Printed in FD issue 885, May 29-June 04 1993.

 

Dear Sir, I was amused by Richard Barker’s column and his attempts to undermine the obvious quality of the Ravens draft. Your anti-Ravens stance has been well noted in the past, but I do think this one is a bit of a reach!

 

The Ravens first round choice was Terrell Suggs, and, so it was reported, one of the Ravens coaching staff was heard to exclaim “Oh! My God, were gonna get Suggs!” A perfect fit for the 3-4 defence, he should have been taken higher - therefore a smart move to take with the 10th pick. At least you give us credit for that.

 

Prior to the draft the Ravens knew that Palmer was not going to happen. Both Leftwich and Boller worked out for the team. In the local press it was reported that there was genuine debate as to which QB (if any) to take – with Boller having a far stronger arm, and a hell of an upside.

 

The statement that ‘the Ravens emphatically did not’ [get the player we coveted] is open to speculation.  There is no question that we would have taken Leftwich with the Vikings’ pick - as he would have been the best player then available. Once that opportunity was missed we took Suggs (not Boller).  Having already taken the best player available at the number 10 slot, the real class move was then to trade for Boller with the Pats 19th pick (traded by Ozzie for next year’s 32nd overall pick). What happened when the 22,000 Ravens fans gathered at the stadium when hearing the pick – they went wild!

 

The Jags now have to pay two expensive QB’s. We get Suggs (R.Lewis, C.Brown Boulware – coming to a quarterback near you!) and Boller – thanks for the ‘blip’ Ozzie.

 

The collective press rating for our draft was either 9/10 or 10/10. The ‘9’ being for not drafting a wide-receiver – of course we then got free agent Marcus Robinson the next week. I think your search for a negative angle on this one is in vain.

 

Regards,

Dave Cressey

UK Ravens

www.ukravens.co.uk 

 

FD :

DAVE – This one could go on for a while as Mike Carlson has picked on it this week but Richard did also rate the Ravens’ draft as a 9/10 in our post draft issue (FD881). He did also say that this may have been Ozzie Newsome’s greatest draft. I think Richard was merely drawing attention to one point in an otherwise excellent (on paper at least) draft day for the Ravens. KEITH WEBSTER.