Late in the night the Baltimore Ravens were quite excited about drafting Clemson cornerback Nate Wiggins with the 30th pick and now Luke Jones and Nestor await how general manager Eric DeCosta will address the offensive line and other needs this weekend via what has already been a wild NFL Draft.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
ravens, draft, wiggins, offensive lineman, nate, pick, corner, quarterback, 25th anniversary, marlon humphrey, player, plays, feel, eric, year, second round, point, teams, documentary, biggest
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home we are wn St. am 1570, Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive. I feel a little perky today because I wasn’t up all night, getting the audio into the wn St. Baltimore positive audio vaults and onto the air up all night with media access and free cheese puffs out in Owings Mills. But Luke Jones was out doing that and he’ll be with us on Friday at fadeless at two o’clock. I don’t know that he’s doing baseball, he’s doing draft, we have one press credential for one person and two people. I’ll get into that as my review continues with the Rubenstein family. If you have not seen our 25th anniversary documentary, no one listens everyone hears it is now readily available and being consumed sometimes. And I have a few things to promote here. First things first and families we’re going to have the Pac Man giveaways of course our friends at Liberty pure big thanks to Doug workman and those folks there for keeping my water clean make me feel healthy and alive at 55 Also our friends at JMU multi care for now being an annual sponsor one year sponsor and for keeping the the motor oil in the vehicle clean, so I can do fun things like go see the Black Crowes Radio City Music Hall. Look First things first. You’re up late Thursday night they pick late. You wish they picked it up at 1153 because that would have meant they won the Super Bowl right? Instead of 1140. And things start falling and quarterbacks the Atlanta Falcons thing was wacko, right. Like all of the things that happen 30 dramas, 29 dramas, plus the commissioner getting booed by 150,000 people in Detroit. Shout out to Mike rose and fell apart. We had we were represented in Detroit, our Chief Digital Officer, Mike Rosenthal was there. So he will be there for that. And I dropped the documentary and I’ve aged dramatically in the last six weeks. And so if you according to the film, at least you were cute when you came aboard here you were, you were like, like 19 years old or something? Are you? How are you? Are you Yoplait doing all the things you’re doing? How’s Eric to cost our John horrible, haven’t seen them lately? I think they’re happy.
Luke Jones 02:09
I think you look at how this draft played out. And we talked about it throughout over these last few months, not that you and I did a ton of heavy lifting as it pertained to previewing the draft, especially with baseball team that’s amongst the very best in the majors. But we talked about this idea that when you’re picking 30th You can have a range of players that you’re hoping will be there. You can try to project out as much as you can, but depending on how it’s going to go and we saw some strange things in this draft. I mean, you mentioned Atlanta, which I still can’t wrap my head around why you signed Kirk Cousins and then draft a quarterback as early as you do when you have a very distinct window with Kirk Cousins. But hey, the Atlanta Falcons also thought they were good. They didn’t need to pursue Lamar Jackson last offseason when they were one of the few teams that felt like they had a set of circumstances that maybe it would work. Anyway,
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:06
let me just interject it the Philadelphia Eagles did some like nobody did anything wackier with quarterbacks than them. And they went to Super Bowls in one one.
Luke Jones 03:16
Um, this is what this is way wackier than that? I mean, okay, they drafted Jalen Hertz. Carson Wentz already wasn’t trending in a good direction. Oh, no, no, I’m
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:26
going back to quarterbacks ago, I’m talking about when they had the log jam with the Bradford Wentz. Like when they went through all of that they came out of that and won a Super Bowl two years later, I’m just saying, I don’t know what it means. If they’re in love with this kid. They’re in love with the kid. But this is where when you have grown ups evaluating talent for long periods of time, and I mentioned Philadelphia, they changed coaches like socks, quarterbacks, like socks. They’ve been in a couple of Super Bowls since the last time we went to one they’d been to two and one, one, and Atlanta became close to at the same quarterback forever. But you know, Mike Smith, we go through all the coaches, they’ve been through there, you know, instability and ownership where they have an itchy trigger finger to make, you know, big changes that never happens here. I mean, that’s just not the way it rolls where you were sitting the other night where the media is yelling, bring back the cheese puffs because the media has been there for the beginning. The coach and everybody’s been there since the beginning of time, places like Atlanta, they made a decision four months ago that they just scrap that doesn’t happen much around here. It really doesn’t.
Luke Jones 04:26
Wasn’t even four months ago, it was six weeks ago, seven weeks ago. I mean, none of the comparisons that you just laid out there to me. I’m flabbergasted by that, but that anyone listening right now doesn’t really care about that. They want to know what about the ravens and I think you know, to continue what I was talking about. Weird thing with Atlanta side. So many quarterbacks going early. The first 14 picks being offensive players. I mean, imagine that. I mean, just let that marinate. We knew that this was a more offense, heavy draft. At the top, Eric Decosta, confirmed as much when he was asked about it after the end of the first round. But I think for me, the selection of Nate Wiggins cornerback from Clemson, I think this was what the Ravens felt would be the best cross section between value and talent where they were picking at 30th Without trading up. And we know the Ravens have not been a team that’s traded up very often, unless you’re talking about a quarterback or, you know, very rare instances. So if you’re staying put at 30, you saw the offensive line board in terms of really those first round guys that were worthy of being first round picks and not trying to reach for second round value. It was picked clean. Yeah, I mean, I said it all along. There’s going to be a run on offensive lineman, and even the Georgia Morgan’s of the late first round could be gone by the time the Ravens pick and that’s exactly how it played out. So I think, understanding that, and also acknowledging we have, you know, if you’re the ravens, you’re saying we have two outside corners on the roster that we trust. One is Marlon Humphrey, who’s coming off of an injury plague season and is very expensive. And probably one more so so season away from at least getting a Ronnie Stanley treatment. And Brandon Stevens is the other one who’s entering a contract year. After that. I mean, no established depth, no one that you really trusted. So that’s where Nate Wiggins makes perfect sense. In terms of one, giving you some more immediate depth on the outside and allowing you to move chess pieces around a little bit more, which we know Zach was going to want to do that, in a way very similar to Mike McDonald. And to Nate Wiggins very clearly has long term started or upside. I don’t think he’s going to start week one. But I think he’s going to be in the mix and I think it’s very well possible by the time we reach week 12 that maybe he is the starter or certainly by next season. He’s a starter not knowing if Stevens or Humphrey are definitively going to be on this roster. So I think this was a an appropriate cross section between a need at corner would have been not not my biggest need because I think it’s still offensive line, and we’re gonna see how that plays out. But clearly, it’s in the next that next tier second or third biggest need they had. So it addresses a need. And I think with Nate Wiggins, you look at the talent. He you know, he’s a skinny guy, but six one fast is can be good cover guy on an island. I think the one question is no playing with a little more tenacity, a little more physicality. I think he’s capable of doing that. But he’s just lighter. He’s not 21 years old yet. So there’s a lot of projectable traits here. And a lot to like about Nate Wiggins. So and I think you look at the Ravens history at the cornerback position in the first round. This is the first time they’ve drafted the corners in the first round since Marlon Humphrey, but go back. Dwayne Starks, that was a hit. Chris McAllister. I mean, that was a major hit. I mean, you’re talking about a Ring Ring of Honor talent level guy, whether he’s in it or not. Go down the list, Jimmy Smith, that was a hit, even though he never became an All Pro corner because of injuries. And Marlon Humphrey, who has been a three time Pro Bowl corners of the track record in selecting corners in the first round, is right up there with any other position that the Ravens have had success with in the first round. So I think this makes a lot of sense. And like I said, to me, it was a really logical cross section between a need. And I think really good value. I think a lot of people if you look at a lot of the different rankings, whether you’re talking about ESPN, pro football, focus, nfl.com, whatever, whatever pundit you’d like to subscribe to, I think Nate Wiggins was the kind of guy that very much was in that top 20 to 25, at the very least. So from that standpoint, the Ravens got good value. So I think they always are going to say they love their pic, but looking at their body language tone in their voice, all of that. I think they were really happy with what they came away with, considering the O line board had really been picked cleaned by the time they picked up. 30th Well, you
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:14
know, I was out there the night Ed Reed, I actually have the picture. It was an interesting shadow behind me in that photo, but when they drafted Ed Reed, famously, I mean, and I was on the inside of all of that, right, like I’m at the bar and the next night with all the scouts eating ice cream crabcakes the whole deal. I have a picture of that as well. And I remember Ben basically saying that he was the only one we could pick, I mean, it was that that was that was the last guy that we had. And that worked out okay. And in this particular case in praise of the caster and and their history and their pedigree in doing this to your point and picking not just cornerback so picking sort of in that position that it would have been very easy for them to back up right I’m sure they could have had a dance card of some kind with some kind of value if they didn’t like the player, and they wanted to back up into the 30s and pick up picks or pick up a one next year. They’re not allergic to any of that. If they they have a metric for all of that, and they could have taken a couple offensive linemen in the 40s that they like or wherever it would have been. I find it interesting. The offensive line got picked clean. And you and I’ve spent like and look, we’re getting together fate Lee’s later there’ll be a whole weekend they’re gonna pick lime and they’ll probably have one by the time I eat. Get home with my shrimp salad from fate. Lee’s this afternoon right? By the time a first pitch happens against the Oakland A’s. But what won’t happen that quick right? As we found that I have a half as quick in the second round. But yeah, I would just say for them the offensive line thing and how others valued it right and said the board is picked clean and we’ll just go to the next level of offensive lineman. You know, this still remains to be we spent a lot of oxygen here the last really the last six months talking offensive linemen even back into the season when it was like what are they going to do? What are they going to do? They have a lot of veterans they have a lot of money Ronnie Stanley and as we sit here you know day two and people can hear this over the weekend and and I’m sure they’ll take more offensive linemen but it it did lay a little interesting the way all of it and I know I spent a lot oxygen just talking about the quarterback thing and the Falcons and all that but that did really lay some groundwork for what happened with offensive lineman and I do believe to caster when they said we didn’t think he would be there because like I don’t think you thought or people who really study this i By the way melt look good. The other night gave me some warm fuzzies I’ve had great moments with Mel so I watched ESPN and watch their broadcast but always hometown pride for Mel, but I don’t think anybody thought that that he would be there right? This is a little bit of a shocking thing.
Luke Jones 12:02
Um I don’t think it’s a Kyle Hamilton being available when the Ravens pick two years ago level of shock I you know, because I think a lot of people and I think the ravens, they’ve said this again, truths half truths darn lies. You know, we know all that with all these teams talking about their drafts, even the Falcons right now. But I think with Hamilton, there was a there was an overwhelming feeling around the least let’s say the NFL Draft world, not necessarily just the 30 he was a top five kind of player for him to fall fiddle on the first round I think a lot of people were shocked by so I don’t think this was quite at that level. I think you saw you saw your share mock drafts that had Nate Wiggins go into the Ravens. It’s not like that was impossible. But I do think when you look at the O line, when you look at even Tyler Guyton and Jordan Morgan, those were the two guys that I think a lot of fans were kind of looking at and saying, Okay, there’s probably a good chance one of those guys will be available when the Ravens pick it 30. And maybe they even with one of those guys available, maybe they’d still try to move back to early in the second round. So again, it gets picked clean. But if one position group gets picked clean, you look and see what’s left. And again, cornerback. While it wasn’t their biggest need it absolutely was the need. I mean, you go back and look at my roster assessment at Baltimore positive.com, where I just kind of took stock of where they were I did that Monday or Tuesday of this week. I had corner as like their second or third highest need I kind of I put my concern level at low, moderate, high or I put like moderate slash high. I had corner as moderate slash high because they just didn’t have any depth behind Humphrey and Steven. So you need at least three outside corners. I mean, you do you really do. This allows you now to move Marlon Humphrey inside, you can move some chess pieces around, you’ve got a depth piece with really significant upside here. It also makes the Kyle Hamilton better It makes all of them better. Sure, exactly. I mean, you just you want good football players. And we’ve talked about this a lot in the secondary. I mean, one of one of the analytics. You know, it’s not even an analytics idea necessarily. I think it’s just a football and I think it’s a scheme idea of what you’re seeing in today’s day and age is you want position lists, defensive backs, and what I mean by that is what we see with the Ravens moving guys around. I mean, Kyle Hamilton, we see him line up in the slot more than he’s lined up as a traditional safety. He plays in the box. He’s lined up on the edge he plays linebacker, I mean he moves all the way around Marlon Humphrey outside corner inside corner guy who can blitz you know, so, you know, they still have our thermal let you know who they brought back. So they have a lot of chess pieces. But again, the outside corner depth was very light. I mean, Jaylen armor Davis, you know, I mean, we’re to eat, there’s going to be three years into that we still don’t know what the Ravens have with him because he hasn’t been able to stay healthy and on the field. So I think this made a lot of sense in that regard. And the other thing you have to remember this It lends itself to what you were mentioning a little bit. When you’re trying to look at a draft, I think it’s really easy to kind of just look at each pick in isolation. And, you know, even with some of the jargon that’s just used and the cliches and best player available. Well, yeah, it’s best player available, but you’re also trying to address your needs. So again, you want a cross section of filling needs, but getting proper value for that pick. And that’s why the Ravens didn’t look at the next offensive lineman, who they probably have an early second round grade on, and didn’t just say, Oh, we’re going to take that guy, because of what Eric Acosta said after night one, which was, in looking at the draft, we tried to evaluate, where the pockets of position players are going to go at different points in the draft, right, we always know there’s gonna be a run on quarterbacks in the first round this year was an extreme example of that. But that’s, that was your first very first run at a certain position group. So in looking at this, and it would have been interesting to see if they had still taken Nate Wiggins, if Jordan Morgan had been there, if Tyler Guyton had still been there. I mean, we don’t know exactly how the Ravens felt about those players, but they clearly were offensive line prospects that would have filled positions that are wide open for them right now. But in assessing and looking at their, with some of their analytics guys, looking at and anticipating where the pockets of different position groups are gonna go over the course of, you know, really the whole draft, there was a thought and Eric Decosta expressed this. And I think it makes sense, when you kind of look at how the draft prospects were ranked by various pundits. His thought was, we want to come away in this draft, clearly, with offensive line help, clearly wanted to add a corner. And I think wide receiver is still in that ballpark, even though I don’t think they were, I don’t think they were hot and bothered about getting a receiver in the first round. But in assessing and projecting where these players were going to go, how much how much draft depth there was at these positions, there was the thought that if we want to get an impactful corner, more likely to find that in the first round than second, third round guys that we think can can make an impact early on, right. And of course, the first round guys always going to be better than a second or third round guy. In looking at the offensive line, he thought there was a better chance, if they were going to go corner in the first round, that they can still find impact talent in the second and third round at the O line, when they’re going to be picking which is the end of those rounds. Now, we’re gonna have to see how it plays out. And again, as someone’s listening to this over the weekend, they’ll have a better idea than you and I right now. But if the board ends up getting picked clean when they’re picking in the second round, and the third round at offensive line, then oh, then you’re looking at that a little bit differently. And you’re looking at that from a more consequential standpoint as it pertains to your 2024 roster. But if Nate Wiggins was clearly higher on the board, than the next couple offensive linemen that they had, which were presumably second round, grade, middle, the second ground, whatever, whatever they might be, then from a value standpoint, this made a lot more sense. Because it is a position of need, is it as drastic, or as immediate of a need as Oh, line? No, but it’s still a need. Again, you don’t go into a season with two outside corners that you trust on your roster. I mean, they needed to replace that Ronald Darby spot that that he held down last year. And this kid clearly has as much younger, faster, way more upside, they feel he can step in and be a starter. Probably like I said, I don’t expect it to be week one, barring an injury, but he’s gonna be in the mix. And and if you look at him, historically, the Ravens
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:41
30 snaps on opening day if he’s healthy, right? I mean, yes. 2530
Luke Jones 18:45
something better. Oh,
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:47
he’s one, right. I mean, well, no, no,
Luke Jones 18:50
you don’t think about it like that, though. You gotta see that’s where that’s where you run into problems. If you’re thinking about it like that. I mean, he’s got to compete and show that he’s ready. But you have Marlon Humphrey, who’s a three time Pro Bowl corner and Brandon Stevens, who was their most dependable, consistent above average corner last year. So I think you’re right in the sense that if they’re laying it out right now, yeah, they want him to be part of their sub packages and maybe rotate your corners a little bit like they did with Jimmy Smith and Brandon Carr five years ago, but he’s got to show it. So but the good news is when you are talking about corners in the first round, and you look at the Ravens historically, Dwayne Starks was not necessarily a week one number one corner. Chris McAllister didn’t start until I don’t know if it was midway through 19
Nestor J. Aparicio 19:37
starts went to school one day with Jimmy Smith. You can look that up. I was here with that. Yeah,
Luke Jones 19:42
yeah. But but the again, those guys didn’t come in and start immediately. Jimmy Smith did not start with Jimmy Smith looks like a bust until the end of his second year in the NFL. Marlon Humphrey rotated in his rookie year so so I’m not at all of the thought that Nate Wiggins is just gonna be handed a starting job. And they have, they have to starting outside corners. This gives them depth, this gives them more versatility. And obviously this gives them high end starter upside as it pertains to not just later in 2024, but really 2025 and beyond. And again, the draft is not just about filling a need for the short term, the draft is about maximizing value for the long term. And that’s where I think Nate Wiggins was a pretty good cross section, at least in the Ravens mind, we’ll have to see how it plays out. You know, he’s highly regarded, but you never really know until they get to the next level, he does have to fill out a little bit. I mean, he’s like, you know, he played a 175 pounds, I think he was listed at Clemson last year at six one, I mean, he’s very lean. So from a physicality standpoint, and you know, that’s something he’s going to have to adjust to, I think, you know, one knock on him that I think you saw from different draft types was, maybe needs to be a little mean, or a little more of a dog in him, so to speak. From a run support standpoint. Ravens will teach him that if he has that in Him, they will bring that out in him. There’s no doubt but
Nestor J. Aparicio 21:03
weighs 175 pounds. He’s gotta fill out. Yeah, yeah, he’s got
Luke Jones 21:07
to fill out. And I think if you look at his frame, look at his 40 time. I mean, this kid flies, you know, I mean, all of that. I think there. There’s projectable upside here to say He’s really He’s really young. Yeah, he’s not even 21 yet. I mean, that’s, that’s what we’re talking about here. So I think, again, every team loves their pick on draft night. I mean, even if they don’t, they’re selling that they love their pick, I genuinely believe, seeing and hearing Eric to constant John Harbaugh that they were really pleased in terms of making the best out of Okay. Ideally, I think offensive line was the no brain, no brainer position that they wanted to come away with. But with the way the board fell, they weren’t they didn’t feel that any of those prospects warranted moving up. And again, they’ve so rarely do that. But they thought that Nate Wiggins was a great enough prospect when they were picking it 32 warrant not trading back and Acosta did say the phones did ring. And typically most years, he’ll say whether they ring or not other years, he said, the phones didn’t ring he said they did. But they really they felt they were getting the best cover corner in the draft and Nate Wiggins, and we’ll see how it plays out. But certainly, again, from a value standpoint, it checks it checks the box, this doesn’t feel like a player they would have reached unlike, as I said, if they had taken the next offensive lineman on the board, to me that would have looked like might have reached a little bit there to satisfy a need. But like I said, this was, to me a good compromise between best player available maximizing value, and also wasn’t their biggest need. But it was number two or number three on the list at most, or at worst. Alright, so
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:46
today’s the day I get to tell the story because you’re bleary eyed. You’ve been up all night and we used to and the 25th anniversary documentaries out and Eric the cost is widely featured, as are the scouts and all the things we used to do back in the day. And there’s a piece in the room holding envelopes in the 25th anniversary documentary. That piece was over party Hill stations. So that’s probably 2004 2005 Based on my documentation of Deion Sanders and Kordell. Stewart being there and Jim fossil amongst others, but I used to do a thing with Phil savage and Brian Billick. And he almost think it was Bill Hicks idea. Like I’ll have to ask him that on the Friday before the draft. It was like the day before Christmas, if you would go to the old building and then the early days of the castle. And I did it in both buildings because I remember where everybody’s offices were. I walked through the building one by one with an envelope desk by desk, Terry McDonough might give you all the names Joe Douglas participated for sure. But Vince Newson participated every year Eric the cost to participate every year Joe Ortiz participated every year George kookiness participated every year, I mean thinking of the names. So I would go to them on Friday, and walk into their office and say I want you to write down it’s a good idea for Ryan mink in the lounge, Garret Downing. I would walk in and say write down on a sheet of paper and lock it like David Copperfield in my 25th anniversary video, lock it down. And then on Monday, we’re going to unearth it during the show, which is exactly what I did with the cost that when we’re holding those envelopes, and everybody will put their name on the outside of the they’re all ravens letterhead came out of their desk. So if they would write down on a sheet of paper, the player they thought they would get, not who they wanted. What they really thought that the idea was, you’re picking, they’re always picking in the 20s Like literally the years I did it I’m trying to think who they picked or where they pick the one year that picked up a Courtney Upshaw, like it’d be picked in the 40s or something, you know, wherever they, they picked, they pick late. But it’s always interesting to see who they coveted and who they could get. And one year everybody nailed it. And one year, nobody nailed it. And I had a whole Travis laboy, I’m just going through the names on those sheets in my mind, because I’m Marilu Henner, about all this. So whatever year that was, there were names that they loved, that they didn’t get. And it was a fascinating case study in that when you’re picking 30. Literally, when Eric de Costa went to bed on Friday night, that was the whole exercise. The whole exercise is who do you think you’re gonna get? And who do you get? And the fans the reason the exercise was so interesting, is fans would sit here and guess. And you know, we’d all mock This was 20 years ago, mock drafting, before, we all have websites, where we before you had a MySpace, young man, and would would mock draft, but this is the funding games we used to play around here before you had a press credential, and I didn’t. And it’s fascinating to think at 30 What they really thought was going to happen, because that’s the whole game we’re playing here today, right? The whole game we’re playing here’s wonder if if they had this if they, you know, whatever, guys were there, if this guy was gone? And how would they go? If somebody dipped in and said, We want a quarterback? We’re willing to give you a one next year for the 30? Whether that’s attractive to them? I bet it would have been in this organization, it would have been?
Luke Jones 26:26
Yeah, I think so. Especially if that team was going to pay a premium for what that pick would be worth to get a quarterback. But when you have that many quarterbacks go as early as they did, you know, I mean, Bo Nix Penix was certainly you know, I like panics. And when we were even talking about the Falcons, I don’t dislike him. I hate the fit, because what are you doing? But But yeah, when you don’t have that quarterback that’s there, like the Ravens back in 2018. And Lamar Jackson sitting there at the end of the first round, and the Ravens came back in and got him. So that scenario did not present itself. But I’m sure that was something that would have been attractive to them, again, depending on how the board was going to play out. So I think they did well for themselves. I think they’re, I think they’re genuinely excited about Nate Wiggins. And like I said, he’s got some, it’s got to fill out a little bit, that’s something that’s going to happen over the next couple years. But what ran a four to 840 Really impressive cover traits on the outside, which is not an easy thing to do. I mean, when you’re on the outside, you’ve got to cover you know, when you’re a slot player, when you’re a safety when you’re linebacker when you’re playing. In the middle of the field, there are things a team can do schematically to help you out. But when you’re on the outside, you got to cover people, at least a large chunk of the time, right. So and I think they feel Nate Wiggins can be that kind of guy. And again, I think there’s a confidence level. And we’ll see how it’s going to play out that but I think they felt they were more likely to be able to find offensive line talent rounds two and three, that can still help them right away, compared to if they had taken an O lineman, and then trying to find a corner in round two or three that was gonna be able to help them right away. So again, got to see how it plays out. You’re you’re at the at the end of the day, unless you’re trying to trade up and you’re willing to forfeit future trade value or draft value, which we know the Ravens love their picks, whether it’s later in this weekend’s draft or next year, but you know, you’re still at the mercy of the board’s gonna fall. And we’ll see how it was. But short of moving up. Again, I don’t think there were any offensive lineman at 30, where you would sit there and say, Wow, that was a steal. I think if anything, the Ravens would have been reaching at least a little bit. And that’s generally not what you want to do in a big picture sense. And I think that’s why the Ravens have been as good drafting as they’ve been over the course of their existence, and staying true to the board and really trying to maximize value. That’s why I said I think Nate Wiggins was a good cross section of that. And also still coming away with a player that was very much in need, even if it wasn’t their biggest need for 2024, as Ozzie Newsome used to say, I guess he said it after they went through the years of Asa Jackson, shocky, brown and Rashaan Melvin and, you know, thinking back to that 2014 year where they just were ravaged by injuries from that point on, as he said, you can never have enough corners. And I think Eric Acosta was certainly thinking that as they turned in, made the call and they turned in their card for Nate Wiggins. Alright,
Nestor J. Aparicio 29:34
so I’m looking at the draft picks of these years, it was Ben Grubbs that most of the scouts nailed. And that was a latest pick kind of sort of right but they loved they loved it, you know, like and they thought that was the guy he thought we needed. We need an offensive lineman. He’ll be there. Mark Clayton was one that a lot of them got right. The one that I think they all got wrong was the year We took Suggs and bowler because because they wanted left which in a whole different way, Suggs was not supposed to be there at all. He had the incident out in the in the gym, and he fell a little bit. And that was the weird Minnesota running up to the board year. Like all of the weirdness happened that year. So in the middle of all of this, it’s again, dude, two points for me. And I was there and John Ogden had to be the first at 96 in New York, I’ll just say this. We talk about it for months and months and months. And they always show you what they really think on draft night. So we stopped the guessing and we see what they valued. And then it’s up to reporters with access like you and not for me anymore to ask them why and say, you’ll make that clear to me and I think the other part of this with the draft is the unpredictability of what everybody in front of you or even with somebody behind you. I mean, the whole Penix thing was about like somebody dealing up and I remember the year Phil savage been there look Phil and Ozzy in the organization got real sideways when savage lied to get a draft pick out of the Hello Dnata deal. Pissed everybody off like he was gonna take took some took some stiff. Cameron Wimbley, I think, yeah, Mirian Yeah, we can. Yeah, it’s
Luke Jones 31:23
Marian Cameron, whatever
Nestor J. Aparicio 31:24
it was, whatever it was, right. Yeah. It was like a weird thing that went on. But there’s all of that in the bag of doughnuts about liars and bluffing and playing poker and all of that, that. If you’re picking 30, and you’re Eric de Costa, and you went to bed, you really the whole point is even he didn’t know who he was going to pick, like literally, it’s that intriguing. On the inside. And by the way, speaking to the inside, I’m just waiting for Bo Smolka or Jeff’s reback are one of these reporters who always seems to know that, like the baseball and football thing are tied together. And I know the caster. He doesn’t talk to anybody anymore. But it is factual that Eric de Costa had a meal with John Angelos and told John Angelo’s, you should hire Mike aleus and seek McDowell and hire those guys because they’re geniuses. And I know this because Eric Koston was the one that told me who Mike Elias was, and told me all about it all it was going on. And it’s fascinating. The baseball guys were in the in the dugout, weren’t they? They were in the War Room.
Luke Jones 32:28
They were I mean, they weren’t coming down to the media room to say hello to us, but they were there. Yeah, they were. And these guys hate
Nestor J. Aparicio 32:35
the media so much. Like I like everything about my video. And it used to be like, decent. And there’s nobody here that’s ever been crossed by a media member put a knife in their back written lies or AI their fake voices or their principles. Like it’s fascinating to me the hatred and the disdain and the distance that is set up between them like they’re in the building. Why when they come down and waved in their first place. Take a bow talk about how cool it is that the like, i Hey, man, but then again, Chad Steele and Greg Bader running the place. And we don’t even have a press credential tonight for the baseball game, because you have to cover the tread. So what do I know? But it just seems so sensible to me like the nice guy words seem sensible until the oil stop participating. So they’re in there together. This is a great story. I’m giving it to everybody to write it, because it’s true. And it’s awesome. It’s an awesome story.
Luke Jones 33:33
Right, right. One last thing, I just want to because you brought this up in passing, and I want to go back to the point I made about pockets and where you’re thinking players are going to be when you have picks in the draft part of this when you’re trying to project this out when you take Nate, Nate Wiggins, and you’re saying, Okay, there’s still offensive linemen, we know this is a very deep offensive line draft, second, and third round now. All those teams that took offensive lineman Offensive Tackles, guards, whatever, in that first round, are probably not taking another one in round two and round three. So now you have this information that you say, there are still guys we like at the end of the second round. There’s still guys we like at the end of the third round, and teams A through H have already plucked an offensive lineman in the first round, you know what we know the teams that did why those teams are now way less likely to be competing with the Ravens for those players at the end of the second round and the end of the third round. So that’s part of it, too. Again, we think about it in terms of what you’re picking it 30 If you’re picking it 62nd You’re picking 93rd You’re picking 113 etc. But there’s it’s a puzzle. It’s more like a puzzle, and you’re kind of looking at this and you say how are we ranking our players? What combinations of players do we think we can get based on where they’re going to be based on how our board sets up? And I think that was another factor here. But to go back to your mike Elias SigmaTel point Yeah, I mean, it’s it’s cool, you know, it’s definitely cool. Teams repair paranoid. And honestly, paranoia persists and more and more in every walk of life. And to your point about an AI situation, sometimes it’s justified. But it’s something that is a cool story. Yeah. It’d be fun to hear them talk about a little more, but it is the press room stock answer,
Nestor J. Aparicio 35:22
I don’t know anymore because I’m not allowed to be there. And you’re eating cheese curls on behalf of both of us. So please have an extra hot dog on my behalf. How many people literally are in that room at midnight? Purely because they they stocked the room with cheerleaders. Now, I’m talking about people under employee of the team that, you know, I tell my people like you, Jeff, are there 15 reporters there? 20 report? Yeah.
Luke Jones 35:46
I mean, you know, between the radio print and television, I mean, you’re 20 I mean, it’s, you know, it was late. I mean, think about even for, for the TV folks. You know, they did their sports broadcast at what 20 After 11. I mean, the Ravens were just about on the clock at that point in time. So, you know, I didn’t send out the wn St. TEXT 1130 was my cut off. My logic with that was anyone who was still awake is in front of the TV watching it. Anyone who was asleep, probably didn’t want to get a text message at 1140. About the pics. So anyone who that was my editorial decision at 1130 was my cut off for for the 30th overall pick. And it came a few minutes after that. So So uh, but yeah, there. I mean, there were reporters. And yeah, it was a long night. But again, like I said, I think I’ve covered enough drafts to kind of feel like I have a decent idea of, at least if they’re really happy, or whether they’re kind of disappointed, and the board got picked clean, and they didn’t really love the player that was there, you know, or they liked the player, but they would have liked to pick them later. Yeah, I think this was a case of really feeling good about making the best of the situation that they were in, which was, oh line was kind of cleaned out as far as guys that they probably had on their top 25. So, Wiggins, who again, to me was a consensus Top 20 Top 25 player, when you look at most of the draft rankings out there, I think they felt they got good value. And I think they felt that wasn’t their biggest need. But it was definitely a need that they needed to address. Not just for this year from a depth standpoint, but wanting a guy that can step into a starting role as early as later this year or certainly next year. All
Nestor J. Aparicio 37:26
right, man, get some rest. We got crab cakes to eat. We got baseball to watch. We got Oakland A’s to swat we got Yankees to get ready for we got the second round. We got the third round. We got celebrity presenters and warm, fuzzy stories and cancer survivors and little children and the former players and alumni in Detroit, hung over. And I don’t know what else do we have? Spring will be springing right but beautiful weather Yankees in town once you get a little bit of rest on Sunday or Monday and gasp back up. And we’ve got a hell of a baseball series coming next week. So rest up. Today is the day Luke Jones and I’m going to introduce you to the mac and cheese at fatally. So our 25th anniversary documentary is out. I didn’t even ask you about that you know what we’re going to do with families. Today we’re going to talk about 25th anniversary documentary. That’s what we’re going to do today. So rest stop, make sure you watch it. It’s 36 minutes and 36 seconds long. And the reason for that is, and Luke, you’ve known me a long time, you know, 36 is my favorite number, right? And it turned out to just be that it was actually 3638 with the credits. And I told Greg and he pulled the credits back by two seconds a frame. So we got the 3636. And he said why 36 And he’s like no one famous for 36. And I’m like I did, I were 36 and literally so. So 36 was the number. So at fatally, we’re going to be giving away the PacMan scratch offs. I still have a big batch of these left. I gave a bunch of these away up at Greenmount station. They were lucky tickets because we won on Wednesday, barely. And we were Greenmount bowl with one of the great great horse racing conversations about the history in one segment, and then the future and it’s way different than the history like I’ve been doing horse racing for two years, as the documentary would show you. I didn’t put any of those Preakness pictures into the documentary yet. That’ll be that’ll be I have a sense of humor, but not that deep. Our friends who carry a wellness and foreign daughter have supported our 25th anniversary, and the magical Purple and orange cupcakes here. We are very appreciative of that as well. And if you participate in the 420 sale last week and the point of sale thing, get over there before the end of the day, and take care of getting your move and getting the bombs and the things that I need to take care of as well. Luke and I are gonna be hanging on Friday and fadeless we’re gonna hang every Friday which is two weeks from now as well. Doing what we do through vignarajah is gonna join us later raskins going to join us. I hope that you join us for the shrimp salad, the crab cakes, they have beer. They have ice cold beer at reasonable price and fate Lee’s new Lexington markets come on down. Our friends at Liberty pure and Jiffy Lube getting us out on the road. It has been a long, hard March and April but the 25th anniversary documentaries out go enjoy that a lot of great stuff out in the vault at Baltimore positive Susan Ford off Jason turbo. Great authors writers Mari Brown came on this week John Eisenberg talking about the history of royal baseball. And the NFL Draft busy times around here we are WNS TA and 1570, Towson Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore. Hold on on behalf of my Pac Man friends. Waka waka waka way positive
