How will Ravens prioritize their draft needs? Turning to 'The Beast' for answers

AFC EastBillsDolphinsJetsPatriotsAFC NorthBengalsBrownsRavensSteelersAFC SouthColtsJaguarsTexansTitansAFC WestBroncosChargersChiefsRaidersNFC EastCommandersCowboysEaglesGiantsNFC NorthBearsLionsPackersVikingsNFC SouthBuccaneersFalconsPanthersSaintsNFC West49ersCardinalsRamsSeahawksScores & ScheduleStandingsFantasyNFL OddsNFL PicksNFL DraftPodcastsScoop City NewsletterThe BeastTop 100 Rankings3-Round Mock DraftNFL Draft OrderFree Agency TrackerThe Beast NFL Arizona State WR Jordyn Tyson could be available when the Ravens are on the clock in the first round. Christian Petersen / Getty Images Share full articleThe good news for the Baltimore Ravens is that they have 11 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft. Only the rival Pittsburgh Steelers have more. Yet, of the Ravens’ 11 selections, seven are in the fifth round or later. General manager Eric DeCosta and the Ravens have certainly shown an ability to find contributors on Day 3 of the draft. What’s significantly harder is finding plug-and-play starters and immediate impact guys after the first couple of rounds. This year’s draft, which gets underway on April 23, is touted more for its depth than for its pool of elite-level talent. Presumably, teams will be able to unearth plenty of Day 3 gems, and the Ravens obviously will be afforded plenty of swings with their chest of draft picks. They have four selections in the fifth round alone. But on Days 1 and 2, the Ravens simply don’t have enough draft capital to adequately address the spots where they’ll potentially need immediate starters. Unless they are sitting on a post-draft free-agent deal or have a trade in the works — and neither scenario is out of the question — Baltimore will probably have to come out of this draft with a starting center and starting candidates at guard and in the defensive interior. They need an immediate contributor at tight end and wide receiver. Depth is also needed at linebacker and within the secondary. The recent signing of Luke Elzinga doesn’t take the Ravens out of the punter draft market, either. For all the talk about the team’s long-standing draft philosophy of taking the best player available, the Ravens’ drafting credo is probably better exemplified by typically selecting the best player available at one of their positions of need. The question, though, is what positions are the Ravens prioritizing with their top picks, and where are the potential sweet spots for their positions of need? For help answering it, I consulted “The Beast,” Dane Brugler’s exemplary draft guide that features profiles of more than 400 prospects. There will be multiple receiver options for the Ravens in every round. At No. 14, USC’s Makai Lemon or Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson could be available. At No. 45, Washington’s Denzel Boston, Alabama’s Germie Bernard and Louisville’s Chris Bell could be in the mix. Brugler has 15 receivers with Day 1 or 2 grades and another seven who could go in either the third or fourth rounds. Thus, it’s hard to project a sweet spot. There will be a run on wide receivers at some point, probably in the middle stages of Day 2, and Baltimore will have to determine how big a need it is and who is the ideal fit to add to its receiving group. DeCosta hasn’t hesitated to draft receivers early. In seven drafts as the general manager, he has used five Day 1 or 2 draft choices and two more fourth-round picks on the position. The team’s current depth chart, featuring Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and little else in terms of experienced options, suggests he’ll likely take another early swing at receiver. Hints of Amon-Ra St. Brown. Not wildly athletic, but a likely starter at slot or Z. Baltimore has only two tight ends on its current roster, and its new offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle, likes to use multiple. That the Ravens will select at least one tight end is the safest bet in the draft. The questions are how early they’ll take one and whether they’ll double-dip at the position, which they’ve done effectively in the past. This year’s draft is loaded with quality tight ends, so the Ravens can afford to be patient. That is, unless they just can’t resist Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq, who is viewed as the only tight end who could potentially go in the first round. Sadiq is an athletic freak with an extremely high ceiling. If the Ravens are smitten with his ability and physical traits, they’ll likely have to pounce at No. 14 — because he probably won’t still be available at 45. The Ravens have had a lot of success finding quality tight ends in the middle rounds, and they are well-positioned to do it again this year. Brugler has six tight ends possibly going off the board on Days 1 and 2, and a dozen more with fourth- or fifth-round grades. DeCosta could be tempted to take a tight end on Day 2, but he needn’t panic if he doesn’t. With five total picks in Rounds 4 and 5, the Ravens will have plenty of opportunity to land a nice tight end prospect on Day 3 of the draft. Head coach Jesse Minter said the team likes some of its internal options at center, presumably referring to free-agent acquisitions Danny Pinter and Jovaughn Gwyn and possibly holdover Corey Bullock, but it’s hard to imagine that the Ravens would be comfortable with any of the three as replacements for perennial Pro Bowler Tyler Linderbaum. It seems likely that Baltimore has plans to draft its next starting center in a couple of weeks. It won’t happen early. There are no natural centers projected to go in the first round, and Brugler doesn’t have any center with a second-round grade, either. He has six centers who potentially could come off the board between the third and fourth rounds, a group that includes Florida’s Jake Slaughter, Iowa’s Logan Jones, Kansas State’s Sam Hecht, Auburn’s Connor Lew, Duke’s Brian Parker II and Texas A&M’s Trey Zuhn III. The Ravens will probably need to get their guy somewhere between picks 80 and 154. No single overwhelming traits, but shows promising control, strength and processing. The Ravens signed veteran John Simpson for one of the guard spots. If they are convinced that 2025 third-round pick Emery Jones Jr. is the answer at right guard, this may not be as big a priority as most outsiders think. They also still have Andrew Vorhees, a 17-game starter last year, returning. However, given their struggles at the position last season, it seems prudent to take a shot relatively early in the draft at finding a starting guard. If Penn State’s Vega Ioane is available at 14 and none of the projected top-10 guys fall, it could be a no-brainer for the Ravens. Ioane is a plug-and-play mauler with a high floor and a Pro Bowl ceiling. If the Ravens go in another direction, their second-round pick could represent a significant opportunity to upgrade the position. Texas A&M’s Chase Bisontis, Oregon’s Emmanuel Pregnon and Georgia Tech’s Keylan Rutledge are all guys who could come off the board anywhere from the late first round to early in the third round. There will be other options on Day 2 as well. The longer the Ravens wait, though, the clearer it will become that Jones will be given every possible chance to win that job. Three edge rushers seem likely to come off the board in the top 10. Another five, a group headed by Auburn’s Keldric Faulk and Miami’s Akheem Mesidor, appear likely to be selected anywhere from the middle of the first round to the middle of the second. The Ravens clearly want to add here even after picking Mike Green in the second round last year and signing Trey Hendrickson in free agency. They had a nice run of finding undervalued middle-round pass rushers and developing them into difference makers, but the position has been a drafting struggle in recent years. Several early-to mid-round picks have not panned out. DeCosta made clear that the Ravens needed to fix the pass rush this offseason, so nobody should be surprised if they draft an outside linebacker early. If they’re focused on finding an immediate contributor, they’re probably going to have to use one of their first four picks on the position. Brugler, by the way, has 21 edge rushers with first-to-fourth-round grades. This is clearly the Ravens’ biggest need on the defensive side of the ball, and it may also be their toughest position to adequately fill. With lingering questions about the future of Nnamdi Madubuike, who missed most of last season with a neck injury, and the need for both depth and a potential upgrade at defensive tackle, the Ravens probably need to add at least one potential day-one starter along with a rotational player in the coming months. The first part of that equation could be problematic, as there’s not an interior defensive lineman who is a lock to be taken in the first round. Brugler ranks Ohio State’s Kayden McDonald and Clemson’s Peter Woods as the top two defensive linemen, but both would probably be considered “reaches” at Baltimore’s pick No. 14. Brugler has McDonald and Woods ranked 32nd and 35th, respectively, among his top-100 players. Overall, Brugler has only seven interior defensive linemen ranked in his top 100. If either McDonald or Woods is still available when the Ravens are on the clock at pick 45, they will have something to think about. Otherwise, an interior defensive lineman feels like a late Day 2 or early Day 3 pursuit. Brugler has 15 interior defensive linemen with third-to-fifth-round grades. A dominant run defender who will be immediately useful on early downs — if not more. Like wide receiver, there will ultimately be a run on cornerbacks, and it probably will happen sometime on Day 2 or late Day 3. Only LSU’s Mansoor Delane and Tennessee’s Jermod McCoy seem certain to go in the first round, which means there will be a lot of teams jockeying for position to grab a cornerback on Day 2. The Ravens aren’t in bad shape here with a projected top four of Marlon Humphrey, Nate Wiggins, Chidobe Awuzie and T.J. Tampa. However, they are reminded every year that they can never have enough corners. Humphrey and Awuzie are only under contract for one more year, so cornerback is certainly a future need. Baltimore hasn’t gotten a ton out of its recent mid-round corners, and a Day 3 flier on the position won’t dramatically alter the depth chart. However, the Ravens have so many more pressing needs, and they already have invested so many early draft picks in the current secondary that it would almost feel like overkill if they dialed up another early-round corner. While the Ravens are said to like Elzinga and consider him a legitimate candidate to be their punter in 2026, their senior special teams coach and kicking guru Randy Brown has also done extensive work on this year’s punting class. With so many Day 3 picks, this feels like a good time to take a shot at finding the team’s punter for the next four years. Brugler has only three punters with draftable grades: Michigan State’s Ryan Eckley, Georgia’s Brett Thorson and Florida’s Tommy Doman. Depending on who Brown covets, the Ravens could probably earmark a sixth- or seventh-round pick for their successor to Jordan Stout. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Jeff Zrebiec is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Baltimore Ravens. Before joining The Athletic in 2018, he spent the previous 18 years as a writer for The Baltimore Sun, 13 of them on the Orioles or Ravens beats. The New Jersey native is a graduate of Loyola University in Baltimore. Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeffzrebiec