Baltimore Ravens: Top Five Targets for the Draft

Now that the Baltimore Ravens season is over, it’s time to look towards the draft and who they should target to improve the team.

If you want to try and be the eternal optimist, one of the bonuses of having a bad season is having a good draft pick, and now the Ravens can look towards the future and get excited about the potential new playmakers they can add to the team to get them back into contention.

To figure out who the Ravens should draft, we need to first address their positional weaknesses. Their biggest, most glaring weakness is in their passing defense. The Ravens were tied for the sixth-most passing touchdowns allowed in the NFL with 30. They were middle-of-the-pack in sacks and sack yards lost, and had the sixth-highest passer rating against in the league. Needless to say, defense should be the number one priority for the Ravens this year in the draft.

Specifically, the top-three positions that need to be addressed in this year’s draft are:

1. Defensive Back
2. Linebacker
3. Defensive Line

It’s tempting to say Wide Receiver. I get it, Breshad Perriman’s injury has many people wondering if he’s a bust, but Wide Receiver is not a need position as much as the other three are. Kamar Aiken proved himself as a very capable receiver this year, finishing the year with 75 catches and just 56 yards shy of 1000 receiving yards. And everyone already knows what Steve Smith is capable of producing.

So with a healthy receiver corps of Smith/Aiken/Perriman, and perhaps someone drafted in the later rounds, the team should be fine. The Ravens finished the year No. 9 in receiving yards anyways, and that was without Steve Smith for a sizeable amount of time.

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So now we approach the first round of the draft. And before I list the top five players the Ravens should draft with their No. 6 overall pick, I should add one caveat: There is a difference between what the Ravens should do and what Ozzie Newsome is likely to do. Specifically, I believe it’s very possible that the Ravens may end up trading their No. 6 pick to another team looking to get a quarterback ahead of the San Francisco 49ers, and if that’s the case, then likely none of these players will fall to the Ravens.

1. Jalen Ramsey – CB, Florida State University

The beauty of Jalen Ramsey is that the guy is just about the most athletic corner in college football right now. His speed is excellent, he’s got a great first-step, and he could easily move to Free Safety if the Ravens decided they were done with Kendrick Lewis. Even if he isn’t at safety, he would be one dynamic cornerback whose size (6-1, 201 lbs) at the position would prove a major advantage when going up against the likes of A.J. Green or Calvin Johnson.

Vernon Hargreaves III

– CB, Florida

If you wanted the Ravens to draft Hargreaves instead of Ramsey, I would not argue with you for a second. Hargreaves could easily be the best CB in the draft; he showed off his skills this season, holding receivers like Laquon Treadwell and Pharoh Cooper to under 50 receiving yards. He’s got incredible instincts, he plays hard and can shut down just about any receiver he goes up against.

Mackensie Alexander

– CB, Clemson

Mackensie Alexander is young, he’s a redshirted sophomore, but he is without a doubt one of the most talented CBs out there. He had some injury issues as a true freshman, but he’s developed into a potential No. 1 corner on just about any team in the NFL. He’s got some serious athletic ability and agility, and is excellent in man-coverage (something the Ravens could really use). As of right now, he hasn’t declared for the draft, though it wouldn’t be shocking if he did; and if he does, he’ll definitely be a first-rounder. And if Ramsey and Hargreaves go before the Ravens get a pick, Alexander would certainly be worth the investment.

DeForest Buckner

– DL, Oregon

DeForest Buckner is an intimidating guy to say the least. He’s 6-7, 290 pounds and not someone you want to see lining up against you. With the Ravens 3-4 defense, he could play a 5-technique on either end pretty well. He’s got good enough speed to do it and could really provide the Ravens with a serious addition to their pass rush.

Reggie Ragland

– LB, Alabama

Ozzie Newsome picks a linebacker from Alabama in the first round. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. It seems that the biggest complaint against Ragland as a linebacker is his speed, and that’s understandable; he still has some developing to do as far as pass coverage goes. But the 6-2, 252-pound linebacker is physical and can stuff the run as well as anybody. Daryl Smith isn’t getting any younger, and together with C.J. Mosley, Ragland could eventually help create one of the best one-two MLB punches in football.

Next: Ravens Quarterback Season Grades

There’s reason to be optimistic about the Ravens. Being that they had the most players on injured reserve in the NFL this year, it’s easy to see that the Ravens team that was out there this year is very different from the Ravens team that is likely to be out there next year. With the addition of any of these five players, the Ravens could be right back in it within the next year or so. And if that doesn’t get your hopes up, think about this: the Ravens have picked better than 10^th three times, and those picks were Jonathan Ogden, Peter Boulware, and Jamal Lewis.