Ravens Draft Options #3, Trade Back
Welcome to the third installment of the Ravens first round draft options. Today we will be looking at the possibility of the Ravens trading back out of the first round. There are three possible scenarios that could lead to the Ravens trading back.
- The Ravens trade out for a future first rounder- This might be a bit far fetched, but stay with me here. The Ravens have 12 draft picks this year, yet there is no way they have enough roster space to house 12 rookies. not a chance. So I think an appealing option for the Ravens, should no oppurtunity to trade up arise, would be to trade the pick away, not for more picks in this draft, but for future picks. This scenerio basically involves a team in the middle of the second round(something like 10-19) wanting a QB. Maybe a team like Tampa Bay, who might not be sold on Freeman, or The New York Jets. Now instead of trading back, the Ravens offer to just give up the pick, staight up for that teams next years first rounder. This is a win win for the Ravens. Any team in search of a QB is almost certainly not going to win the Super Bowl, so the pick is a near lock to be higher than 32, and next years draft is very talented and the Ravens would be well served to have 2 first rounders to potentially try and go get a franchise Left tackle. Sounds pretty good to me.
- No first round draftable player is available- This might be the least likely of the three. There are a ton of late first round prospects worth looking into and drafting, I would be shocked to see the Ravens just flat trade back unless they were netting future picks(i.e Jets get Ravens 1st, Ravens get Jets second and Jets 2014 2nd). There are about 10 players that the Ravens probably would deem as draftable, and with a litany of picks, it is best not to gamble and take whichever player they have the highest ranked on their board.
- They have 4 players they view as equal left on the board- This is probably the most likely scenerio. There is a good chance the Ravens will have multiple players that are extremely close on their board fall in their laps at 32. when that is the case, it is always best to get some extra value and still get one of those players, it is a win win. Again, I would think any trade back would be dealing in future picks, but It could certainly happen. I still view the most likely scenario is that the Ravens make a strong move to trade up in either the first or second rounds to go after a falling prospect.
What Do you think Ravens fans? What is the most likely way the Ravens trade down? vote below.