Did the Ravens get a late steal in Tommy Streeter?

Despite the uncertainty over who will be their third wide receiver this season, the Ravens waited until the final couple hours of the 2012 NFL draft weekend to address the wide receiver position. Late in the sixth round, the Ravens drafted Miami wide receiver Tommy Streeter. He was the 27th receiver drafted this year, but based on pre-draft rankings from several draft publications and websites, the Ravens got good value with the selection.

Sports Illustrated and Athlon Sports both projected Streeter as a third-round pick. Pro Football Weekly, CBS Sports, Walter Football, NFL.com, and ESPN’s Scouts Inc. had him as a fourth-round or fifth-round prospect.

From his SI profile: “Streeter is coming off a tremendous season and has a lot of upside to his game. He plays fast and plays big and possesses all the skills to eventually develop into a No. 2 receiver for an NFL team.”

After catching just total six passes in 2009 and 2010, Streeter was Miami’s leading receiver with 46 receptions for 811 yards and eight touchdowns in 2011. He averaged 18.6 yards per catch during his Hurricanes career. The 6-foot-5, 220-pounder ran the 40-yard dash in 4.40 seconds at the scouting combine. His size and straight-line speed are similar to Georgia Tech wide receiver Stephen Hill, who was taken by the New York Jets in the middle of the second round.

“You get someone like that, our coaches are really, really happy to work with a guy [like him],” general manager Ozzie Newsome said.

So why was Streeter still there for the Ravens at pick No. 198?

“Tommy was the best player on our board. We were excited about him,” director of player personnel Eric DeCosta said. “It’s unusual to get a receiver with that kind of size who can run like that. Ozzie alluded to another size/speed guy that we developed a long time ago -- Michael Jackson. These kinds of guys are rare at times, the measurable. If you have a chance to get a guy like that and you are in the right position in the draft, it’s probably a good thing, and he was the guy. We hadn’t addressed the position. There were some other guys that we liked at the receiver position that got taken, and he was clearly the best guy at the time for us to take.”


(baltimoresun.com)