Ravens Hope Pittman Shows Up for Year Two

The Ravens have had great success at finding diamonds in the rough on draft day. Last year, the landed safety Dawan Landry in the fifth round, and in previous seasons, players like Jason Brown (4th), Ovie Mughelli (4th), Tony Pashos (5th), Chester Taylor (6th), and Adalius Thomas (6th). Okay, you get the point.

Well, it hasn't always been roses for the personnel department. The 2006 third-round pick, cornerback David Pittman was, to put it kindly, useless as a rookie. He was deactivated for all 16 regular season games and defensive coordinator Rex Ryan very pithily puts it in perspective: "We got nothing out of David Pittman... "

Kinda hard to misunderstand somebody when they're that blunt. But to Pittman's credit, he blames himself for his rocky first season:

Pittman ... said he struggled with confidence and concentration last year. If a receiver beat him on a route during practice, Pittman would become frustrated and sometimes lose his focus.

I don't know much about playing cornerback, but we hear all the time that the good ones have a very short memory. Pittman was also making a big adjustment, coming from D I-AA Northwestern State, where I'm certain he didn't face guys like Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton on a weekly basis.

Obviously, the Ravens would like to get a little more (some?) production from Pittman in Year 2, and they certainly haven't given up on him. But the club could also target a cornerback in the first or second round in this year's draft. Since, you know, a lot of what makes Baltimore's defense so successful is the aggressive play of their defensive backs.