2020 NFL Draft: Eric DeCosta, Baltimore Ravens should be aggressive
The Baltimore Ravens have been a very aggressive team under general manager Eric DeCosta’s watch and that should continue into the 2020 NFL Draft.
Right now, the Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl window is wide open. Lamar Jackson will keep it this way for quite some time, but the roster is absolutely loaded from top-to-bottom. You’d be hardpressed to find many holes on the team, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t aim to make weak points stronger.
And I don’t mean passively, either. No, I mean the Ravens should be extremely pushy and assertive with the rest of the league in order to make things happen. This is precisely how Baltimore has operated thus far with general manager Eric DeCosta running the show. I predict that this behavior will flow into the 2020 NFL Draft, where the team currently has nine draft picks, including five in the first three rounds.
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The 2020 NFL Draft isn’t the deepest draft, however, and it may be smart to make more quality picks than quantity. With the ammo Baltimore currently possesses, it can easily accomplish this.
As I’ve already noted, the Ravens currently have few needs on the team. The biggest needs commonly mocked to the team are at inside linebacker and wide receiver. The wide receiver group is a deep one to the point where Baltimore could sit back and get a quality guy on day two. But why settle for quality when you can package picks and go up for an elite guy?
A deep wide receiver class will push some of these guys down the board while other positions like offensive tackle and quarterback get taken early. Guys like Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy or Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb could slip a bit because of this and fall right into the Ravens talons.
Can you imagine a passing offense where Jeudy or Lamb join Lamar Jackson, Marquise Brown, and Mark Andrews? That sounds absolutely lethal and is a rare opportunity for the team to grasp. The kind of situation should have Baltimore thinking about being proactive and moving drastically up the board for one of them.
Inside linebacker is also a need and position frequently addressed in mock drafts for the Ravens. Oklahoma’s Kenneth Murray and LSU’s Patrick Queen are the cream of the crop after Isaiah Simmons, who is seemingly out of reach for the team to target. Both would be seamless fits in Baltimore’s defense with either of them perhaps completing what looks to be a ferocious defense.
But is there any guarantee that they’ll be available? Absolutely not, and the Ravens can’t risk a reality in which they aren’t. They should be aggressive in moving up for one of those two, provided they’re sold on either of them, as well.
Between adding an elite player/making sure you secure the rights to a player you like, it makes all the sense in the world that Baltimore would enter the 2020 NFL Draft with a zealous mindset. With few holes to fill and a Super Bowl window open, the Ravens should take advantage and be as aggressive as possible.
Next. 2020 Baltimore Ravens defense looks nearly completed. dark
When Ozzie Newsome was the Baltimore Ravens general manager he often sat back and let the board fall to him. Things are different now with Eric DeCosta, however, and his aggressiveness has fans clamoring unlike every before. DeCosta has a good thing going with his boldness and should take that mantra into the 2020 NFL Draft and walk away with a prized piece to fit into this puzzle that is the 2020 Baltimore Ravens.