OTL: Draft Class Sets Up Well for Ravens’ Needs

With the Combine in the books, a major milestone in the offseason is now in the rear-view mirror. The next step is for front offices to apply what they learned, and, in combination with Pro Days and any late-breaking injury news, form their final Big Boards. With that in mind, what does the field look like so far?

Wide receivers prospects who could don purple and black:https://t.co/3n4I1qby0C

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) March 2, 2024

Needless to say…if you need an OT, you are in luck.

— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) March 3, 2024

If you’ve been following along with this prospect pool, you know that the position groups that appear to have the most blue-chip prospects are wide receiver and offensive tackle. The timing of those two groups is fortuitous for the Ravens, given that those are the most serious areas of need on their current roster. While some of those guys may have priced themselves out of buying range for the Ravens with their exceptional performances…

At nearly 6'8" and 340 lbs, a 5.07u is insane. Wow, @amarius_mims 😳

📺: #NFLCombine on @nflnetwork 
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/ya9zrnrDz8

— NFL (@NFL) March 3, 2024

…by the nature of the process, some guys worthy of first round grades are naturally going to slide. With positional value inflating the market on some guys ahead of Baltimore…

"I had a very smart GM tell me 1-2-3-4" for QBs in the 2024 NFL Draft

– @DMRussini https://t.co/zp5tPYI9jk pic.twitter.com/mcXCWqW8lI

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) March 4, 2024

…what is that market really going to look like? How deep does the pool go for Baltimore’s positions of need?

The folly at this time of year trying to answer that question comes from depending on only a few sources, so I commandeered the numbers from NFL Mock Draft Database. Their numbers are compiled based off Big Boards and mock drafts composed by analysts around the sport, including team-specific mocks. At the time of writing this piece, here’s what the numbers looked like by position for the top 50 prospects based on 112 Big Boards, 736 1^st-round mocks, and 630 team-based mocks.

Top 50:

Expanded out to the top 100, it looks like:

Positional value obviously plays a part in this (note the absence of RBs from the top 50 and the total absence of specialists), but if you’re Eric DeCosta, you’ve got to really like what you see. Even if you rule out a handful of guys at those positions due to medicals, off-field stuff, etc., you still have a ton of options, even at lesser positions of need like EDGE and CB.

While some pundits believe that Baltimore could even use their top draft pick on defense early…

Mel Kiper predicts the Ravens will take CB Kamari Lassiter in the first round in his latest Mock Draft. pic.twitter.com/Rs34w7Gt6d

— 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝙇𝙄𝙑𝙀 (@LIVERavenNation) March 4, 2024

…conventional wisdom in today’s NFL would tell you to spend on offense first, then defense later. Particularly given how good Baltimore’s defense was last season, one must imagine that Baltimore sees the depth at receiver and tackle and jumps on them early.

The greatest O-Line draft class ever? Sign me up. Couldn’t hide my excitement this AM on @gmfb pic.twitter.com/aOcBYjP8aN

— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) March 4, 2024

Source: The Baltimore Ravens are expected to host Texas WR Xavier Worthy on a Top 30 visit in the coming days.

Electric athlete at the WR position.

— Ryan Fowler (@_RyanFowler_) March 4, 2024

There’s plenty of room for things to change between now and late April, but largely, that’ll boil down to what happens in the first wave of free agency. Pro Days will only move the needle slightly on the consensus as it stands now, so the big question becomes how EDC and Company prioritize the roster’s needs, and how they plan on attacking this class. The odds are slightly stacked against them, as Tankathon currently ranks the Ravens 24^th in overall draft capital based on total number of picks and the position of those picks, but if anyone can make those picks work, it’s this front office.