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.
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