With the Baltimore Ravens struggling for, well ,their entire existence to obtain and develop a franchise quarterback, 2008 could be the year that they use the eighth overall pick in the draft to find a decade-long solution at the position.

Four years ago, the Steelers made such a move, ending more than 20 years of periodic uncertainty by selecting Ben Roethlisberger with the eleventh pick in the 2004 draft.

The perceived top two candidates this time around are Matt Ryan and Brian Brohm.  Per Aaron Wilson of the Carroll County Times, the Ravens will be bringing Brohm to Baltimore next month for a closer look. 

Also, Ravens director of college scouting Eric DeCosta reportedly attended Ryan’s Pro Day workout earlier this week.  And the Ravens have had a private workout with Delaware quarterback Joe Flacco, a Pitt transfer who might leapfrog Brohm or Ryan.

But unless the Ravens conclude that one of those three guys is a can’t-miss proposition, we don’t think they should use the eighth overall pick on a quarterback.  The better approach would be to grab a left tackle in that spot, and then look to round two for a quarterback.

Or, actually, the move might then be to use the second round-pick and 2009’s first-rounder to trade back into the bottom of round one to get whichever one (or two) of them slide beyond the 20th pick.

Then again, the Ravens pulled that precise manuever to get Kyle Boller, and it blew up in their faces.

And that speaks to the broader problem of drafting a quarterback in round one.  Guys taken in later rounds typically can develop under the radar, without pressure or expectations. 

Of course, having the ability to develop a young quarterback is another issue, and perhaps that was the primary flaw of the Brian Billick era.  Though he might have been a wizard with the X’s and the O’s, maybe he simply didn’t know how to properly teach a young quarterback how to master the challenges of controlling his mechanics, reading the defenses, making good decisions, and doing it all while large men with bad breath and worse intentions are swarming around him.