[the Talking Can]

According to Football Outsiders, one of the Ravens’ best picks was Dawan Landry, a 2006 selection who started all but two games in his first two seasons before being hurt last year. The Ravens waited until the fifth round to take Landry despite going into the draft with only one safety on the roster. A nervous Bisciotti occasionally reminded Newsome about the need at safety. But as each round went by, a safety was not the best player available, and the Ravens selected another position. Newsome responded by gently patting the air with his hand, and repeating, “We’ll get a safety.”

Last year, when the Ravens were selecting eighth and eying Flacco, the director of player personnel Eric DeCosta said they knew they “would have laughed us out of the N.F.L.” if they had taken Flacco eighth. So they moved back to 26th to get Flacco where they thought he was the right value. DeCosta was content to sit tight and take Flacco 26th, until Bisciotti could wait no longer. The Ravens traded up to 18th to take Flacco.

“I’m sitting there saying, ‘What’s going to happen if he’s gone?’ ” Bisciotti said. “That was one time that Ozzie went against what he really believed and did it for the sake of the owner. Ozzie is a great balance for people who are type-A personalities — owners and coaches might be a little more type A. We’re high maintenance. Ozzie is low maintenance.”

One reason Newsome has such faith in his system is because he has trained almost everybody who works in it. In a program Newsome borrowed from Belichick, the Ravens rarely hire a scout from outside the organization. Rather, Newsome has his 20-20 club. He pays 20-somethings who hope to rise through the personnel department $20,000 a year. They work 20 hours a day filing tapes, picking up free agents at the airport and cleaning out the refrigerators of released players who have abandoned their apartments. In 1996, Coach Ted Marchibroda used to give DeCosta $100 and ask him to get an oil change for his car and keep the change. DeCosta dutifully scouted out the places that would do an oil change for $9.

In the meantime, Newsome and his staff get a read on an up-and-comer’s work ethic and intelligence. The older scouts tutor the younger ones in what to look for, so everybody’s eye is trained the same way.

“We even grade our lunches,” DeCosta said. “If I say it’s a 6.2 lunch — all the guys know what that means, pretty good, but not great. A 7.5 is like the Pro Bowl is, if I say the soup is a 7.5 today, everybody runs to get the soup.”

very interesting article, obvious now that Pioli was going to shit can everyone regardless...