OWINGS MILLS — Every year, the Baltimore Ravens are looking for
the next Bart Scott, Jameel McClain, Mike Flynn or B.J. Sams.
The quest to find good football players doesn’t stop when the
seventh round of the NFL draft ends.
"Even though we’re done collecting players with draft picks,
this starts the process of the undrafted college free agents as soon as the
draft is over," Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said Saturday night.
"We’re putting that process in place right now, working with the coaches.
The coaches and the scouts are working together so we can attack that once the
draft finishes.”
The defending AFC North champions have already hammered out deals
with undrafted rookies with coach John Harbaugh, director of college scouting
Joe Hortiz, scouts, coaches and other team officials recruiting the players.
Although the deals won’t become official until the player passes a
physical and signs his contract, the Ravens have agreed to terms with the
following 20 players: Kent State center Chris Anzevino, Florida quarterback
John Brantley, North Carolina cornerback Charles Brown, Morgan State tight
end-H back Lamont Bryant, Mississippi State offensive lineman James Carmon,
Illinois offensive lineman Jack Cornell, Clemson fullback Chad Diehl, Georgia
fullback Bruce Figgins, Slippery Rock wide receiver Devin Goda, Syracuse wide
receiver Dorian Graham, Alabama-Birmingham defensive tackle Elliott Henigan,
Baylor defensive tackle Nick Jean-Baptiste, Tennessee fullback-linebacker Austin
Johnson, Kent State defensive tackle Ishmaa’ily Kitchen, Clemson offensive
lineman Antoine McClain, Alabama offensive lineman Alfred McCullough, Syracuse
tight end Nick Provo, Wake Forest safety Chyl Quarles, Western Kentucky running
back Bobby Rainey and Florida wide receiver Deonte Thompson.
Bryant is an intriguing prospect, an extremely athletic 6-foot-5,
229-pounder who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.39 to 4.45 seconds at his campus Pro
Day workout where he also registered a 43-inch vertical leap, a 10-3 broad jump
and bench pressed 225 pounds 19 times. He visited the Oakland Raiders, Kansas
City Chiefs and the Seattle Seahawks and played in the HCBU all-star game.
"As Ozzie alluded to, we’re in the middle of undrafted free
agency," Ravens director of player personnel Eric DeCosta said. "Joe
[Hortiz] is up there with the scouts, right along with coach Harbaugh,
organizing that. So, we’ll have a chance to bring in some really good players
on the back end.
"And there are still a lot of good players out there. The
hunt goes on. We’ll continue to look at players who are available on the
street, free agents, undrafted free agents, street free agents, unrestricted
free agents. We’ll get a chance to look at those guys and build the best team
for September.”
