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Six weeks ago, for the first time in over a decade, Eric DeCosta didn’t have a first-round pick in the NFL draft. Then a deal for Maxx Crosby fell through and the Ravens general manager’s Day 1 plans changed.

“I had kind of taken a Sharpie and X-ed out about 25 players on my list that we weren’t going to have a chance to select,” DeCosta said last month, after the team backed out of the deal for the Las Vegas Raiders’ star edge rusher over apparent medical concerns. “I have to make a new list and have those players back on the list.”

It might not be a long list. Only a handful of prospects have been consistently connected to the Ravens’ No. 14 overall pick. And, if the team’s recent draft history is any indication, the pool of players DeCosta considers worthy of that pick Thursday night could be far shallower.

So where will he look? Here are nine players who’ve been linked to the Ravens’ top pick over the past two weeks — and here are the questions that might’ve mattered as team officials sorted their draft board.

• Wide receiver: Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson, USC’s Makai Lemon
• Tight end: Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq
• Offensive line: Miami’s Francis Mauigoa, Utah’s Spencer Fano, Penn State’s Vega Ioane
• Edge rusher: Miami’s Rueben Bain
• Cornerback: Tennessee’s Jermod McCoy, LSU’s Mansoor Delane

Was he a multisport athlete?

Every Ravens first-round pick since 2014 played a sport besides football in high school or as a teenager, according to publicly available information. Those sports have ranged from basketball (safety Kyle Hamilton) to wrestling (center Tyler Linderbaum) to baseball (inside linebacker Patrick Queen) to track and field (safety Malaki Starks).

“Players that have had outstanding success at another sport gives you a little bit of insight to how they’re wired, their competitiveness, ability to master a craft or a sport and their discipline,” DeCosta said after the 2024 draft. “It’s important.”

Of the nine prospects linked to the Ravens, just one appeared to limit his adolescent athletic interests to football: USC’s Lemon.

Did he play for a ‘power conference’ school?

Other than wide receiver Breshad Perriman (Central Florida), every first-round pick since 2014 has come from a school competing at the time in a so-called power conference.

This year, three of the Ravens’ nine potential targets played in the Big Ten Conference, and two apiece played in the Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12 Conference. None played for a “Group of Five” school — the level below the current “Power Four” conferences — or in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Small-school scouting is “just different,” DeCosta said in 2024, in part because of the structural disadvantages at that level.

“You’ve got guys that look like me, at times, playing,” said DeCosta, who was an undersize linebacker at Division III Colby College. “And yet some guys end up being the best to ever do it, right? How do you find those guys? ... It’s really hard to do.”

Does he have character or medical concerns?

The Ravens have generally avoided spending top picks on players with medical red flags or reported character flaws. And when DeCosta has gambled on injuries in the first round, he’s made smart bets: Wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown suffered a Lisfranc (foot) injury in his last year at Oklahoma that required surgery and an extensive rehabilitation. Inside linebacker C.J. Mosley entered the draft with durability concerns. But both were durable over their Ravens careers.

A couple of top prospects in this year’s class could fall on the Ravens’ board because of medical issues. Tyson tore the ACL, MCL and PCL in his left knee at Colorado in 2022, ending his true-freshman year and sidelining him for most of his first season at Arizona State. He also broke his collarbone in 2024, hurt his ankle last offseason and has dealt with a hamstring injury that limited him to nine games last year and has hampered his predraft process.

Tennessee’s McCoy missed the entire 2025 season as he recovered from a torn ACL he suffered during offseason training in January 2025. He did not participate in testing or drills at the NFL scouting combine in February but ran a 4.4-second 40-yard dash and posted a 10-foot, 7-inch broad jump — both impressive figures for a cornerback — at Tennessee’s pro day this month.

Miami’s Mauigoa submitted to medical rechecks relating to a minor back injury this month, but teams reportedly found no new issues.

A handful of other potential targets have had their character scrutinized during the predraft process. USC’s Lemon went viral for his awkward approach at his combine news conference with reporters, and he reportedly did not impress during interviews with teams in Indianapolis. Lemon also was benched for the first quarter of his final home game at USC, a November win over UCLA, for a violation of team rules.

Miami’s Bain was reportedly driving a car involved in a March 2024 crash in which a passenger later died because of injuries sustained in the accident. Bain was cited for careless driving, but charges were dropped before the passenger, a 22-year-old college student, died in June 2024. No field sobriety tests were given, according to the crash report.

The incident is unlikely to affect his standing on the Ravens’ draft board. Four of five unnamed evaluators around the NFL told Yahoo Sports they did not believe Bain’s driving history — he also had a minor collision in October 2025 — would impact his draft stock. And DeCosta took outside linebacker Mike Green in the second round last year despite far greater scrutiny of his off-field conduct.

Has he been recognized for leadership?

Nearly half of all Ravens first-round picks since 2014 were named team captains during their college careers, either permanently or as game day captains. Four of DeCosta’s past five first-rounders — Hamilton, Linderbaum, wide receiver Zay Flowers and Starks — were captains, while cornerback Nate Wiggins earned teamwide postseason honors for his consistency and hustle.

Four of the nine prospects linked to the Ravens were not recognized for their leadership last season: Penn State’s Ioane, LSU’s Delane, Tennessee’s McCoy and USC’s Lemon.

Is he an older prospect?

Of the Ravens’ 23 first- and second-round picks since 2014, four were only 20 when selected — cornerback Marlon Humphrey, quarterback Lamar Jackson, Queen and Wiggins — and another 12 were 21, including Starks and Green last year. DeCosta said after drafting Wiggins in 2024 that the Ravens loved his youth and room for growth at age 20.

“He’s a young guy, but that’s opportunity, the way we look at it,” former coach John Harbaugh said. “He’s planning on being a hard worker, and if he does that, we’ve got a path for him. We’ve kind of got a plan for him, and we’ll have him ready to go.”

Only two of the Ravens’ nine potential targets this year will be 22 on Thursday. Penn State’s Ioane turned 22 on Friday, while LSU’s Delane will turn 23 in December. Tennessee’s McCoy and Miami’s Mauigoa, meanwhile, won’t turn 21 until this summer.

Would he be considered a ‘reach’?

This question seems especially resonant this year. DeCosta said at his predraft news conference Wednesday that “there’s definitely a drop-off probably midway through the round in terms of talent.” Draft experts have made similar assessments; ESPN’s Matt Miller has just 12 players with first-round grades in the class, while The Ringer’s Todd McShay has said officials around the league believe there are about 15 players in the draft’s top two tiers.

In recent drafts, the Ravens have almost never strayed far from the wisdom of the crowd. According to the NFL Mock Draft Database, which collates published draft boards to form a “consensus” big board each year, the Ravens have drafted just one player in the first round since 2016 who was ranked at least four spots “behind” the team’s draft slot. In 2018, tight end Hayden Hurst was ranked the No. 36 overall player on the consensus big board, only to be taken 25th. (Jackson, meanwhile, was rated 15th and lasted until the 32nd pick.)

This year, all nine potential targets are within the Ravens’ typical range, though Arizona State’s Tyson (No. 15 overall), Penn State’s Ioane (No. 16) and Oregon’s Sadiq (No. 17 overall) landed below the Ravens’ No. 14 slot on the consensus big board.

So ... who’s the ‘cleanest’ prospect?

Only four of the nine prospects were multisport athletes, played for a power conference school, have no reported character issues or medical concerns, served as a team captain, will be 21 or younger when drafted and are a consensus top-16 talent:

• Utah offensive lineman Spencer Fano
• Miami offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa
• Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq
• Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain

Last year, Starks met every criterion. In 2024, Wiggins checked every box except leadership — and he was still recognized for his contributions there anyway.

Will DeCosta stick to the script? Or will he roll the dice again in an offseason of change?

“I don’t want to be too predictable,” DeCosta said Wednesday. “You don’t want to be typecasted as looking for certain types of players or doing something every single draft or whatever that might be. But I think every situation is different.”