A focus on defense should be the priority for Baltimore in this draft
Baltimore has been a very strong contender in the AFC for the past couple of seasons. In 2023 they made it to the AFC Championship round only to lose to the eventual Super Bowl Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. Last season was another great outing as they made it to the Divisional round but came up short against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.
With the acquisition of Derrick Henry in the backfield, Baltimore enhanced their run game and eased some of the pressure on quarterback Lamar Jackson. Henry finished the season with 1,921 rush yards only second to the exceptional Saquon Barkley while Jackson came ever so close to securing his third MVP.
If there was anything to fault, it was their defense which didn’t play up to their potential during the initial stages of the season but they were able to flip the switch towards the end. All in all, Baltimore still has a roster worthy of challenging in the AFC but will need to add pieces to their defense for sure.
Baltimore has a plethora of picks this year with 11 from the 7-round draft. The Ravens will be selecting a minimum of 1 pick in each round and have multiple picks in rounds 4 and 6. Their first-round selection is number 27 overall unless any trades take place.
| Picks | Round | Pick No. | Own / Via |
| 1 | 1 | 27 | Own |
| 2 | 2 | 59 | Own |
| 3 | 3 | 91 | Own |
| 4 | 4 | 129 | Own |
| 5 | 4 | 136 | Compensatory Selection |
| 6 | 5 | 176 | Compensatory Selection |
| 7 | 6 | 183 | From Panthers |
| 8 | 6 | 203 | Own |
| 9 | 6 | 210 | Compensatory Selection |
| 10 | 6 | 212 | Compensatory Selection |
| 11 | 7 | 243 | Own |
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The Ravens are pretty well set on the offensive side of the ball. The addition of DeAndre Hopkins at receiver should be a good one as he can lend good support and experience to Zay Flowers who will be starting his third year. Rashod Bateman and Mark Andrews round out the main pass-catching options for Jackson. If they can find a decent offensive lineman, that would be one area to keep an eye on.
However, the focus in this year’s draft should be on strengthening their defense. The draft is an excellent one for edge rushers, and Baltimore would do well to pick a top-quality edge with Kyle Van Noy getting up there in age. Their lack of depth on the defensive line and nose tackle is another position for Baltimore to invest in heavily while adding a safety for competition with Ar’Darius Washington could also be a direction worth exploring.
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nfl I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!
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