OWINGS MILLS, MD. — The Ravens held their annual pre-draft news conference on April 5, an annual event in which the team’s top decision makers field questions from reporters and give answers that may or may not be smokescreens. In the past, general manager Eric DeCosta has acknowledged that the nickname for the event — “The Liars’ Luncheon” — is fair.
On this day, though, the Ravens were upfront and honest about one thing: This was about the 2023 draft, and not about Lamar Jackson, whose contract status has become an all-consuming NFL storyline for the past few months.
Here are five takeaways from the news conference as the Ravens prepare for the draft, which begins on Thursday, April 27:
1. The Lamar Jackson fatigue is real.
Ravens PR director Chad Steele made clear to media assembled that the news conference should focus on the draft, but everyone seemed to acknowledge that Jackson would be a major storyline, and the first question DeCosta faced concerned Jackson’s request to be traded with the team and Jackson at an impasse regarding his contract.
Jackson had made the request last month and later revealed it publicly via social media.
“I understand the need to ask those kinds of questions,” DeCosta said. “I think, just out of respect for the process, this is a draft luncheon, and we’re going to try to keep as much of this discussion as we can to the draft. … I think we’ve spoken about this situation probably five different times this spring in various different press conferences and such, so we’re going to try to just kind of defer those questions and move forward to the draft.”
A few minutes later, when a reporter tried to ask whether Jackson’s uncertain status would affect how the team would view quarterbacks in the draft, Steele interrupted.
It seemed a valid, draft-related question, but as Steele spoke, the Ravens’ brain trust of DeCosta, head coach John Harbaugh and director of player personnel Joe Hortiz sat silently and awkwardly before the question was completed and DeCosta answered.
“We go into every draft trying to take any kind of bias out, any kind of need-based situation out of the draft equation,” DeCosta said. “We really do try to build a board that’s really best player available. … Who do we think has the best chance to come in and make us the best football team? If that’s a quarterback, if that’s a receiver, a corner, an offensive tackle, we’re going to look at that very strongly and make the best decision we can.”
Still, the reaction to a draft-related question about the quarterbacks, once Lamar Jackson’s name was uttered, suggested the high degree of tension in the building regarding the negotiations with the franchise quarterback that have gotten nowhere. Those in the Castle seem to be as tired of talking about it as everyone else is.
2. Expect the Ravens to trade back, in the first round or elsewhere.
As of now, the Ravens have five draft picks, which would be their fewest since 1999.
“Our goal would be to add picks, if we can, at some point,” DeCosta said.
Does that mean trading back from pick No. 22? Does it mean moving a player currently on the roster for a pick in the upcoming draft? Does it mean dealing a future pick for one this year? DeCosta made no revelations other than to make clear he would prefer more picks.
The Ravens have traded back at least once in five straight drafts. Last year, after acquiring the No. 23 overall pick from the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for wide receiver Marquise Brown, the Ravens traded back two spots to No. 25, gaining an additional fourth-round pick in the process. (Those two picks became center Tyler Linderbaum and punter Jordan Stout.)
DeCosta said the chances of trading back are “pretty decent.”
“Of course, if we’re in love with somebody while we’re on the clock, we’re going to make the pick. We always have to gauge that. How strong do we feel about the prospect who’s available versus a chance to go back and get additional picks?”
When fortune lines up, DeCosta said, they trade back and still get a player they had been targeting at the original slot, while acquiring extra draft capital in the process.
“It happens more than you think,” he said. “Not all the time, though, of course. So we have to look at that. … We’ll make the best decision that we can.”
3. The Ravens like this wide receiver class.
Coming off a season in which the Ravens had the least productive wide receiver group in the league, and after Harbaugh vowed to rebuild the receiver room this offseason, DeCosta and Hortiz praised the talent and depth of the wide receiver class in this year’s draft.
“I think the fans will be happy that it’s a strong receiver class,” DeCosta said.
Harbaugh echoed that, saying, “There are a lot of guys that we like. … In really every round, I think there are guys who could make our team. In the early rounds, there are a number of guys who could start for us.”
Harbaugh was specifically asked about Boston College’s Zay Flowers (5-foot-9, 182 pounds), who has frequently been linked to the Ravens with the No. 22 overall pick, and whether his undersized frame would be an issue.
“What does undersized mean?” Harbaugh asked. “Zay, he [might] be kind of short … but he’s not small. Like, he’s not a little guy. This guy is a strong guy. Plus, he can accelerate. He’s got great explosiveness.”
Harbaugh also praised USC receiver Jordan Addison (6-0, 174), saying with any smaller receivers, the question becomes, “What’s their superpower? … If your superpower is not size, there’s got to be one or two other superpowers that are going to help you be successful in this league. And you try to look at that individually and say, ‘OK, what’s going to be the key for him?”
4. The focus on the secondary isn’t going to change.
DeCosta and the Ravens have poured resources into the secondary in recent years, and given the way the Ravens cycle through cornerbacks every year, it seems likely that the Ravens will once again target a group that is particularly deep.
“It’s a strong position,” DeCosta said, noting he sees roughly a half-dozen first-round caliber cornerbacks.
“We have a history of drafting defense in the first round,” he added. “We love corners. Our defense is really built to succeed with a great, strong secondary. … We think it’s one of the most important positions on your football team, and it’s a position that we’ll always look at very closely.”
Last year, the Ravens drafted safety Kyle Hamilton with their first pick, and later took a pair of cornerbacks in Jalyn Armour-Davis and Damarion “Pepe” Williams in the fourth round. They have taken at least one cornerback in seven of the last eight drafts, including Marlon Humphrey in 2017, the last time they used a first-round pick on the position.
Among the potential first-round cornerback targets for the Ravens this year is Maryland’s Deonte Banks, who is viewed as a mid- to late-first-round pick. Hortiz praised Banks’ physical style at the line of scrimmage.
“When you can get up there and disrupt the timing of the wideout’s release and the timing of the play, that’s a big thing,” Hortiz said.
“He does a great job of that,” he added. “He’s very physical, he takes pride in it, and he does it well.”
5. The Ravens must have eyes on this quarterback class.
The Ravens didn’t want to touch the Lamar Jackson situation, but when the franchise quarterback has publicly asked to be traded, how can that position not be a significant focus of the draft?
A quarterback quartet of C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young, Anthony Richardson and Will Levis are expected to fly off the board in the beginning of the draft, and Hortiz declared that this year’s quarterback class is “pretty strong up top.”
Asked whether the Ravens would possibly draft a quarterback in the first round, DeCosta said, “It depends on the board. It really does. I mean, I’d have to say yes, because we have quarterbacks in our top 31. So just based on that alone, simple math, I would have to say yes.”
The Ravens could be in line for a higher first-round pick than their current No. 22 slot if they choose not to match an offer sheet for Jackson, but none have been forthcoming, and there is little to suggest that will change in the next three weeks.
DeCosta also noted that multiple standout quarterbacks have come later in the draft, none bigger than former sixth-round pick Tom Brady. San Francisco this past year rode the arm of seventh-round pick and “Mr. Irrelevant” — the moniker given to the last player selected in the draft — Brock Purdy deep into the playoffs.
“It’s quite possible to get a good quarterback at any point in the draft,” DeCosta said.
With Jackson and his $32 million nonexclusive franchise tag very much in limbo, the Ravens could be left to rely on Tyler Huntley, who received a low tender as a restricted free agent this spring, or Anthony Brown, the team’s practice squad quarterback last season who appeared in two games.
Neither of them was drafted, and with only five picks, the Ravens could opt to go the undrafted route to look for another quarterback. One potential Day Three or undrafted target could be Stetson Bennett, who went from Georgia walk-on to two-time national champion for new Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken.
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