AFC North Round Up: Ravens Upstage Steelers and the Bengals Get a Weapon

The Cleveland Browns playing the role of bystander the first night of the NFL Draft was expected, but the same cannot be said for the series of events that played out with the Baltimore Ravens, who managed to upstage the one team that took a quarterback in the first round, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The lede for the Ravens wasn't who they selected with the two picks they ended up with in the first round, but rather the trade that sent wide receiver Marquise Brown to the Arizona Cardinals along with the 100th pick in the draft for 23rd pick and the fallout from it.

Ravens General Manager Eric DeCosta was conflicted about the move, saying, “That’s a complicated topic and for me personally, complicated because Marquise was my first pick and one of my favorite guys on the team. But Marquise came to me after the season and requested that he be traded and he was not happy and wanted to play elsewhere.”

A surprising development, but rather straight forward. That is until Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson took to Twitter, seemingly finding out about all of this at the same time everyone else was.

🥺🥺🤬 https://t.co/PqO2e81vvZ
— Lamar Jackson (@Lj_era8) April 29, 2022

If not for the public nature of his reaction, this might not be a story. But with the strange back and forth between the Ravens and Jackson over his contract this offseason, it raises some questions.

Jackson, without an agent, has largely allowed the Ravens to control the public discourse. And whenever they talk about the prospect of a new contract, they respond by saying it's on him to come to the bargaining table. At times, those responses can be perceived as patronizing.

So is this a quarterback who is simply surprised by the departure of a teammate, a teammate who clearly knew this trade was coming, or is this the latest example of a strained relationship that could result in Jackson eventually leaving the Ravens?

Further, the Ravens struggled to recruit free agent receivers last year. Now Brown leaves. Is this an indictment of the offense in the eyes of receivers? A commentary on Jackson as a quarterback? Both?

The Ravens came out of Thursday with Kyle Hamilton, the safety out of Notre Dame and center Tyler Linderbaum out of Iowa with the pick acquired from the Cardinals. Coming out of the college season, those two were often ranked as two of the best ten players in this draft class. If they prove to be two of the top ten players from this draft class, few would be surprised.

Hamilton and Linderbaum have been picked apart during the draft process for various reasons, but on tape, they were special players. Hamilton was criticized for his athleticism, particularly an underwhelming 40-time while Linderbaum was knocked for being underweight and having short arms.

Even though everyone including the Philadelphia Eagles believed the Ravens were going to select Jordan Davis, the Ravens end up with a payer that is a hand in glove fit for who they are on defense. The secondary sets the tone for everything and they've dealt with some attrition with the loss of Earl Thomas for totally normal reasons as well as injuries that have had an impact on their talent level.

The Ravens signed free agent Marcus Williams in the offseason, one of the better safeties in the league. With the addition of Hamilton, the question turns to strong safety Chuck Clark. Clark has been a good safety for the Ravens, who is 27 years old with an affordable contract that runs through 2023. Do the Ravens simply keep all three and put them all on the field or do they look to deal Clark to get help elsewhere?

New Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald might be key in answering that question. They could play Williams and Hamilton deep with Clark in the box. However, if the Ravens were inclined to trade Clark, the New York Giants could be a natural landing spot. That's where the former Ravens defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and could welcome the opportunity to add Clark to his new defense.

Meanwhile, Linderbaum's tape is phenomenal. He's powerful and nasty, but also has the athleticism that allows him to pull and get down the field, able to adjust to moving targets. Creed Humphrey, the center from Oklahoma fell to round two last year and was an All-Pro as a rookie for the Kansas City Chiefs. Linderbaum is arguably the better prospect. Combined with the promising news about Ronnie Stanley's health, the Ravens could return to the form that enabled them to set the record for rushing yards in a season.

Did anything else happen in the draft? Oh, right, the Steelers took a quarterback. Everything worked out for the Steelers as it often does. They didn't move an inch and they had their choice of every quarterback available. It's still a little surprising that they took Kenny Pickett from Pitt.

Pickett might be a fine quarterback for the Steelers, but given the amount head coach Mike Tomlin has talked about wanting a quarterback with mobility who could create with his legs, it seemed like they would select Malik Willis from Liberty or perhaps wait and select Desmond Ridder from Cincinnati.

Pickett isn't a statue, but he's the least athletic quarterback in a division with Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson. He doesn't have an overwhelming arm either. NFL Network's draft coverage had Matthew Hasselbeck as a comparison for Pickett. Lance Zeierlein's comparison for him is Andy Dalton at the peak of his powers.

Either would be a good result for the Steelers, but is that good enough given the current landscape of the AFC North?

The Steelers should run their own race. That may prevent them from falling into the traps that AFC East teams consistently did during the Tom Brady years with the New England Patriots. Those teams often beat themselves before they took the field with the Patriots. The Steelers rarely beat themselves.

Still, it feels like Pickett was picked by a focus group rather than a team with a clear direction.

It's worth noting that Mitchell Trubisky's contract is structured on incentives related to playing time. In other words, if he's the starter, he will get paid like a starter. If he's the backup, he will get paid like a backup. So if Pickett can beat him out, he's going to play.

Finally, the Bengals took Daxton Hill with the second to last pick of the first round. Hill has elite speed and the potential to contribute as a deep safety, operate in the slot with some wondering if he might be able to play corner.

Maybe this is simple and the Bengals simply insert him into the strong safety position in tandem with Jessie Bates III. If they play a true two-high defense, Hill's lack of size is at least mitigated to a point. Nevertheless, he may be more equipped to take on that role in another season with some added strength.

For this season at least, there's no reason to move on from Vonn Bell unless Hill is just that good. They could utilize Hill as a slot safety option or just move him around the defense depending on the situation. He might even play boundary corner in certain situations like in the red zone. With Mike Hilton as the team's slot corner, they could have two effective blitzing options off the edges. Hill is going to eventually become a deep safety, but the presence of Bell should allow them to be creative with Hill, improving the speed and coverage ability of the defense as a whole.

Given the job that Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Amaruno did this past season, Hill could prove to be one of the more dangerous rookies in the 2022 season. He seems more like a defensive weapon than anything else. Certainly, the Bengals got their share of good fortune in the postseason, but they played well defensively and Hill could give them another dynamic playmaker.

Heading into day two of the NFL Draft, the Browns will be in the mix. The fact that only Pickett went day one might further delay a trade for quarterback Baker Mayfield, but they will have their opportunity to add talent of their own, entering the day with selections 44, 78 and 99.

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