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The Ravens have 11 picks in next week’s NFL draft. They have just under 200 “draftable” players on their board, general manager Eric DeCosta said Wednesday. And they have a disappointed owner and frustrated fan base to satisfy.
DeCosta acknowledged Wednesday that parts of the draft have become more predictable in the modern media landscape, where consensuses form and sleepers seldom go unnoticed.
But every draft is different. How will the Ravens approach next week? Here are three takeaways from the team’s predraft news conference with coach Jesse Minter and DeCosta.
Can the Ravens still take a best-player-available approach?
For a team considered one of the AFC’s top Super Bowl contenders, the Ravens enter the draft with more needs than usual.
They have holes at center and punter. They could use immediate help at wide receiver, tight end, right guard, edge rusher and defensive tackle. There’s questionable depth elsewhere on the roster.
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But, under DeCosta and former general manager Ozzie Newsome, the Ravens have long abided by their best-available-player strategy in the draft. They rarely reach for prospects, instead letting the draft come to them.
Now, with more urgency to win and more positions to fix, how flexible will they be with their approach? If the Ravens have, say, Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate rated more highly than Penn State guard Vega Ioane and Utah offensive lineman Spencer Fano, and if DeCosta is skeptical about the quality of Day 2 offensive line prospects, could the Ravens draft for need instead of value?
“I think the best way that we can approach it is to be thoughtful before the draft, to think about the ways that we can address these positions, to make sure that we’re able to fill as many important needs throughout,” DeCosta said.
The Ravens have four top-115 picks, plenty of ammunition to bolster their roster with ready-made contributors. DeCosta said the Ravens were unlikely to double- or triple-dip at certain positions, given their needs elsewhere. They could also add help in the post-draft waves of free agency.
DeCosta called the draft “fertile” at key positions, as strong an indication as any that the team wouldn’t look to fortify already settled spots along the depth chart.
“The positions we need, we feel really strongly that we can address in the draft,” DeCosta said.
Could the Ravens trade up in the first round?
On the day of the first round, the Ravens have traded up just five times in franchise history — and only once in the past 15 years. In 2018, after trading down twice and ultimately picking tight end Hayden Hurst No. 25 overall, the Ravens moved back into the first round to draft quarterback Lamar Jackson No. 32 overall.
DeCosta acknowledged that there’s a “drop-off” midway through the first round in projected prospect quality, which could affect the Ravens’ willingness to move around the board. According to the oft-cited Jimmy Johnson draft pick trade value chart, moving up to the No. 10 overall pick, for instance, would cost the Ravens their first-rounder as well as their third-rounder.
“I think it just depends on the player and who that is and how highly we have him rated,” he said. “So, if we’ve got a bunch of guys kind of rated the same way and we like one of those guys, the chances of us going up and giving up a ton to get that guy probably wouldn’t be something that we’d do. But, if we have a guy that’s kind of at a different level on the board who we think really comes in right away and can impact our team, certainly we’d be aggressive in that situation and potentially move up to get that guy.”
How will the Ravens approach Day 3?
The good news: The Ravens have eight Day 3 picks, including four in the fifth round.
The bad news: The hit rate on prospects “really kind of plummet[s]” after the fourth round, DeCosta said. And they could need a lot of help on Day 3, including a starting center, a starting punter and much-needed depth on both sides of the ball.
The Ravens have regularly drafted high-volume classes under DeCosta, who has 11 picks overall and indicated that the team could finish with a few more. But he also was open to the possibility that the Ravens would draft as few as six players. They could trade picks for veterans, package late-round picks to move up or trade into next year.
“It’s a challenge, certainly, percentage-wise, to hit on those guys, especially when you get into the fifth, sixth and seventh round,” said DeCosta, whose record on Day 3 picks has been spotty in recent years. “Fourth round, you’re OK. Fifth round, sixth round, seventh round, we see the percentages really kind of go down. So, when you can hit on a guy like that, it can really make your draft class.”




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