The Baltimore Ravens and GM Ozzie Newsome have garnered a reputation for their ability to draft prospects with questionable backgrounds and develop them, transforming them from questionable characters into high-level contributors.
From Bernard Pierce, to Victor Hampton to Jimmy Smith, time and again Newsome, John Harbaugh and the Ravens have brought in players with past issues and used their organizational strength to keep them in line and mold them in their ideal, bruising Baltimore image.
Unfortunately for Newsome and the Baltimore brass, the franchise's structure hasn't proven strong enough to keep many of these players from relapsing and again falling back into old, illegal habits - all three players have been arrested in the past two years and Pierce and Hampton are no longer members of the organization.
It seems that past failures won't stop Newsome though, as in the 2015 NFL Draft Newsome added yet another player with questionable character and therefore a cloudy NFL future, in former Iowa defensive tackle Carl Davis.
Davis, who Newsome nabbed in the third-round, doesn't come with concerns over his lifestyle off-the-field though - it's his preparation in practice and his attitude on the field that could be of long-term concern.
"Sources with teams said that Davis fell in the 2015 NFL Draft because of his poor attitude and work ethic," reports Charlie Campbell of WalterFootball.com. "Davis demonstrated poor work ethic and practice habits at Iowa and was open to teams about that. He said he didn't try hard in practice because he was concerned that enthusiastic scout-team blockers would get him injured as they tried hard to move up the depth chart. He also told teams that he would need to sit out about half the plays per game in order for him to be effective in his other snaps."
Per Campbell, teams actually told Davis after his initial interviews that he needed to change his attitude, but the damage had already been done.
Davis, 6-foot-5, 320-pounds, has the height-weight-length measurables of a first-rounder, but finished the 2014 Hawkeyes season with just nine tackles for loss and two sacks.
If Campbell's report is accurate, it's not hard to see why Davis posted such limited production despite his prodigious athletic gifts.
While Davis seems like a safe bet to see ample snaps right away for the Ravens now that Haloti Ngata is off to Detroit, unless he can alter his attitude, he's more likely to fall in line behind Brendan Williams, Timmy Jernigan and Chris Canty on the Baltimore defensive line.
