Breaking down the riskiest draft move by the Baltimore Ravens over their 20-year franchise history:
Round/overall selection: First, 19th
Did the risk pay off: Definitely not. The quarterback-needy Ravens tried to get Byron Leftwich in the top 10 before a phone fiasco involving the Jacksonville Jaguars halted Baltimore's attempt to trade up for him. That led to one of the more aggressive and regrettable moves in team history. Later in the first round, the Ravens jumped up 22 spots to No. 19 overall for Boller, a strong-armed but inaccurate passer. This was a gamble, because Boller failed to complete more than half of his passes in three of his four seasons at California. For the Ravens, he went 20-22 in five seasons, throwing 45 touchdowns and 44 interceptions. Boller's biggest problem was never allowing the game to slow down for him. He never seemed settled in the pocket and had a bad habit of rushing his throws. The Ravens never gave him much of a supporting cast early in his career considering his No. 1 wide receivers were Travis Taylor and Kevin Johnson. Boller failed to lead the Ravens to the playoffs despite having a top-six defense each year. His inconsistency wasted the prime years of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. A year later, the Patriots used the Ravens' first-round pick to take nose tackle Vince Wilfork, a five-time Pro Bowl player who won two Super Bowls in 11 seasons in New England. Coach Brian Billick, who was fired four years after the drafting of Boller, believes the selection of the quarterback led to his dismissal. "When you miss on a quarterback in the first round, you wind up doing games on Fox," Billick later said.
Was there a safer move: Not really. The 2003 draft proved to be a bad one for teams looking for a quarterback. The only other options after Leftwich and Carson Palmer were Rex Grossman, Dave Ragone, Chris Simms, Seneca Wallace and Drew Henson. None proved any better than Boller. If you really want to second guess the Ravens, they could have stayed pat in the second round and drafted wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who averaged 84 receptions in his first six seasons. When the Ravens traded for Boldin in 2010, general manager Ozzie Newsome lamented his decision to not draft Boldin. By rectifying that mistake, the Ravens were able to win their franchise's second Super Bowl. Boldin averaged 95 receiving yards per game in the 2012 postseason and caught that third-down-and-inches pass in the fourth quarter to help Baltimore capture the Lombardi Trophy.