POD Community Mock Draft: Pick No. 26

by Sean Yuille on Apr 12, 2009 6:00 PM EDT in NFL Draft

Rd.	#	Player	Pos.	College
1	26	Darrius Heyward-Bey	WR	Maryland
General Manager: Runnin' Rebel

With the 26th pick of the 2009 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft, the Baltimore Ravens select Maryland wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey.

Here is Runnin' Rebel's reasoning for the pick:

Ozzie Newsome has a reputation of drafting the best player available without much concern of the Ravens positional needs. That being said, I'm not Ozzie Newsome.

The Ravens advanced to the playoffs mainly on the strengths of their defensive prowess. Although they lost a few key players from the unit, the front-office did an adequate job replacing those players through free agency and has no strong need to re-tool that side of the ball with their first pick.

Joe Flacco emerged as one of the NFL's capable young guns and did an admirable job of not losing the games for the defense. In order for Flacco to take the next step he needs a viable deep threat at the wideout position to showcase his arm strength. An aging Derrick Mason was the team's most consistent receiver. Heyward-Bey would be the heir apparent and the perfect complement to command the double team and stretch the field to free up the underneath routes for the running backs and newly acquired tight end L. J. Smith.

Heyward-Bey has electrifying speed and quickness and the potential to go the distance on any given play. He possesses the unique combination of size and speed NFL teams are looking for. This unique combination, along with his ability to go across the middle of the field, will make him an extremely valuable target in red-zone situations. Along with filling the team's need, Heyward-Bey will immediately be a fan favorite, as he attended high school and college in the local area.

I did consider Alex Mack to learn behind Matt Birk and add OL depth, also to tick off the Steelers, who have their eye on him, but decided he was a bit of a reach at this point in the draft.

NFL.com's Mike Mayock had Heyward-Bey going to the Raiders at #7 in his latest mock draft.

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Comments

I voted NO.

I can see them going WR, but from what I read DHB does not like going across the middle and shies away from contact. Mark Clayton is a viable deep threat, I would think the Ravens would go with someone like Kenny Britt. More in a possession receiver mold.
They do need an inside LB, but there are good options available in the third round.

by NorthLeft12 on Apr 12, 2009 8:12 PM EDT reply actions

I voted yes.

While I agreed with North about Britt probably fitting the Ravens better, I just don’t see the Ravens passing on someone of Darrius’ talent.

2009 = The start of the Lions Golden Age (We hope).

by Hyperion Ecta on Apr 12, 2009 8:21 PM EDT reply actions

My research showed

The Ravens only had 3 WR’s considered 1st Rnd Talent
Maclin
Crabtree
DHB

I personally thought Harvin and Britt were #1’s but from my research I got the sense Ozzie didn’t feel that way.

by Runnin' Rebel on Apr 12, 2009 8:37 PM EDT up reply actions

I thought about britt

DHB has something to prove to Ozzie Newsome, the man told DHB in high school he would never make it into the NFL I think he will play with a chip on his shoulders for the Ravens. Also he will go acrosss the middle I’ve seen the highlights during my research of the pick he did not fear taking a shot. If he had a more accurate QB at Maryland you would have seen more of it but that guy would miss hitting the damn Center 9 out of 10 trys he was terrible.

by Runnin' Rebel on Apr 12, 2009 8:25 PM EDT reply actions

DHB is a perfect choice

the dude has the best athletic ability at WR in the draft. He is being underrated cuz he didn’t produce in college, but his offense sucked and wasn’t a gimmick one either like Crabtree’s or Harvin.

DHB could be a star. He is not a slot receiver so why should not goint over the middle be a concern?

by FreeBradshaw on Apr 13, 2009 9:48 AM EDT reply actions

That does not make sense FB

Please name any WR who would not go over the middle. Sort of restricts your effectiveness, don’t you think?

by NorthLeft12 on Apr 13, 2009 2:42 PM EDT up reply actions

True

Randy Moss don’t like it. He does tho. I guess I should have added that all go over the middle, some just don’t like it as much.

I also don’t agree that he won’t go over the middle. All receivers do that. Slot receivers do use the middle a bit more tho, and DHB lines up on the outside so that’s why I say it should be the end of the world if it were true that he doesn’t like the middle of the field.

All receivers not named Anquan Boldin are probably a little shy when Ray Lewis types are in the middle of the field.

But I proabably should have added that I don’t think its true that DHB won’t go over the middle.

by FreeBradshaw on Apr 13, 2009 7:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Sorry guys, but obviously

none of you are Baltimore Ravens fans, or else you would know your stuff a little bit better than what I’ve read here.

Sure, lots of Ravens fans would love to see DHB in purple next year. He did produce at Maryland, but his 47 receptions were not exactly eye-opening and their offense didn’t exactly suck, but they do play in a pretty tough conference. He has world class speed, but that doesn’t always translate great to football speed in the pro game.

We do NOT need an ILB, as the Ravens are the pro equivalent of Penn State being called “Linebacker U.” We have made stars out of little known late drafted or sometimes, like in Bart Scott’s case, undrafted college players. We have at least two guys and probably three who can easily take Scott’s place and become the next great Ravens LB next to Ray Lewis, the best of All Time! (yes, I did go there!). Both Jameel McClain and Antwan Barnes could start for most NFL teams and our third round pick from last season, who was IR’s all last year, Tavares Gooden, comes from the U, and is being groomed by Ray as well.

My pick is well known at the Ravens site, where I am the lead blogger at Baltimore Beatdown. I love Hakeem Nicks from UNC,as he is the most NFL-ready receiver left and has hands of glue, runs great patterns and makes tremendous YAC. He would be my pick w/o a doubt. We’ll see on draft day where the Ravens go, and most people know what a great drafter our GM, Ozzie Newsome is.

Rexx

by Rexx on Apr 14, 2009 11:43 AM EDT reply actions