With the eighth pick in the National Football League Draft, the Baltimore Ravens select …
Will it be Boise State offensive tackle Ryan Clady? How about Southern Cal defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis or Troy cornerback Leodis McKelvin? And then there?s Boston College?s Matt Ryan: Is he the team?s quarterback of the future?
This much is clear: About an hour into this afternoon?s draft that begins at 3, the Ravens? brass will hand a four-by-six index card to Roger Goodell, the NFL?s commissioner, and he?ll end the suspense by announcing its selection to a worldwide audience.
It will end months of speculation of which direction the Ravens will go as they take a major step in rebuilding a team that collapsed during a 5-11 season that ended with the team firing Coach Brian Billick.
But for the player who emerges from of the Green Room ? the place where the draft?s best prospects sit with their families as they wait for Goodell to call their names ?expectations will be high. Of the 14 players selected in the first round by the Ravens since 1996, 10 are still with the team and 13 are still in the NFL. The only player out of football is linebacker Peter Boulware, the team?s first-round pick in 1997. He retired following the 2005 season after making four Pro Bowls and earning a spot in the Ravens? Ring of Honor inside M&T Bank Stadium.
The Ravens? success drafting players stems from their philosophy of taking the best player available and not necessarily based on the team’s overall needs. The strategy paid huge dividends when the team selected offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden with the fourth pick in 1996 whenthey had a Pro Bowl tackle in Tony Jones. The same was true in 2000 when the team took running back Jamal Lewis when they had a 1,000-yard rusher in Priest Holmes and the next year when they selected tight end Todd Heap with future Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe on the roster. Overall, the Ravens first-round picks have made a combined 36 Pro Bowls.
“We rate all the players,” said Eric DeCosta, the Ravens director of college scouting. “I rank all the players from first to worst basically with the help of the scouts. Then, obviously, if there are two players close together, if they have the same type grades, if one player is a need and the other player is not a need, we will take the need player. But in almost every case, if there?s a significant difference in ability between the two players, we?re always going to pick the better player.”
But the Ravens appear to have more needs than in previous years, with quarterback, defensive back, defensive tackle and offensive line among their key concerns.
Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome knows one of those needs will be addressed with the first of the team’s nine picks during the seven-round, 252-player draft. But which one depends on the seven players drafted by other teams before the Ravens are on the clock.
The Miami Dolphins made offensive tackle Jake Long the top overall pick by signing him to a five-year, $57 million contract with $30 million guaranteed.
“We can?t control what seven other people do in front of us,” Newsome said. “So, I don?t get into speculating what the Rams are going to do or what Kansas City is going to do. I just have to be prepared for what Baltimore can do at eight. I can?t control those other things.”
One of the biggest differences in this year’s draft preparation for the Ravens is it?s the first under coach John Harbaugh, who had spent the past 10 seasons as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Eagles.
“The great thing about it is that it has been a dialogue,” Harbaugh said. “I think Ozzie and Eric have been real receptive tothe coaches and we appreciate that. It?s a confidence builder. I think we?ve had some input. I think we?ve had some influence, but on draft day we?re going to do what?s best for the Ravens, and that will ultimately be Ozzie?s call.”
