Should the Ravens be concerned about the Jets poaching players off their practice squad?

For the last two years since the New York Jets fired Mike Mccagnan as their General Manager in the middle of last summer and hired Joe Douglass to replace him, the meadowlands have been a popular landing spot for former players began their careers or most recently played for the Baltimore Ravens.

With the exception of four-time Pro Bowl inside linebacker CJ Mosley who was one of Mccagnan’s last big-ticket free agents before being relieved of his duties, the Jets have had or currently have 12 former Ravens on their roster since Douglass has been at the helm.

Including Mosley, the list includes offensive guards Alex Lewis and Kelechi Osemele, wide receivers Daniel Brown and Breshad Perriman, defensive backs Maurice Canady and Bennett Jackson, linebackers Patrick Onwuasor and Albert McClean, kicker Kaare Vedvik, running back Ty Montgomery, defensive end/tight end Bronson Kaufusi and Superbowl winning quarterback Joe Flacco.

The Baltimore connection dates back to when Douglas first got his start in the Ravens’ front office as a personnel assistant during their first Superbowl winning season in 2000. From their he rose through the ranks and held several positions in the scouting department as he learned from one of the greatest head executives in NFL history in Ozzie Newsome.

His other list of formal titles with the Ravens before he spent time with the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears included national scout from 2012-15, Southeast area scout from 2009-11, East Coast area scout in 2008 and Northeast area scout from 2003-07.

Douglas’ Ravens roots have definitely played a part in several of his personnel decisions from bringing in free agents, scouting, and overall roster construction. He is currently trying build the team from the inside out starting in trenches like he witnessed for so many years in Baltimore. He resigned and signed several veteran offensive linemen and drafted the biggest human being in this year’s rookie class with the selection of Louisville’s Mekhi Becton with 11th overall pick.

Speaking of rookies, because there was no preseason this year due to COVID-19, there are a plethora of first year players that didn’t get drafted that hit the waiver wire Saturday afternoon following the 4pm eastern standard time cut deadline where teams across the league had to trim their rosters down to the final 53 that they will presumably take into their respective openers.

The Ravens are hoping that since there isn’t any exhibition game film to work off of that they’ll be able to bring back several of their undrafted rookies on their practice squad that has been expanded from 10 to 16 for the 2020 season only. However, given Douglas familiarity with the team’s scouting and grading practices and has already shown an affinity for scooping up Baltimore’s discarded assets, their hopes might be dashed.

“We’re going to find out, but I really wouldn’t expect there to be a lot of claiming going on. It would have to be based off draft grades, pretty much, for the rookies,” Harbaugh said. “You really have no new information that you could really ever count on based on what you read.”

“It’s very challenging.” Harbaugh said. “How do you do it? Read [media] clips? Is that really going to be enough to determine whether a player could be on your 53? The veterans are a little bit different. The rookies, you just have to go with your draft grades on those guys and go from there. You have no new information that you can count on. I wouldn’t expect there to be a lot of claiming going on.”

Harbaugh cautiously optimistic attitude toward being able to bring some of those players back makes sense but the Jets could be in the market to scalp some of their developmental talent before practice squads are announced Sunday afternoon and the poaching might not even stop there.

During the regular season, teams are allowed to sign members of other teams’ practice squads to their active roster. After already having an offseason and training camp that featured several injuries and a few key opt outs, mainly Mosley, Douglas and the Jets might be interested in bringing former Ravens prior to the season and or when it gets underway.

Of the 23 players that the Ravens cut on Saturday, New York might target or at least have their on third-year receiver Jaleel Scott since their banged up at the position, rookie defensive backs Josh Nurse and Nigel Warrior since they desperately need help in their secondary, inside linebacker Kristian Welch since they will be without Mosely for the year and without Onwuasor for three to five more weeks after he suffered a knee injury in last week of camp, and defensive ends Chauncy River and Marcus Willoughby since their pass rush could use a much needed boost as well.

Only time will tell if any of these predictions come to fruition but even if it doesn’t happen right away, there’s always a possibility that Gang Green tries to bring in some new recruits that were most recently sporting purple and black.

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