00:00So sitting at 14, if you're the Ravens, what are you looking at?
00:06Well, I mean, like really they're not necessarily a power position to be able to dictate.
00:10They kind of have to play the board out.
00:12And I think you have to be prepared for a few different scenarios if you're the Ravens.
00:17One, when does the run on offensive linemen take place?
00:21Because if you want to beef up that offensive line, that's going to happen either early in the round,
00:25where if the Cleveland Browns take one at six or if the Cardinals take one at three,
00:30it can lead to a quick run where now they have to make a decision.
00:32Do you want to beef up the offensive line?
00:34If it's not that, those guys are going, okay, do I want to take the best weapon?
00:38Do I want to take a replacement like Kenyon Sadiq to replace Isaiah Likely to give me my tight end
00:43of the future?
00:45Do I want to look elsewhere?
00:47So they have a few different options, but really the Ravens have always operated on the premise of take the
00:53best player available.
00:53I think they'll stick to that and they'll just kind of wait and hope that someone that's kind of within
00:58range falls right to them.
01:00Bucky, a player that we've seen mocked to the Ravens frequently is Vega Iwane.
01:05And he made your list of guys that you project as future all pros at the NFL level.
01:12Is he one of the safer prospects in this year's draft for you?
01:17Yeah, like how you say safer, best, whatever.
01:20I think he's the best offensive lineman in the draft.
01:23And I know that people get hung up on dealing with positional value and flexibility and whether you take a
01:30guard and those things.
01:32But to me, he's dominant.
01:33He's dominant in every part of his game from being able to block in the trenches, from being able to
01:39block on the move, the way that he dominates, the way that he finishes, changes the tenor of your offensive
01:44line when he arrives.
01:45To me, he's a Raven all day, particularly if they want to get back to the way the Ravens have
01:50traditionally played, which is being the biggest and baddest bullies on the block.
01:54To me, he fits that mold.
01:56That's why I think he would be perfect for the Ravens or anybody else that will select him at the
02:00middle of the first round.
02:02Talking with Bucky Brooks inside access here on the fan.
02:04Well, let's play out this hypothetical rabbit hole a little bit, Bucky.
02:07The Ravens see Ione or Juane go before they pick.
02:11But Spencer Fano is still on the board.
02:13Do you like him?
02:16Yeah, look, I think those two are the two best ones.
02:19You know, if you talk about outside, like I know people are talking about Spencer Fano kicking in to guard.
02:24When I evaluated him, I evaluated him at tackle.
02:26And I think he's good enough to play on the edges there.
02:29People talk about the arm lift, but when you watch the tape, man, there are a few that are his
02:33size that move the way that he moves.
02:34The way that he climbs, the way that he engages, the way that he finishes.
02:37All those things are super positive, and you have to give them pluses across the board.
02:42So if I am the Baltimore Ravens and I'm thinking about upgrading my line, if I can't get one, I'm
02:48going to take the other.
02:48And hopefully they'll have their choice when they're sitting there at 14.
02:52Bucky, we've also talked about the possibility of the Ravens selecting a wide receiver.
02:57Eric DaCosta has selected a wide receiver in the first round three different times.
03:02And another player that's on your list of guys that you project to be an all-pro in the NFL
03:08is Jordan Tyson,
03:09who I've seen him from time to time mock to the Ravens.
03:13Why are you so high on Tyson?
03:15Well, when you look at his game, he has all the things that you look for in the number one
03:19receiver.
03:20He's a great route runner, terrific hands, exceptional when it comes to the body, like the ball skills,
03:27and then being able to go from being a pass catcher to a run after catch guy.
03:31He has all those things.
03:32The one thing that prevents you from going all that on him is the injuries.
03:36He has a ton of injuries that he's had to deal with, from ACLs to collarbones to hamstring pulls that
03:43have kept him out of games.
03:45It's a serious concern.
03:47And so, are you on the road of dice on someone who could turn out to be a JSN type,
03:52Jackson Smith and Jigna type, or he could be an oft-injured guy that you expand the first-round pick,
03:57but you never get the value of the return on the investment?
04:01Buck, I'm curious your thoughts on Ruben Bain.
04:03The report came out this morning about he was involved in a car accident,
04:08and somebody in the car fell into a coma and eventually passed away.
04:12I saw, I think it was the Lions GM who was asked about it, said we were already aware of
04:15this.
04:16Do you see Bain's stock slipping because of this?
04:21No, everyone in the league was well aware of this situation.
04:24It's unfortunate David was involved in that,
04:26but it's one of those things that when you get the reports, people knew about it.
04:29They were ahead of it.
04:30So, I think people are very, very comfortable with Ruben Bain's character.
04:34To me, this report drops now, but I don't think it will have the impact that it may have on
04:39the public,
04:40that it has inside the NFL circle.
04:43So, no, I don't think this will impact him at all.
04:45I think the bigger thing people are trying to kind of wrap their brains around,
04:49can he be a dominant player with what we call substandard arms?
04:53He's an outlier when it comes to having 30-inch arms and being a first-round prospect.
04:58Can he overcome the odds to be the dominant player that we saw at times at the University of Miami?
05:04Bucky, let's get to the cornerback position.
05:07And Jermon McCoy, he's got a ton of potential,
05:10but coming off a year in which he didn't play a snap due to injury,
05:14how difficult is it for a GM or a talent evaluator grading a player to not have any tape of
05:21them last year?
05:23I mean, it's really difficult.
05:24Like you would like to see in a perfect world,
05:25where you'd like to see all your players play all the games and show up and do all the things
05:29so you can have a comprehensive evaluation, but that's not the case with them.
05:33So a little bit, some of it is a bit of a gamble.
05:36You have to lean on your medical people to make sure that they feel good about his long-term prognosis
05:40when it comes to bouncing back from that injury.
05:42When you watch the tape, man, he fits.
05:45He fits the mold.
05:46He's long.
05:46He's rangy.
05:47He has great instincts and awareness at the line of scrimmage.
05:51He's versatile enough to play man and zone.
05:52He can do a lot of things.
05:54He's a plug-and-play player, but you have to be comfortable that he's fully recovered from the injury,
05:58that they don't sense that it's going to be a recurrent thing or thing that he's susceptible to.
06:04But as we've seen, when it comes to sports and injuries, there are no guarantees,
06:08but you have to be very, very comfortable with where he is in his recovery to make this pick
06:13when you talk about a first-round pick.
06:15We're talking with Bucky Brooks, Inside Access here on The Fan.
06:17Bucky, we haven't talked to you in a few weeks.
06:19I'm just curious your thoughts on what the Ravens have done.
06:22Obviously, they tried to make the Max Crosby deal.
06:24It fell apart.
06:25They pivoted to Trey Hendrickson.
06:27They filled some, I guess, checked some other boxes.
06:29What did you think of what Eric Dacosta has done this offseason?
06:33Yeah, look, man, they were trying to be aggressive and bold.
06:36If we take him at his word, they're trying to get Trey Hendrickson and Max Crosby.
06:39We'll see if that was really the case.
06:41But, look, Trey Hendrickson is a very solid player, even though he is over 30
06:44and you worry, okay, how long can we get this out of him?
06:47It's a big part of the puzzle, defensively, that they needed a pass rusher.
06:52So you get the pass rusher up front.
06:54You have some young guys that you're excited about in the back end
06:56with Kyle Hamilton and Malachi Starks.
06:59You have Brooklyn Smith.
07:00You have enough pieces in place.
07:02And then you've got a guru, and Jesse mentioned, to be able to kind of control it all.
07:07I think you're optimistic about the defense playing at a high level.
07:10I think the biggest question is to come on offense.
07:12What is this offense going to look like?
07:14Where are we at with Lamar Jackson?
07:17Not necessarily is he past his prime, but let's talk about his athleticism.
07:21Are we past the point of being able to count him being a dynamic dual threat?
07:25And does he have to become more of a traditional passer from the pocket
07:28that operates extensively from the pocket?
07:30Those are the things that you're more worried about when you're looking at the Ravens.
07:34What is the evolution of Lamar Jackson, and how do they build this offense around him
07:39if his game does have to change?
07:41Bucky, do you have concern in the lack of pass catchers that the Ravens have,
07:46reliable pass catchers?
07:47Everybody's high on Zay Flowers.
07:49He's coming off the best season of his career.
07:51Mark Andrews just didn't look like the Mark Andrews of old last year.
07:55And Rashad Bateman, after a great 2024, was kind of a non-factor last year.
08:01Yeah, I mean, look, I think overall last year the offense was a bit of a dud
08:05when it came to the passing game.
08:06Who knows why?
08:07Like, some of it was the offensive line, some of it was just a lack of rhythm
08:12and connectivity between the quarterback and the pass catchers.
08:14But new offense, everyone starts back at square one.
08:18I'm hopeful that this offense will be the same.
08:21But the thing that I know about the Ravens is the Ravens are always at their best
08:24when they can run the football and they run the football
08:27because it sets the table for everything else that they do.
08:30They need to be able to run the football effectively.
08:32Whenever they skew too much towards the pass-heavy premise,
08:36I think it goes awry because it also exposes their defense.
08:39If they run the football effectively, there's going to be plenty of one-on-one
08:42opportunities for the guys they have outside.
08:44But to your point, they do need to add another weapon.
08:47I just don't know if that weapon needs to happen in the first round.
08:50Bucky, let's finish with Lamar Jackson.
08:51And we've discussed it on the show a bunch.
08:54When Lamar Jackson is healthy and upright, they enter December not only being a playoff team
08:59but competing for the one seed.
09:00He was not healthy last year, missed some time, and even when he came back,
09:05didn't look like Lamar Jackson.
09:06So I guess we're getting closer to 30.
09:09Are you confident that we see the old Lamar Jackson again this year?
09:13I don't think the old Lamar comes back.
09:15I think there has to be a new and improved Lamar for this team to go.
09:18Meaning, normally, when you talk about he's eight, nine years in,
09:22the running goes away and you have to be able to deal from the pocket.
09:25The big thing when we talk about mobile or athletic quarterbacks is how do they transition?
09:31How do they change their games to be able to sustain themselves?
09:33We've seen some quarterbacks like McCann Newton not be able to do it and the career ends quickly
09:39thereafter.
09:39We saw Russell Wilson kind of fall off after we got to 10 and 11 years in.
09:44For Lamar Jackson to continue to be the guy that we regard as an MVP caliber,
09:49he's going to have to be able to dominate from the pocket.
09:52We've seen him.
09:53Obviously, he's put up great numbers as a passer.
09:54But if he doesn't have the ability to run a round, how do you build an offense for him
10:00that allows him to play comfortably from the pocket and allows this offense to go to another level,
10:05leaning heavily into what they want to do in the passing game without having the threat
10:09of your quarterback who can take off a run?
10:12Bucky Brooks, always great catching up with you, man.
10:14Thank you so much for your time.
10:15We appreciate it.
10:17Hey, thanks for having me.
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