Ebony Bird Round Table: The ideal pick for Baltimore Ravens at 22

Garrett Ferguson: N’Keal Harry, WR (Arizona State)

In my perfect scenario, the Ravens trade down to accumulate more picks like previous years, but if they were to stay put at pick 22 then Harry is my guy. I have to admit, I did have trouble choosing between Harry and N.C. State IOL Garrett Bradbury because both fit team needs and would be huge additions to the offense. I wrote an article last week making the case for both players at pick 22, coming to the conclusion that Bradbury is the better pick… I’ve since had a change of heart.

The reason I’m going with Harry is because the Ravens are among the league’s best at grooming offensive linemen and have struck gold while taking them in the middle rounds (see Marshal Yanda, Rick Wagner, Orlando Brown Jr.) but they can’t say the same with wide receiver. They haven’t had the best luck with middle to late round receivers and since 2008, the Ravens have drafted just two wide receivers in the first three rounds of the Draft. So, is the problem that the Ravens can’t draft receivers or is it that they haven’t tried high enough?

The Ravens have lived off of bargain shopping veteran receivers such as Derrick Mason, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, and Mike Wallace but they can’t do that forever. They want the number one receiver without spending the capital to get him. It also doesn’t help that when they do try to snag one early, they miss (see Mark Clayton and Breshad Perriman), but that shouldn’t deter them from trying again.

N’Keal Harry has the makings of an X receiver and a Raven. The main knock on Harry is that he doesn’t have elite speed or quickness but neither did Anquan… The point is, Harry may have the strongest pair of hands in the draft which is a massive plus for this team and his size mixed with his physicality will help Lamar in the red zone, 50/50 balls, and in the run game. N’Keal Harry is meant to be a Raven and he seems to be a fan of the idea himself.