NFL Draft: Ravens gaining interest in drafting wide receiver in first round

The Ravens have a lot of needs to address in the NFL Draft, but their interest in drafting a wide receiver in the first round is growing.

The NFL Draft is rapidly approaching, and the Ravens have plenty of issues they need to address. Some of their roster needs they’ve addressed through free agency, such as the signings of Brandon Carr and Tony Jefferson, and some they’ll have to address through the draft.

One of their most glaring needs is at the wide receiver position. Since Steve Smith Sr. has retired and Kamar Aiken has left for the Indianapolis Colts, the Ravens are in need of some depth.

While the team has Mike Wallace and Breshad Perriman as options, neither of them seem to be true number one receivers.

The team could elect to just add depth, allow Wallace and Perriman to be the number one and two, and grab a receiver in the later rounds.

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However, the likelihood that the team will draft a wide receiver with their 16th overall pick seems to be growing.

The team has already hosted Clemson’s Mike Williams, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, and they’ve also hosted Washington’s John Ross, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Ross is most notable now as the player who broke Chris Johnson’s 40-yard dash record with his 4.22 time.

Per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley, it also seems that Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta likes some of the potential first round receiver targets:

“Obviously, Mike Williams is a great player…I think John Ross from Washington is an explosive playmaker. Those would be two guys who are very good players that probably warrant that sort of a draft grade [at No. 16 overall].”

DeCosta also mentioned Corey Davis in a similar breath, saying, “Corey Davis from Western Michigan would be a guy that I think teams like.”

We wrote about the top ten wide receivers the Ravens should target in the NFL Draft, and Williams, Davis, and Ross are numbers one, two, and three on that list.

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We’ll see what the Ravens ultimately decide to do with their first round pick, but it’s starting to seem more and more likely that they’ll be looking at a wide receiver, depending on who’s available.