Agree, but it seems even when the time is there nothing is made of it.
Here's a real question. How long do we give DeCosta? Most seem ready for a clean slate, but he's been a part of this mess as well. Ozzie is "retiring" but if we keep on the same path, how me leeway do you think he gets? It's not like he wasn't involved in the process yet he seems to exit this unscathed.
i would have been happy with ozzie remaining - i have zero problems with this front office apart from 2 things:
1) its inability to draft wide receivers
2) its recent inability to seemingly adequately replace senior scouts
we have a well-run, harmonious front office that repeatedly finds players late in the draft that other teams never consider despite the fact that most teams find the small-school talent nowadays - and yet the ravens still go deeper than everyone else to find talent
the recent inability to hit 2nd round picks is crazy but is mostly just unfortunate - while they may not necessarily have been the players we wanted its not like they were considered day 3 picks who we drafted early - they just havent worked out and that's the luck of it - law of averages suggests that we'll hit on a 2nd rounder soon - its frustrating and im sure the front office will adjust their thinking with regards to 2nd round picks given the success in the mid-rounds with falling talent (and that may be where the problem has been - we've picked for need often in the 2nd round in recent years - 2015 we went TE, 2016 we went edge, 2017 we went edge again, 2018 we got rid of our pick) - but the 2nd round we've often had targets and positions seemingly in mind to go and get and it's meant we've missed on some talents that we would have been better off going after - we dont have the luxury of picking positions in mid-late rounds because the talent levels on our board or more disparate - so you clearly take the BPA at each pick and that means that good talent falls into your laps
look at this most recent draft - Orlando Brown and Mark Andrews fall to the mid-3rd (I had 2nd round grades on both) so we pick them up, Averett falls to the 4th (i had a low 2nd/high 3rd grade on him), Jordan Lasley was a high-potential pick in the 5th round (with talent that clearly exceeded his draft spot albeit with some issues), Deshon Elliott was quite clearly the highest player on the Ravens board where he was picked, likewise Kenny Young - they had talent that the Ravens liked so they didnt worry about anything and just picked them, Zach Sieler...
it's the same in the 2017 draft - Chris Wormley, Tim Williams, Chuck Clark... the ravens didnt worry about issues/going after their guy (albeit the harbs connection and the bama connection suggest that maybe those first 2 might have been their guys) and they just took the players highest on their board and didnt worry about positional value etc.
2016 - Kaufusi was a clear miss and may be what changed the strategy in the 3rd round the next 2 drafts, Tavon Young fell so we took him despite our corner depth problem being an outside corner problem more than a slot issue, in fact that whole 4th round we had the picks to let the talent fall to us and just take whomever: Tavon Young (starting nickel), Chris Moore (KR, special teams leader, WR4), Alex Lewis (starting LG), Willie Henry (starting 3tech when healthy), Kenneth Dixon (possibly the only real miss --> the ravens still havent been given clearance by the league yet for his return which is odd), Matt Judon has faded this year but was awesome as a sophomore, Maurice Canady has become a versatile chess piece on the backend (starting slot, depth outside corner, good special teamer, dime safety/corner hybrid)
2015 draft was an absolute shitshow for almost every team involved in hindsight - terrible class
there's a clear shift in draft strategy i think though between 1st/2nd round picks and the rest of the draft for the ravens... obviously there's a lot of pressure on the higher picks but the ravens seem to be more conscious of getting a player of need in recent years - taking a player of value at a position of need but maybe eschewing a falling player of better talent in some cases
the ravens have always preached BPA but looking at 1st/2nd round picks recently i struggle to see that necessarily being true - or at least the value of need seems to have proportionally a bit too much value in relation to where a player ends up on the board
of course i could be wrong but it feels to me like a switch flips after the 2nd round ends and the mode and strategy of the draft changes
EDIT:
i realise i took quite a tangent there...
