in with n, i L and the transfer portal and all that. But, but yeah, like the Ravens had this list I didn’t even get to maybe my favorite name on the list, Robert longer beam, six round pick out of Rutgers, who, by the way, six round picks. So again, all these six round picks, you see, you’ll see one or two of them you hope end up hitting. But considered a high character guy, smaller, it’s going to have to play the the nickel, but five foot, 1100 74 pounds, you can tell they like him. You can tell Da Costa talked about him in terms of hoping that they could get one of the two corners that they ultimately drafted in the six, and they got them both. So we’ll see. Maybe he’s the next Tavon young kind of guy, or maybe not, but, but I just had to throw it out there lots of really interesting, unique names in this draft list. But I said this in our previous segment. But you know, a franchise record, five players in the sixth round. You know, six round picks. I mean, I, I had the list in front of me, the most notable six round picks in history. You’ve got a Dallas Thomas Chester, Taylor Chad Williams, who was a really good dime back for a few years. Sam Cook, Tyrod Taylor, Ryan Jensen, Darren Waller, even if it didn’t necessarily happen in Baltimore, certainly went on to the raiders and had a lot of success. Chuck Clark, Bradley, Bozeman, and you know, even someone like Deshaun Elliott, who was a starter for a year or two,
8Nestor Aparicio 08:03
well, every one of those guys, you’ve given me a contributor, right? And, yeah, yeah. I mean, in the sixth round, all of those guys were great picks, not good picks, great picks, yeah, like the fact that they get on the field,
Luke Jones 08:16
right? You always have to one thing that I see. I see a little too much binary, binary evaluation of the draft in terms of good pick or bad pick. It’s a sliding scale. Right in the first round, yeah, it better be a good pick. It better be someone that plays it better be someone that, at the very least, is a solid starter. But as you go through the draft, you could have a seventh round pick who never starts a game for the ravens, but if he’s a solid backup for a couple years, plays on special teams, that’s a good seventh round pick right there. Now that’s not what you want out of a first or a second or a third round pick, but you have to understand the expectations for where you’re picking in the draft, like this draft right now, if I had the crystal ball and said, Okay, what would it look like if, if we’re looking back at the 2025 draft, 345, years from now, what would constitute a good draft? Malachi Starks is a an above average starting safety, coupled with Kyle Hamilton, who has since become the highest paid safety in the NFL. So you’ve got a cost controlled, affordable, really solid to good and maybe maybe really good starting safety next to Kyle Hamilton. I think that’s what we would all hope Malachi Starks is going to be. Mike Green again, acknowledging the the character concerns and the accusations that that that prompted his fall down the draft board. You’re hoping he’s a starting caliber, legit edge rusher who you know is a guy that can get eight to 10 sacks a year like you’d love, that you’d sign up for that eagerly, you know. And if he’s better than that, even if. Uh, great, even better. But then you get beyond those two guys, you’re kind of looking at the rest and, you know, I already mentioned Emory Jones. Can he develop into a starting guard? We’ll see. You know, third round picks, you’re hoping it’s a guy has a chance to be a starter for you. But you get beyond the third round.
Nestor Aparicio 10:18
Well, he’s picked 91 and then after that, you go to 129, 141, and then you slip off into, you know, the late 100
Luke Jones 10:26
8Yeah. And then you get into the two hundreds. And it’s like special teams guys, backups. This is where
Nestor Aparicio 10:31
I would say, you know, and I could give praise to Eric the Costa on, you know, they evaluate these guys. They know what they want. They’ve been relatively good at it. It’s how they’ve all kept their jobs. It’s how they’ve played into January, they haven’t had the problem the Orioles have right now, which is they’ve never drafted a picture that’s made it right like you know, and you could say that about Eric at the wide receiver position, he had to sit on that for 15 years, right? Like that. It never happened for them. They’ve been good at certain places, certain spots, tight ends. They’ve just been impeccable when they draft tight ends. Those guys get on the field. They all play well, even if they don’t, they go elsewhere, and when they won Super Bowl because they’ve had tight end play. But the notion that the offensive and defensive lines need to be shored up in various ways, and that they don’t need to draft a loadie, not in the top 12, in order to fix that position. Let’s go one by one for some of these guys, because Emory Jones at pick 91 a tackle out of LSU that they’re going to project as a guard, big guy, six, five and playing at a big school, you know, like, Project him as a starter. I don’t know, but Rosengarten came in and played pretty quickly. I would be interested to think of how they think of this guy giving FAU le a run, or maybe being the guy on the left side that becomes the left guard for the next five years.
Luke Jones 11:56
And again, I touched on this a little bit when we talked to, you know, when we were talking about some of the earlier picks in our other segment, but he it is interesting, because the pundits really assume he’s a guard long term. But Eric and John, you know, they they push back on just making that assumption. They acknowledge that, yes, that could end up being what it is, but they also want to look at him and tackle a little bit. I’ll point out he’s the right tackle, so even if you said he’s got a chance to be your swing tackle, which I don’t think that would be a great to me, that’s a plan B, plan C. I I’m guessing right now their swing tackle is someone that’s going to be signed. You know, there’s been some, you know, there was even some, some chatter a couple weeks ago about a guy like George fan who’s been around a long time. Not a guy that you want to start, but if he’s your number three, swing tackle, you know, whether it means he’s playing right tackle, you move rose and garden over if Stanley misses a game or, you know, however you want to do it. The fact
Nestor Aparicio 12:52
that they didn’t draft it tells you that they have a plan. That’s that’s always the thing with the Ravens is, I’m like, Alright, so they don’t show their whole hand. But, you know, as Ozzy would always say, sort of arrogantly and also matter of factly, then we’ll be ready to play. You know, they’ll, they’ll, they’ll have players, sure, and this is where they have to get them. This is the week. These are the names that become when Charlie Morton can’t do it. Who do we have?
8Luke Jones 13:16
Right? Exactly, but, but I think with any draft, if you’re being realistic about it, understanding that there are always exceptions, but typically, speaking, the first and second round picks are the guys that have the expectations that they’re going to be something meaningful, whether they start or whether they’re a major rotation player for you, whatever those are the guys year one that you’re really pointing to after that. You know, again, we’ll see. That’s not to say Emery Jones can’t be the starting left guard, or we’ll see, see how it plays out. But are you betting on that? Do you need that to happen this year? If you do, then you probably don’t have the kind of roster you need to have to begin with.
Nestor Aparicio 13:54
So let’s get give some examples here last year, Adisa, Isaac, devontes, Walker, TJ, Tampa, rashina, Lee, Devin, Leary, and then the seventh, rather Nick Samak and sanosy Kane. I mean, those are, those are the things we’re talking about, like a year ago and what they delivered for last year’s team, not a whole hell of a lot special teams.
Luke Jones 14:15
Yeah. I mean, Adisa Isaac was hurt a whole lot. I think there would have been a chance for him to play some, but he couldn’t stay healthy. Same with TJ Tampa, devantes walk, you know, Tez Walker played a little, you know, called a touchdown against the Giants. But you say
Nestor Aparicio 14:28
8that about Isaac and Tampa, but are they not ahead of the depth chart of anybody we’re talking about here? Sure, once August comes around, nobody’s heard of those guys. I mean, I barely remember their names, because they went away right like, I mean, what they’re they’re going to be higher up on your depth chart, or allegedly, because they were draft picks that were injured last year that, hey, you know, maybe this is a guy’s going to be a player, right? Maybe Sure.
Luke Jones 14:51
Now I would say this, I fully expect, or I expect Mike Green to leapfrog this. Isaac, for example. I mean, I think he’s going to leapfrog. Frog a job. Oh, think he’s going to leap frog. Tavius Robinson, as I said, putting aside, not ignoring, but putting aside the character concerns that led to him dropping to late in the second round. You’re talking about a guy that some people thought was one of the 10 to 20 best players in the draft. I mean, from a pure football standpoint, you could argue the Ravens came away with two first round picks here. Now again, you better be right on the gamble that you’re taking. I’ll leave it at that. But yeah, you get beyond that. You’re looking at these guys, you know, the two six round corners, for example. Would I put them ahead of TJ Tampa on the depth chart? Absolutely not. I think TJ Tampa is someone that they’re gonna have some high expectations for this year, to not start obviously, but be someone that you can count on, as if you have an injury or two, that he can step in and you’re not going to completely fall apart. You know, you’re hoping that, and that’s what your expectations are for third and fourth round picks. I mean, I’ll use another example of someone you know, the next pick on on the list for the Ravens in this draft class, Teddy Buchanan, you know, linebacker out of Cal. Impressive. Guy talking to him on the Zoom. Really excited to be a raven. Played at Cal, played at UC Davidson before that. Are they looking for him to start this year? No, but let’s also call spade a spade. Trenton Simpson got benched after the bye week last year, but Chris board’s gone and Malik Harrison’s gone. So can Teddy Buchanan potentially push Trenton Simpson if Trenton Simpson doesn’t have a good summer, if Trenton Simpson doesn’t get off to a good start, and could he be in the conversation to at least play a little bit in sub packages. Sure does Teddy Buchanan as a fourth round pick. And this is where we go back into the value of these draft picks. Does he need? Does he absolutely need to become a future starter for that to be considered a decent pick? You know, it depends, you know, can he develop it at the very least? Can he be one of your special teams aces, and can he be a guy that maybe you use them as a sub package linebacker? Because Eric Acosta talked about how much he liked Bucha coverage ability, which we’ve talked about that a lot off ball linebackers, you need guys who can cover and but the problem is they’re they’re kind of sort of unicorns in the NFL at this point in time. So the guys that are really good, they’re the ones that get paid. That’s why I kind of said the fact that roquan Smith struggled, struggled in coverage to the degree that he did last year was disappointing to me, because to be a $20 million linebacker, you’ve got to cover. So can Teddy Buchanan do that at some point in time, maybe, but he’s a fourth round pick. Are you expecting that? Are you expecting that year one? No,
Nestor Aparicio 17:41
expecting him to help play. Roquan Smith, no, yeah, he’s going to
Luke Jones 17:46
be you’re you hope he’s flying down the field making tackles on special teams
8Nestor Aparicio 17:49
for but to your point, the reason they needed to draft him is because they failed with Simpson. Trenton, Simpson. And Simpson was a low three, low third round draft pick. He was the second pick taken then that draft because they didn’t have a two, right? So, you know, it felt like there was a level of expectation for him, especially with Patrick Queen disappearing. And Patrick wean was a lottery pick on some boards. You know what? I mean, yeah, like Patrick queen was, you know, a guy the Steelers felt like they can build around the same way that the Jets felt like they could build around Mosley. Nobody’s building around Trent Simpson right now.
Luke Jones 18:19
No. And to be clear. I’m not ready to say he was a failure in the past tense. I’m not at all ready to say that I made it yet. He’s gotta, he’s gotta take us a meaningful step this year. He’s gotta be better this year, because there is no Malik Harrison or Chris board now, Teddy Bucha is that guy. Now, maybe they signed another veteran linebacker as a backup. I think that’s entirely plausible. But the point is, yeah, but because, partially because Trenton Simpson didn’t look as good as they wanted him to look, and he was benched as a result, and because of the guys they lost, yeah, they go and draft Teddy Buchanan. By
Nestor Aparicio 18:56
the way, the third linebacker, and I’ll make this case with you, is Kyle Hamilton, if you mean like that, that really is the way they’d rather play it. They’d rather play it with Hamilton as a linebacker in a two linebacker set, with with a, you know, Eagle, whatever you want to call they’re gonna play a lot of dime this year. I mean, I just and that’s where TJ Tampa and these little guys that get on the field, DBS that can get out there, learn the system, play and play in some space. You know, the kid from Stanford couldn’t a couple of years ago, right? So, and Brandon Stevens, and, you know, some of the, by the way, they’re 22 draft really looks smell good, right? I mean, they’ve had some drafts that have, like, a bunch of their players have made it. I’m wondering where all of these this draft’s weird, because there’s so many sixes. Right To your point, like, I’m looking at these guys and saying, Legende Wester, he’s a 203rd player taking he’s a wide receiver. I don’t you know Aeneas people’s great name, Robert longer being great. These are all 210, two thirds. They’re like, Mr. Irrelevant kind of draft guys. Yeah. I
Luke Jones 19:58
8mean, you’re not. I. I’m not going to sit here and try to remotely lay out a scenario where all five of those guys make an impact for the Baltimore Ravens. I’m guessing there’s a pretty, pretty solid chance that not all five of those guys make the 53 man roster and a couple of them wind up on the practice squad. I mean, that’s
Nestor Aparicio 20:16
what we’re talking I think it’s different. 22 they had six picks in the fourth round. That’s just a bunch of guys between 110 and 130 that’s a whole different thing than a bunch of notes between 180 and 220
Luke Jones 20:27
no question. And even if this is a draft that has more depth where you said, yeah, we’ll take a couple more swings than normal in the sixth round, which that’s fine. And I’m not not criticizing that. If that’s your strategy, then fine. Then even so, out of five six round picks, if two of those guys, three amount to even just being like useful backup players, then those are good picks. And if they don’t well, then they’re six round picks, right? I mean, six and seven round picks are not the kind of guys that there’s no such thing as a seventh round bust. There’s no such thing as a sixth round bust. Those are late picks. It’s like saying a rookie free agent is a bust, you know, like now, but that said,
Nestor Aparicio 21:13
unless you’re shadra Sanders, we that’s the biggest touch on that. There’s
8Luke Jones 21:19
one, one thing I want to, want to just finish off saying, because you alluded to it with the Kyle Hamilton piece, with how that factors into how they’re going to view the inside linebacker position. That, to me, is why the Malachi Starks pick was so important. Because I think it’s not just that okay, this guy can replace Marcus Williams at a fraction of the cost. And Marcus Williams was a total disaster last year and was benched, and all that, right, that we’ve covered, and we’ve talked about that for the better part of six months. You know, longer than six months, we’ve talked about that for eight months now. But it’s just the trickle down effect that it has in terms of now you’re back in a position using three safety alignments, being able to move Hamilton around. By the way, Starks and ardarius Washington can also move around. So you’re in a position. You’ve heard me talk about this a lot the last few years, positionless defense on the back end of their secondary, where the quarterback, the opposing quarterback, looks at them and and has to identify, you know, what are they doing? It goes way beyond just are they in man or zone? It’s okay, you know, is he a deep safety, or is he creeping up to the line of scrimmage? Is he at the is he going to stay at the line of scrimmage and Blitz, or is he dropping in the coverage? I mean, you have between Hamilton Starks are Darius Washington, and I’d even throw Marlin Humphrey in there, because Marlon Humphrey has that inside outside versatility, as you know, can play great at the nickel, but can cover on the outside. You have four pieces now in what projects to be your dime or even your nickel, where you know, if you want to play a three safety nickel alignment, that you can really use a lot of pre snap deception that is going to cause the quarterback to hesitate, to hold on to the ball, to make a bad decision, to help your pass rush get home. You know, we’ve talked about the pass rush, so there’s such a trickle down effect of the Starks pick that then also allows you, hey, one thing we haven’t talked about, do the Ravens have a ton of outside corner depth? Well, that’s up for debate. You know, they have Marlon Humphrey and Wiggins who are going to be there starting outside corners when they’re in base. You know, they added a woozy a who is an accomplished veteran when he’s healthy, but has had a lot of injury concerns. But now that you are going to lean so heavily into three safety alignments. You might not have three cornerbacks on the field a whole lot. You know, it might be, you might be in a three corner nickel only 20 snaps a game. You know, if a woozy a woozy A only has to play 20 snaps a game, or 25 snaps a game, or maybe 30 snaps a game, you like the odds of him staying healthy a little bit better than if he’s having to play 55 snaps a game, like a team that runs a conventional nickel has to do. So that Starks pick. I don’t go as far as some people say. It’s almost like drafting two players at one. No, it’s not, but it does afford you so much more flexibility and malleability with what you want to do with your defense that also impacts, you know, being lighted inside linebacker, being lighted outside corner, that you can just do all those things and ultimately free up Kyle Hamilton to just be the the wrecking ball, swiss army knife, that he can be, that you love him playing the run. You love him blitzing. You love him dropping in the cover. Dropping into coverage. You can cover tight ends. He can drop cover slot receivers. He can cover deep you know, we he more than proved that last year he played great in the role that they asked him to play after they benched Marcus Williams for good. But you don’t want to pigeonhole him into having to do that all the time, that that’s the point when. That so, you know, they’re just in a position where they can be a little more flexible and yeah, now they’re like, they’re shaky depth at inside linebacker, and they’re shaky depth that outside corner, you know, they you can alleviate that a little bit. You can make that feel like it’s not quite as big of a deal, not saying it’s not a big deal. And certainly you’re hoping some of the players that they drafted, you’re you’re hoping Teddy Bucha and can be a useful backup inside linebacker. You you’d love if Bilal con a and a longer beam can develop. But at the same time, I’m not going to be real. I’m not going to be unrealistic, and think that a six round corner is going to get on the field if either one of those guys are playing this year on defense, either they are such a prodigy that, oh my goodness, it’s one of the best picks you’ve ever made, or the ravens are in trouble because they’ve lost multiple guys in the secondary. So, so you know that, that’s where you look at these six round picks. And, you know, Tyler loops a different story. I would even say La johnte Wester is a different story, because you’re looking for him to be, you know, you’re looking for him to maybe be your primary punt returner, because they don’t really have that on the roster right now, so you’re hoping he can fill that very specific role on special teams. But you know, the rest of these guys, you know, these are, they’re not much more than flyers in the sense that they clearly have something about their skill set that you like you you had a, you know, a coach or a certain Scout looked at them and said, Hey, we can get that guy late on day three. And you know what? I think he’s got a chance to develop into something in a couple years. I mean, that’s what you’re talking about there. You know, Malachi Starks needs to play right away. Mike Green needs to play right away. Emory Jones will see Teddy Bucha and needs to play right away on special teams at the very least. But beyond that, I mean a name I didn’t even mention, and I’d be remiss, because I was was easily the most impressive of the these young men getting on the zooms to talk to the media. Carson Vincent, Alabama, A and M, purely a developmental, long term left tackle project, but was the only HBCU kid at the Senior Bowl, and he did a nice job. And you know what? He was, just really, I could tell when, when they talked to him, that they came away impressed, because he just seems like an impressive young man. And look, I have no idea if an Alabama A and M left tackle is ever going to translate into being anything in the NFL, but in the fifth round, where they took him, they clearly have some intrigue to say. You know what? He’s probably not going to play much this year. You know, maybe he’ll be a game day, uh, game day back up for us, but we like something about him to give him a chance, to give George war hop and their coaches a chance to develop him. You know, maybe in a couple years, if everything goes perfectly, maybe in a couple years, he’s in the conversation to replace Ronnie Stanley. Who knows, I like that pick there, you know, in the fifth round, look, if I’m betting yes or no, does he become their future starting left tackle? I’m going to say no, most likely not. But there’s something about him they liked, even if it was just his character and some raw skills. But in the fifth round, if it’s a guy that you think has a chance to be a left tackle in a couple years, you absolutely do that. You know that, and that’s where you say, if it doesn’t work out, it’s not really a bust, because it’s a fifth round pick. But that that’s that’s where this draft is so interesting, because you have so many of these late round guys that you know, if they all flame out, I, I don’t think it dooms them, by any means. But if Starks is a starter and green is a starter, and let’s say one of Emory Jones or Teddy Buchanan become a starter in the next couple years, and you come away with a couple other good depth pieces out of those last five or six picks. Nestor, that’s a heck of a draft, right there. I mean, that’s that’s not 1996 all time, or 2018 all time, but it’s up there amongst the better drafts they’ve ever had, if that plays out. So no, you’re never expecting all 11 or all 10 or all eight of your picks to hit. You need your early picks to hit, and then you see what happens with these later round guys. But I think it’s a interesting enough collection to kind of see how it plays out. And you know, this will probably be the last time you and I talk about four or five of the names that that we just spent a few minutes discussing, uh, certainly this year at the very least. But hey, you know, if it’s the kicker of the future and your punt returner who returns a kick for a touchdown in week eight, then that’s a pretty good six round, right off the bat, let alone what could happen here over the next few years, we’re
Nestor Aparicio 29:49
going to continue talking about the Justin Tucker and the kicker thing and figuring that out. I would say that’s sort of the lead story in people’s minds, the kicker, you know, in addition to this. Safety and what that means on the field with Kyle Hamilton, that you know, the low hanging fruit of the obvious, but the kicking thing is obvious, and I don’t know if it’s low hanging fruit. And I even said, will there be a competition, or will they just get rid of him? I haven’t thought about the money side of getting rid of him and cap hit before June 1, after June 1, what all of that means he will kick in the league again. I keep saying that he might still kick here again. I don’t know, but they didn’t get the they didn’t get the first kicker, they got the second kicker. And I found that to be sort of just interesting. I mean, a talking point to say, Who did they really want? They can say they wanted him. Now, maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. Maybe the Florida State, maybe they have number three kids. They could have said any of them they don’t usually think, like we’ll take any of them when it comes to a kicker and John Harbaugh in this organization, I would think that they like what they like. And I hope deep down, they didn’t like the Miami kid, yeah,
Luke Jones 30:55
and again, maybe they liked them both. But I will also say the ravens, when you kind of look at how they’ve operated over the years, you know they they haven’t necessarily been the team, especially on special teams. Let’s say they haven’t necessarily been the team that’s going to go along with the rest of the group. Think, you know the rest of the consensus. I mean, you know, when they drafted Jordan stout, when they did, you know, you’d find plenty of draft pundits that would say that, you know, that wasn’t necessarily the, the most expect, you know, the most anticipated move if you’re drafting a punter. So, you know, they kind of like who they like. And, you know, Tyler loops got a really strong leg, I think, you know, even going into his swing mechanics and stuff, basically, stuff that I’m only echoing what he said, what John Harbaugh will say, what Randy Brown will say at some point in time, in talking about kicking, you know, there’s also a certain prototype that they’re looking for in terms of mechanics and all that, right? I mean, it’s, we think of it in terms of just lining up kick the ball straight, right? Or if there’s a little bit of a wind, then, you know, give it a little bit of a fade or a draw, whatever. Yeah, but there are so much to that. There’s so much to it that I think goes beyond Okay, who had the best stats in college? I mean, Justin Tucker in 2012 he didn’t go drafted. I mean, I mean, if anyone, including the ravens, had any idea how good he was going to be. He at least would have been a fourth or fifth or sixth round pick, but he went undrafted. So, you know, that’s that’s where I look at this thing, and that’s why I said, as much as they like Tyler loop, and even if they cut Justin Tucker tomorrow and it’s over, that doesn’t guarantee Tyler loops going to be kicking for them in week one, let alone talking about week 10 or next year, or five years from now, he’s got to do the job. And we’ve seen every
Nestor Aparicio 32:47
8kicker that’s not Justin Tucker just comes and goes. This has been a really weird thing to have a kicker around here. I mean, you think about what you have in the league right now, just right now,
Luke Jones 32:58
there are only a few kickers that, if I asked you name their kicker, the Steelers, okay, Boswell, you know it’s Kansas City. Bucha, like there’s only about for even. And I don’t mean like your top tier NFL fan who watches NFL Network eight hours a day, but like someone who keeps up with things to a reasonable degree, reads about the league, maybe fantasy football makes that a little bit different. But in terms of guys that are Mainstays, there’s you can maybe name the kickers on two hands, and probably have fingers left over. In terms of guys that are really recognizable, that you that you associate,
Nestor Aparicio 33:36
that’s why you look at this kid and say, Tyler loop. That’s great. We mentioned Graham Gano. We mentioned, yeah, you know, Billy Cunda, if it kicked in Dallas, and had been other places, and they brought him in, and everything was fine until it wasn’t
Luke Jones 33:47
right, yeah. And you know what? Here’s another scenario for you. And this is, this is purely off the top of my head. I this is not any intel. So if it happens, I am not taking any credit for this. The Ravens, when you look at their roster makeup right now, they have the ability to have a pretty extensive undrafted rookie class. I would not remotely be surprised if they bring another kicker in. Now, it might just be for a tryout for rookie camp. Might be someone that maybe is there for OTAs and they cut on June 3, or maybe it’s someone that maybe they move on from Justin Tucker, and they say, okay, Tyler loops the favorite. But you know what? We kind of like this other kid from ABC university, you know, or or maybe we bring in someone from the UFL who, even though no one’s watching that right now, there is a UFL going on right now. And we’ve actually seen this. Go look at the Detroit Lions kicker from this past year. That guy was in the UFL, and he had a heck of a season. Well,
8Nestor Aparicio 34:45
there’s also the guys that they would have brought in if Tucker pulled a hamstring back week 11, correct. There’s a lot of guys on the street.
Luke Jones 34:51
When I say this, this does not mean that anything is decided at this point. With putting aside the Tucker part of it, let. Let’s say Tucker is done. Let’s say whether, whether they announced it this week, next week or the day before training camp, let’s say Tucker’s done, and they know he’s not going to be back, but they’re letting this play out. That’s not at all to say that Tyler loop is just going to be handed the job, and that’s not to say that there’s not going to be some competition brought in, whether it’s another young kicker or, to your point, it would be the same list of guys that you would call if Justin Tucker turns his ankle kicking off in week three that you bring in a veteran. I mean, you know, go back to some of the other kicking competitions. They had, house against Graham Gano. They had, what was it? Shane Graham against Billy Cundiff one year when I was out covering training camp, and guess it was Westminster at that point. I don’t think it was Owings Mills just yet. Shane Graham was a
Nestor Aparicio 35:47
hell of a kicker for a long Yeah,
Luke Jones 35:48
8so. But the point is that this is still TBD. You know, whether we’re talking about Tucker situation or whether we’re talking about Tyler Lou potentially replacing him, you know, you’re not just a six round pick. This isn’t the Raiders, the Raiders drafting Sebastian Janikowski in the first round, right? Where you say, All right,
Nestor Aparicio 36:09
this is where I would temper expectations for how this team has played football, and how John Harbaugh has managed football, and how they’ve managed fourth and three from their own 33 thinking, all we got to do is get to the 45 yard line and we can kick it. He can kick a 58 yard, 60 yard field goal. No problem. We have no problem doing that. If it’s third and 21 and we get a penalty. Ben Cleveland’s offsides or help hold somebody or whatever, they’ve played football differently over the last decade. The bulk of John har ball’s, you know, fiefdom here, um, they’ve played football differently. They’ve they’ve managed clock differently. They’ve managed the second half differently. They’ve managed the last two, two minute and four minute differently, in regard to where the point is, where you could credibly bring Justin Tucker on the kick, and not just at the end of a court, but like, hey, we can make this kick. Let’s not punt, let’s let’s kick a field goal. And it’s changed the game for them versus 28 of the other 32 teams, and now they have to play it every year. And they might not have that advantage anymore.
Luke Jones 37:17
They might not but I would also say, and we’ve also seen this. We’ve also seen that, yes, continue to be a weapon, but not need to rely on it to the degree that they did in the later Joe Flacco years, where, and I’m not saying that to pick on Joe specifically, but let’s face it, those were not very good offenses at that point in time. They just weren’t they weren’t running the ball. They didn’t have very good wide receivers, all of that. Joe wasn’t as good as he had been all of that. But at that point in time, they kind of needed Tucker to score points, and we but we’ve seen from about 2019 on, they’ve been in a different position in terms of going for it, more on fourth downs, when you have the running game that you have when you have Lamar now, when you have Derek Henry, right? I mean, so and finishing drives, I agree with what you’re saying in terms of, yes, you You’re certainly in a position at times where you can kick a long field goal rather than punt. But we’ve also seen Justin Tucker the last couple years struggle more so from beyond 50 yards. Even before last year. That was becoming a little bit more of a to your
Nestor Aparicio 38:22
point, fourth and 3/4. And goal from the three. They’re going for it. They want to score points here. They’re going to try field goal. So there’s been a lot of that that in the history of football. That would be, yeah, let’s just pick a 17 yard field goal we’re going to that’s we’re going to do. And you’ve seen a
8Luke Jones 38:37
lot of teams just change philosophically, in general, with that, with analytics and understanding, point expectancy, win probability, all those different things, whether, whether you like it or not, we’ve seen more of that, but, but, yeah, I think, you know, with Tucker, you know, from the time Lamar Jackson’s, you know, first full season, you know, the revolution was in full force at that point, and Lamar was running for 1200 yards and throwing 36 touchdown passes. You know that? Go back and look at that year, Justin Tucker, didn’t he had he kicked a heck of a lot of extra points, but he didn’t kick a ton of fuel goals that year because they were scoring touchdowns all the time. So, so, so even from that standpoint, if you’re moving on from Tucker, if you have Tyler loop, are there going to be some times where the Ravens might be a little more aggressive in terms of not just settling for a field goal. Yeah, they had to do that last year when Tucker was struggling. So will there be a change in that way? Sure, I think so. But you’re hoping that, if you are indeed moving on from Tucker and you’re going with Tyler loop, you’re hoping that what you’ve seen to this point in terms of your evaluation, you think there’s a lot of meat on the bone there, just in terms of his raw skills, and you’re hoping that you can coach him up in the way that not just Justin Tucker, you know, not just Billy Cundiff, not just the guys that have actually kicked for the ravens, but you know, you mentioned Corey Vedic, who they got. Fifth round pick for but, you know, he flamed out very quickly. But what about someone like will Lutz, who was in camp with the Ravens. Will Lutz has had a really nice long career as a kicker. I mean, he never had any shot of ever kicking for the ravens, because he came in when Tucker was already established, but he learned from Jerry Rosberg and Randy Brown and the operation that the Ravens had, and He parlayed that into a really nice career for himself. So you’re hoping that the ravens, brass, you know, their special teams operation, will be be able to, whether it’s Tyler loop or some other young kicker, they bring in that that they coach him up and, you know, become someone that doesn’t need to be the best kicker in football, but can be a plus and not a concern. Justin Tucker was a liability for them last year. I mean, he was, that’s why, again, you know, so much of the talk about the accusations and all the off field and all that, which I’m not making, any making light of that whatsoever, but this was already someone that you were at least having conversations to say, you know, do you need to start at least looking at bringing in competition for him at this stage of his career, and obviously the banner reporting and all these allegations very much expedited the urgency to do that. So now, you know, we’ll see what Tyler loop can do and whether Tucker is going to be in camp competing with him, or whether they quietly move on on, you know, the Friday before Memorial Day. Or, who knows? Again, I’m just spitballing at this point, because we don’t know the timetable of this investigation that the league’s conducting, regardless of your faith in it or not. Nestor, we don’t know when it’s going to be completed itself. So, you know, we’re going to see, but clearly they they like Tyler loop, and if he’s going to be their kicker, then yeah, for a championship team, you need him to be able to do the job. That’s why, as I said, I would not be surprised to see them kicking the tires on or on. You know, whether it’s another young kicker or another veteran, at some point not to, not today, not tomorrow, but maybe at some point in training camp, if Tucker is, in fact, gone by that point that you at least have a veteran in here as a contingency plan, in case things don’t work out with loop, yeah.
Nestor Aparicio 42:12
You don’t just pick a kicker and pick 186 and think, Oh, we solved the problem. You don’t just put your feet up, right? Yeah, we got our guy. It’s going to hit a 51 yarder in Buffalo when it’s 12 degrees to send us to the Super Bowl. I don’t see, but you better have that guy. You better have that guy. You very
Luke Jones 42:28
much. Hope you have it.
Nestor Aparicio 42:30
Yeah, unless your your offense is just scoring touchdowns, which, hey, if that’s the case, then then it’s not quite as important. He is Baltimore. Luke is available. Very available individual. He’ll be in our press box seat at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I have inked a letter to Katie Griggs. The Orioles are falling apart. The ravens are trying to put it together. It is springtime around here. We haven’t even got it’s Derby week as well. We got all sorts things going on. We’re going to be at Coco’s pub on Wednesday. Marcel and I’ve been texting all morning, looking forward to it. We’re going to have these scratch offs in the Maryland lottery, the Back to the Future scratch offs to give away on Wednesday. Also some great guest Jamie Costello is going to be coming out talking some baseball with us, probably, I think he went to the movies with his kids the other night too. So we’re going to be talking about life after television with the king of Rosedale. Jamie Costello. So I’m looking forward to that next Wednesday will be at White marshes Avenue at red brick station. Been a long time since I’ve bent the elbow there with some blueberry ale. Will be doing the show there next Wednesday, the seventh on the avenue in White Marsh. All of it brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Big week here, Yankees in town, Royals in town this weekend, Orioles trying to find themselves, figure out the pitch and trying to win a game, trying to hit the ball and the Ravens trying to bring in their rookies to figure out the springtime thing. Oh, we might even get an NFL schedule coming up in a couple of weeks too. So that’ll be nice. I am Nestor. He is Luke. We are W N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking all the more positive. You.
