On the second night of the 2019 draft, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta couldn’t sit still. He paced the war room, he walked the halls, he found other ways to try to distract himself as good player after good player flew off the board between Ravens picks.
The Ravens had no second-round pick that year, having dealt it to the Philadelphia Eagles a year earlier in the trade that netted quarterback Lamar Jackson, and he had to basically just watch and wait as 59 players were taken between the Ravens’ first- and third-round picks.
This year, the Ravens find themselves in much the same scenario when the NFL Draft resumes at 7 p.m. on Friday night. The Ravens selected Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers with the No. 22 overall pick, and barring any trades, they won’t pick again until midway through the third round, at No. 86.
DeCosta, though, sounded much more comfortable about the situation this time around, and for a couple of multimillion-dollar reasons. First, hours before the draft began, the team finalized an extension with quarterback Lamar Jackson, completing the team’s top roster priority and ending a saga that had dragged on for months. And second, the Ravens don’t have a second-round pick this year because they dealt it to the Chicago Bears as part the package that landed linebacker Roquan Smith in Baltimore, and the Ravens will take that exchange in spades.
“We don’t have a second-round pick. Do I hate that? Yes,” DeCosta said. “But, our second-round pick is Roquan. And I gotta say, I don’t think you can get a better second-round pick. So I’m thrilled that we don’t have a second-round pick. I look at that and I say, ‘Man, we really lucked out.’ … Roquan is a force multiplier. He lifts everybody else up.”
Smith immediately became the heart of the Ravens’ defense, and although he played just nine games with the team, he finished third on the team in tackles with 86.
Late in the season, Smith signed a long-term extension with the team, and now Jackson has done the same after his contract status remained one of the league’s top storylines throughout the offseason.
DeCosta acknowledged that he felt a huge burden lifted with the Jackson deal resolved, as the dragged-out negotiations clearly took an emotional toll on both sides.
“It’s been a challenge,” he said.
Whatever else happens in the draft — and the Ravens are slated to have their fewest number of picks since 1999 — DeCosta has to come away feeling much better about the roster.
Barring any deals, the Ravens will have one third-round pick, at No. 86, and then three picks on the draft’s final day, at No. 124 in the fourth round, No. 157 in the fifth and No. 199 in the sixth.
The Ravens entered the draft with their biggest need at cornerback, and with the Ravens on the clock at No. 22, they passed on cornerbacks Deonte Banks of Maryland and Joey Porter Jr. from Penn State, instead selecting Flowers.
DeCosta praised Flowers as one of the most impressive players he has ever met with in the pre-draft process, and he becomes the latest addition to a wide receiver group that DeCosta and head coach John Harbaugh vowed to rebuild this offseason.
“He really passed every single test,” DeCosta said. “He’s just an explosive, competitive, tough guy who can play outside, can play inside. Very happy for him, and for the Ravens.”
Last year, the Ravens receivers totaled 1,517 yards, the lowest total in the league. Presumptive No. 1 receiver Rashod Bateman missed the final 11 games with a foot injury. Demarcus Robinson led Ravens wide receivers with 458 yards.
The Ravens surely will be in the market for a cornerback at some point in the final two days of the draft, and it is considered by many evaluators to be among the deepest position groups in this year’s draft. Ravens director of player personnel Joe Hortiz said he was optimistic that the Ravens could find talented corners with any of their remaining picks.
“Absolutely,” Hortiz said. “There are players at every level of the draft for us. There are still plenty of targets available. So we’ll be watching them in the second round, and as they come off, and if there’s someone there in the third that matches us, we’ll be there.”
The Ravens figure to hew to their best-available-player theory as they analyze their board in the next two days, but defensive line would also be a position to watch. The Ravens lost Calais Campbell this offseason, and while they return most of last year’s unit, virtually all of them will be free agents in 2024, so finding and developing replacements begins now.
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