OTL: Mock Draft Friday Catches a Falling Safety

For today’s mock draft, we execute a strategy that’s familiar for Ravens fans. What happens when you have a board that doesn’t fit the needs of the team and can’t get good enough value to trade down? Simple, you take the best player available:

Allow me to stand on my hypothetical soap box about the 2025 NFL Draft for a second for this one. Starks is easily the best safety in this class and it isn’t close. He is a true deep safety guy who can lock down anything on the back end. Yes, his tackling isn’t the best in the world. However, his role for the Ravens would allow them to hide that part of his game. Starks is also a turnover machine, and remember the Ravens had to play Kyle Hamilton out of position last year just to get a starting caliber defense out there:

The team that allows Malaki Starks to thrive as a deep half/single high will be getting a return on their investment. Plenty of range to cover a ton of ground. Similarities to Jesse Bates imo pic.twitter.com/4MfETOcxGM

— Billy M (@BillyM_91) March 5, 2025

I am passionate about defending Starks it seems like I keep seeing everyone in the draft industry trying to tear him down.

This is also because he, get ready for this, didn’t run in the 4.4s. Oh, the horror; how will he be able to play in the NFL if he can’t run a 4.4? Let’s just forget about his movement profile and some hips and good two-cone as well, nope all about the 40 time! Nick Emmanwori is better, right? This is why 40 times is misleading. Emmanwori doesn’t have the fraction of good tape or production that Starks does, yet he is the one who gets all the hype because of their respective 40 times.

Malaki Starks is a special athlete.

Numbers are cool but there are some things you just have to watch. His fluidity is truly special, and the tape reflects that.

We’ve seen elite players like Brian Branch fall because of Combine numbers… Do NOT overthink Starks as a prospect. pic.twitter.com/aB8r7innTN

— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) March 1, 2025

So please NFL: allow this total stud of a safety to fall to the Ravens again just because you are obsessed with 40 times. Ed Reed, Kyle Hamilton…Malaki Starks?

Safety isn’t as big of a need as Edge, but this is clearly the best possible solution, and there weren’t any better options at 27 available anyway.

So, after spending a couple of minutes killing people for looking at nothing but athletic testing, let’s drool over Darien Porter’s RAS Scores:

Darien Porter is a CB prospect in the 2025 draft class. He scored a 9.99 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 4 out of 2509 CB from 1987 to 2025.

Pro day pending for remaining tests.https://t.co/UQ0pFt0Vj6 pic.twitter.com/u9fiBNpGD4

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) March 12, 2025

Hypocrisy aside, Porter has good enough tape to back up his athletic upside. He is what people wanted fellow Cyclone T.J. Tampa to be last year. Porter and Starks together would be a disgusting combo for the Ravens. Yes, again, no Edge, but this secondary would be insane.

Deone Walker is Michael Pierce‘s replacement. He is a strong defensive tackle who can handle the run on early downs. Although he has a pass-rushing upside, his role is clearly stopping the run.

Finally! At 129, here’s the Edge we have been looking for. Savion Jones is a bit of a weird prospect because he bulked up to nearly 290 for the Senior Bowl, and he seems to be doing that to be an inside rusher instead of an edge rusher. Still, he has awesome tape, and he looks like the type of player the Ravens will crave in the later rounds.

Chris Paul Jr. is becoming a darling to me. His tape is good, and while he is smaller, his height and weight don’t negatively impact his play. Rogers played right tackle in the NFL, but he is moving to guard. As our friend Cole Jackson says, EDC should take a versatile lineman who can play tackle and guard late. Lundt and Conyers have great depth in their positions. Ryland brings much-needed juice off the edge, and White and Fortune have great depth at receiver and corner.