- 13 hours ago
They dive into Baltimore Ravens draft rumors and roster needs. The Big Bad Morning Show welcomes Ken McKusick to analyze the interior defensive line and potential draft targets for the upcoming season.
Then, Ed Norris, Rob Long, and Jeremy Conn analyze the edge rusher class of the NFL draft with McKusick. They specifically look at prospects like Reuben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor while discussing how these players could bolster the Ravens' defense.
Then, Ed Norris, Rob Long, and Jeremy Conn analyze the edge rusher class of the NFL draft with McKusick. They specifically look at prospects like Reuben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor while discussing how these players could bolster the Ravens' defense.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Let's jump right into it. We've got a late start. The uncertainty over Nnamdi Matabike return kind of leaves the
00:08Ravens in limbo. Am I right?
00:09Yeah, it's probably the biggest question on the interior defensive line in terms of what they do.
00:14Do they go into this draft assuming Matabike is going to be able to play his normal set of snaps
00:19at his normal effectiveness and be available all the time?
00:23And that's a real question. And I think they'll probably have to draft a three-tech with the assumption that
00:29he's going to at least miss some time or not be as effective as he was before.
00:35We still have Travis Jones, though.
00:38Great player. And finding him a running mate is very important.
00:42He led the team in sacks last year, played three-tech, I thought, very well. I'd love to see him
00:47stay there.
00:48But, you know, I'm kind of agnostic at this point whether or not they draft a nose tackle or a
00:54three-tech to pair him.
00:56But there are relatively few three-techs in this entire draft that get you excited.
01:01Peter Woods is out there. Kristen Miller of Georgia. Grayson Halton of Oklahoma are three names.
01:06And I like Rayshon Benny, who's not really got the size to be a full-time guy, I think.
01:12But there's a relatively limited pool of three-techs out there that the Ravens could draft.
01:19So, Ken, as we look at it, you're looking at along the defensive line.
01:23They've always found guys, right, in the later rounds.
01:25And they've had a lot of success there. Is it something that you think they go back to?
01:28This isn't, when we talk about the interior of the defensive line or defensive line in general,
01:32they're probably not drafting someone there at 14 unless something amazing happens, right?
01:36Right. I wouldn't see it.
01:37I mean, Woods is the only guy who's really would be anywhere in the vicinity.
01:41I think he would be at multiple trade downs, honestly, for the Ravens.
01:44I don't think they'd take him at 14.
01:45If they traded down for a third-round pick, that would get him to 18.
01:49I wouldn't see him drafting them there either.
01:51So, you know, there's nobody who's really worth it at the very top.
01:56It's interesting because the draft where they got Travis Jones was one of the most barren of defensive linemen in
02:02recent years.
02:03And they still were able to get Travis in the third round.
02:06He was really undervalued at that point.
02:10Kevin Cusick, filmstudybaltimore.com.
02:12Ken, drafting an interior defensive lineman early on is kind of rare for the Ravens, though.
02:18What makes us think we'll do it this year?
02:21Yeah, I'm not sure that they will, but it would be that they're not sure if Matt Abike's back or
02:25not.
02:26They really don't have enough linemen.
02:27Otherwise, Broderick Washington is probably going to be cut for savings.
02:30And ES Peebles isn't big enough, I'm afraid, to play in the NFL.
02:34So we'll see.
02:35But last year, they had a lot of trouble finding him playing time or even game day activations.
02:40So he only played 71 snaps, you know, across six games.
02:44It's just a real question as to whether they have the defensive lineman currently.
02:48They're otherwise very nose tackle heavy, Rob.
02:50I mean, they've got a bunch of guys.
02:52They had four nose tackles active for game day that I believe were the four heaviest men ever to play
02:56on the same team at the same time.
02:59I'm serious.
03:00They weighed 1,421 combined pounds.
03:03But massive, massive men.
03:07And actually, Travis Jones is the smallest of them.
03:09Speaking of massive, how about that big Canadian that seems to get called up, you know, three days before the
03:14season starts here, Brent Urban.
03:17Is he coming back again?
03:19I mean, just I like him personally.
03:20I think he's consistent and they always see him at the last minute, ring him up.
03:24He's on their speed dial, no doubt about it, and been a guy who's been an NFL survivor, has the
03:30greatest attitude about it you'll ever hear, you know, and he's just perfectly happy to continue to play football.
03:39Urban has a long story going back in his past of how he got into the NFL originally, but Canadians
03:43have a historically very tough time getting into the NFL.
03:46And if they don't come to camps in the United States to get noticed, which he did, his dad apparently
03:51got him involved in, then they have a tough road.
03:54But Tavius Robinson had to play, I think, effectively Juco ball in Canada before he got his opportunity.
03:59And, you know, it's a big difference.
04:01But Urban really, you know, a guy didn't have the greatest injury luck.
04:05He got injured right at the time he was about to get his first big contract.
04:08And he could have gotten really paid.
04:10You know, might have made $20 million over four years or something at the time.
04:13But it didn't work out.
04:15That's not a lot of passes.
04:16Yeah.
04:16He seems to have a real knack for knocking a ball out of the air.
04:20Well, Ken, I'm going to ask this on the other side, but I do want to get an edge rusher.
04:24I don't think a lot of people have a player like that mocked to the Ravens at 14.
04:28But if one slid, I think it makes an interesting decision.
04:31But we'll talk about that on the other side with Ken McKusick.
04:34Everybody here in FilmStudyBaltimore.com.
04:37Baltimore's Big Bad Morning Show on the fad.
04:40Ed Norris, Rob Long, Jeremy Kahn, and Ken McKusick from FilmStudyBaltimore.com.
04:44Ken, so I wanted to get into pass rushers.
04:46I know the top three that most people are talking about, old T-Rex, Reuben Baines with those short arms.
04:51I don't even know that.
04:52That became a thing.
04:54Arbel Reese, I don't even know why we're bringing him up because he's not going to be there.
04:57David Bailey, what do you think of this pass rush class that we have here as far as the edges
05:03go?
05:03Yeah, it's outstanding.
05:04It's very deep this year.
05:05And that has not been the case every year, certainly.
05:08But a very deep group of edge rushers.
05:10Some guys who might actually be kicking side.
05:13Guys, Bain actually strikes me as a guy who fits the Ravens' needs very, very closely.
05:18If you look at what the Ravens really need in this draft on the edge, they need a guy who
05:24can certainly play on the Sam side, for starters.
05:29And they need a guy who can go in on third down and kick inside.
05:35And also relieve Mike Green of his early down responsibilities and allow him to be more of a situational pass
05:41rusher.
05:41Bain is all three of those.
05:42So he can help you on third down from the inside.
05:45Are you worried about the short arms at all?
05:46Oh, sure.
05:46I'm worried about it.
05:47It's the developmental hit that makes him third instead of one of the top two.
05:52I think Reese would still be number one with me.
05:54But it's a great group at the top.
05:56Kim McEwen.
05:57Okay.
05:58I wanted to ask you about Akeem Macedon out of the U.
06:03Yeah.
06:03So he's a very interesting prospect.
06:05A lot of people have him very high.
06:06And a lot of people have him mocked to the Ravens at number 14.
06:10I would be not in line with that pick.
06:13He is a very polished, extremely good pass rusher.
06:17Jason Taylor has been his coach down at the U.
06:20But here's the problem.
06:21He's 25 years old.
06:23And that means a lot of things, a lot of dominoes fall in terms of value on a player like
06:28Macedon.
06:29So I don't really believe he'd be a great guy.
06:31He has a medical from a 2023 place where he had torn ligaments in both feet.
06:38So, you know, we don't want to get into an injury situation.
06:40Feet?
06:40He had feet?
06:41Oh, sorry.
06:44That's a tough one, man.
06:46I can't.
06:47Some of these guys, like you said, they're ranked high.
06:50I mean, you know, Avril Reese, obviously, number one.
06:52David Bailey out of Texas Tech.
06:54You know, Tech.
06:54I love this.
06:55There's Porto stuff.
06:55Texas Tech, Stanford, pop, pop, pop, all on to these guys.
06:58But you've got guys like Bain and Falk highlighted.
07:02And you said Bain would be a good fit for the Ravens.
07:04Would he be a better fit than Reese?
07:05Or is Reese still your number one for the team?
07:07Yeah, Reese is an interesting cat.
07:10He plays an off-ball linebacker and on the line of scrimmage.
07:14They have to look at, like, pass rush productivity for him in a different way.
07:16But he's extremely productive, extremely quick.
07:19I mean, he'd be a guy that would make all kinds of sense if the Ravens would somehow get him.
07:22But they won't.
07:23He'll be taken probably second overall, maybe third.
07:26So it's not a risk that they'll get Bailey either.
07:29It is a possibility they'll get Bain.
07:31It certainly is a possibility that Falk, Parker, and Mesidor are going to be on the board,
07:35who are the next three guys on my list, at number 14.
07:38Does it feel weird that the whole Reuben Bain thing,
07:40we had the information leak out this week that he killed somebody or what a vehicular accident.
07:45It's crazy.
07:46Like, this stuff comes out just a week before the draft.
07:49You're not kidding.
07:50No.
07:51I'm not aware of this.
07:52Okay.
07:54What was it?
07:54Vehicular?
07:55Manslaughter?
07:56Something like that.
07:57In 2024, yeah.
07:58He was never tried.
07:59He was involved in the incident.
08:02Yeah.
08:03So Bain was involved in a 2024 accident in which a person later died.
08:07And now this gets brought up.
08:08You know, it's the same thing.
08:09We're leading up to the draft, and it's like, did some team have this in their back pocket
08:13the whole time and then leak this out?
08:14But yes.
08:15Yeah.
08:16Yes.
08:17I mean, he was in the car.
08:18There's four passengers in the car.
08:20I mean, and, you know, the other one hits, they hit another car.
08:24I got it.
08:25But it's, I don't see anything when I was looking into this.
08:28I mean, was he driving?
08:30Was he intoxicated?
08:31Nothing.
08:31It sounds like a car accident.
08:32It's tragedy.
08:33It happens every day.
08:34So I don't really know.
08:35Yeah.
08:35Once this came out, I thought he went to Georgia.
08:37I had to double check.
08:37He did go to Miami.
08:38So anything car-related is usually in Georgia with speeding or anything.
08:43But yeah, I mean, like with Reuben Bain, you had the knock on the short arms, and then
08:46you had this situation, which I think is a whole lot of nothing.
08:49But people read the headlines and don't read the story, and it's like, oh, we can't draft
08:53this guy now.
08:54And Joe just told me Bain was driving.
08:56We had the pot mask situation a few years ago with Laramie Tunsil, which came out on
09:01draft day.
09:02His uncle.
09:03His uncle.
09:05I mean, look.
09:06It was about five years ago.
09:07I remember him talking about that.
09:09Look at him.
09:09He sure looks a hell of a lot older than like 20 years old there.
09:13Yeah, we've all been there.
09:13When was the last time you were wearing a gas mask?
09:17No?
09:18Jeremy gave him up.
09:20Not specifically for drugs.
09:22No.
09:22He puts a lemon in his mouth now.
09:24He gave up the mask.
09:26Oh, man.
09:27All right.
09:27So getting back to this, as far as pass rush goes, the Ravens are going to take somebody
09:32at some point in this department, right?
09:35Yes.
09:35Absolutely.
09:36I think they need one draftee and probably one veteran.
09:39So we'll see if Jadavion Clowney is back with the Ravens, which would be terrific.
09:43Mercenary.
09:44Yeah.
09:44Well, he's been very good wherever he's gone and certainly was great with the Ravens for
09:48the time he was here.
09:49I think he could be back, and I think that one of these guys will get drafted.
09:53He'd be one of the fairly top guys.
09:55They had denied Dennis Sutton in from Penn State.
09:58They've got a number of guys who can help with run defense and take early downs.
10:02They've got a number of guys who are pure pass rushers.
10:04It's really a smorgasbord of options they have at the edge group.
10:09But the Ravens, if they're looking for their own guy, the player they really need, they
10:15want a Sam guy because they want somebody to play opposite Hendrickson.
10:18They want to relieve Mike Green of these early down duties, and they want the strength to
10:22kick inside on third down.
10:23If you have all three of those things, it's perfect.
10:24And actually, you're solving some of your potential Matabike problem if you have a Bain or somebody
10:29who can kick inside.
10:30Ken McKusick, FemStudyBaltimore.com.
10:32Ken, last year, he was the toast of the town, the stealer of the draft.
10:37Why is it when we talk pass rush?
10:38We never talk about Mike Green anymore.
10:40Oh, I talk about Mike Green still.
10:41I don't want to take Mike Green's situational pass rush role away from him.
10:45And Akeem Mesidor, we just talked about earlier, but I think Mike Green right now, even
10:50after a year in the NFL, is 27 months younger than Akeem Mesidor.
10:55And I had this written down here somewhere in my notes, but I don't have it right here
10:58in front of me.
10:59But he's absurdly younger.
11:01And so it's not the kind of guy who's going to take Mike Green's job.
11:04Mike Green, they need to develop him, and they need to give him a year of real runway
11:08by being a situational pass rusher as opposed to a guy who's got a lot of early down snaps,
11:12which he was in a trial by fire last year.
11:15How much did Trey Hendrickson influence the decision-making when they go out for one of these
11:19guys as far as what they're looking for?
11:22Do they want a guy that's more like, I'm not going to get one, Max Crosby, who is actually
11:27good against the run as well as the pass.
11:28We're looking for a pure pass rusher, do you think?
11:30I mean, what is Hendrickson's impact here?
11:33So I think that the Ravens have their two rush side guys taken care of.
11:36Hendrickson pretty much always been a rush from the offensive left side over the typically
11:41uncovered left tackle.
11:43And then that's also where Tavius Robinson plays.
11:45So they have their rush side done, which is why they need to look at Sam traits, people
11:51who can potentially cover a tight end.
11:53That's of increased importance, I believe, in the Ravens system because of the presence
11:58of Kyle Hamilton.
11:58If you want Kyle Hamilton to rush off the slot, then you want to have the flexibility to drop
12:03your Sam side edge into coverage to take his responsibilities.
12:11And the Ravens, they have lots of options in this draft.
12:14A lot of times, you don't have any idea who the Sam linebackers are because they've been
12:17used in almost exclusively a pass rush role.
12:21But that's not true.
12:22In this draft, there's a lot of guys who fit the spot.
12:25Ken McKusick, tell us all about Film Steady Baltimore.
12:28Thanks, Rob.
12:29Yeah, so we've got shows coming out basically every day or two right now, which are 10 to
12:34one countdowns of the individual position groups.
12:38Safety, IDL, and Edge are all out this week.
12:41If you're not a podcast guy, there's two easy ways to listen.
12:44You can go directly to the website and hit play on filmstudybaltimore.com, look under
12:48podcasts, or you can play it on YouTube directly from your smart TV.
12:52Search for Film Study Ravens McKusick and you'll find it.
12:54See you next weekend.
12:55All right, take it easy, guys.
Comments