Ravens meet with star Oregon edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux
By Justin Fried
The Baltimore Ravens seemingly have their eyes on one of the top players in the 2022 NFL Draft as the team reportedly met with Oregon edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux last week.
Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline reported that the Ravens had dinner with Thibodeaux on Friday. Amidst rumors that Thibodeaux could fall in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Ravens are evidently doing their due diligence.
Thibodeaux is widely seen as one of the best overall prospects in this year’s draft, but his stock has taken a hit in recent weeks/months with rumors surfacing about concerns over his work ethic.
Are those rumors legitimate? That’s up to NFL teams to decide. The Ravens are certainly interested.
Could Kayvon Thibodeaux actually fall to the Ravens?
It wasn’t long ago that Thibodeaux was seen as the consensus No. 1 overall pick. However, the rise of players like Aidan Hutchinson, Travon Walker, and even Ikem Ekwonu has pushed Thibodeaux down some boards.
He’s still widely viewed as one of the top prospects in this year’s class and most believe he will be a top-10, if not a top-5 pick. That said, there’s a lot of smoke around him falling.
The Ravens select at pick No. 14 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft. Right now, it seems very unlikely that Thibodeaux falls all the way to that spot. It wouldn’t be unprecedented though.
We’ve seen various top prospects experience draft-day slides and it’s certainly feasible the same could happen with Thibodeaux. The Ravens could be in a prime position to benefit.
Baltimore has quite a few needs to address in the draft, but perhaps the most important of them all is at edge rusher. The Za’Darius Smith snub left the Ravens in desperate need of a pass rusher — and they haven’t been able to fill that hole just yet.
They’ve tried, but to no avail.
Odafe Oweh showed flashes of greatness as a rookie, but he’s still mostly unproven. Tyus Bowser is recovering from a torn Achilles and it’s far from a guarantee he will be ready for the start of the season. Meanwhile, Justin Houston remains a free agent.
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The Ravens need to address their pass rush in some way, and if they’re able to land a superstar talent like Kayvon Thibodeaux, they should be thanking the football gods for their good fortunes.