With the 29th Pick in the 2012 Dawgs By Nature Mock Draft, the Baltimore Ravens Select...

With the 29th pick in the 2012 Dawgs By Nature Community Mock Draft, the Baltimore Ravens select...

Michael Brockers, DT, LSU

This selection and write-up was made by Ecwingen:

The Ravens have only one glaring weakness right now: their interior line. Center Matt Birk is 35, guard Andre Gurode is 33, and Marshal Yanda is probably better suited to the back-up role. The obvious pick here would be one of the highly rated Wisconsin linemen, Peter Konz or Kevin Zeitler. Either could start immediately and would be a major upgrade; Konz could eventually move from guard back to center when Birk finally breaks down. Cordy Glenn of Georgia would also make sense here. The other area of need for Baltimore is a safety to play alongside Ed Reed, but there aren’t any first round worthy safeties left. So why a defensive tackle? Because Michael Brockers is an absolute monster of a man (6’6"/320), and he may have the highest ceiling of any defensive lineman in the entire draft. Brockers is shockingly quick, can absolutely collapse a pocket, and is more than strong enough to hold the point of attack and make plays in the run game. He can play 0, 3, or 5 gap technique, with the build and skills to line up as a tackle or end. The Ravens love versatile lineman, and adding Brockers to Ngata and Cody might give Baltimore the best 3-4 line in football.

This is the sort of pick Ozzie Newsome loves to make, and it’s the sort of pick that has kept Baltimore near the top of the NFL for the last 15 years. Brockers is not just the best athlete available at this spot in the first round, he would have been the best athlete available 10 slots earlier. The only reason he fell this far might be his youth and lack of great technique. But the Ravens have such a strong defense already that they can afford to let Brockers learn better technique while playing him in a devastating rotation. How do you think opposing quarterbacks will feel looking across the line at 6’4"/350, 6’4"/330, and 6’6"/320 (that’s Cody, Ngata, Brockers), with Suggs coming off the edge? Not much time to throw or space to step up. How do you run against something like that, when those three down linemen could each take up 2 blockers, leaving the Ravens linebackers free to roam? Ozzie doesn’t pass up talent for need; there will be enough decent guards and safeties available in the second and third round to draft players to patch areas of weakness. I just hope, for our sake, that Brockers doesn’t fall this far.

The Ravens will always take any chance they can to acquire a new stud in the front seven. I, too, think this would be a solid pick for Baltimore, even if what they really need to do is find a quarterback who isn't so overrated.

The San Francisco 49ers are on the clock next (email will be sent to -bobby-).