Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb was widely criticized for giving up a 58-yard catch by Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown during Baltimore’s exit from the playoffs, and so when the Ravens drafted another cornerback, Jimmy Smith, it was widely regarded as a vote of no confidence in Webb.
But Webb doesn’t see it that way.
“You can stop asking me about that draft because I don’t care about [drafting] Jimmy Smith,” Webb told the Baltimore Sun. “Me and him could be great together. . . . I’m thinking he’s a good addition to our squad. Why not pick a good player in the draft we all [will] be happy with? I want us to be two great corners, two of the greatest corners who ever played the game together. Why not that? Why do I have to be mad because they drafted him?”
The Ravens also drafted cornerback Chykie Brown in the fifth round, but Webb says there’s no connection between the Ravens’ decision to focus on cornerback in the draft and his own coverage breakdown in the Ravens’ playoff loss.
“It’s over. It happened. I don’t care about all that,” Webb said. “That wasn’t the play that lost the game.”
Webb says that despite the influx of young blood, he expects to start this year.
“I’m going to be the starter,” he said. “I don’t think they can draft somebody that’s better than me. I don’t think they’ve got anybody better than me.”