4 player superlatives for Ravens’ 2022 NFL Draft picks
By Kristen Wong
The 2022 NFL Draft chapter for the Baltimore Ravens has since been closed, and the team has come away with a whopping 11 total picks.
Heading into the 2022 season, the Ravens still have a few tattered roster holes to plug but it’s no secret that the team loves developing its young players into bonafide starters.
While the team hugely benefited from its best player available strategy and nabbed an incredible amount of talent each round, not all picks are ranked equally.
Did the majority of NFL pundits rank Baltimore’s rookie class as one of the best in the league? Yes. Did Baltimore deserve a stellar grade for this year’s draft? Yes. But each rookie also comes with his own set of unique traits that could make or break his pro career.
As a fun thought experiment, we dubbed four rookies with superlatives that we think best describe them and forecast how their season will play out.
Here are our four player superlatives for the Ravens’ 2022 rookie class.
4. Ravens’ Most Underrated Rookie: Travis Jones
Defensive tackle Travis Jones was plucked out of the third round, and his selection was immediately met with a round of applause by the league. Many teams were probably thinking, “Why didn’t we pick that guy?” because that’s how sneaky smart this Ravens’ draft pick was.
Jones, a 6-foot-4, 325-pound nose tackle, will compete with Michael Pierce and at the very least serve as a rotational depth piece on the defensive line. But Jones’ value goes far beyond his stats, and he could arguably be considered a first-round talent had he played at a bigger school.
At the Senior Bowl, Jones held his own against the nation’s top prospects and was hailed as an elite defensive tackle for the National team, impressing coaches during practices.
As a third-rounder, Jones can fly by as an unimpressive pick, but his talent and upside (and his youth in an aging Ravens’ D-line) make him super underrated in our eyes.
At UConn, opponents often altered their game plans around him as Jones excelled at stopping the run and disrupting inside plays.
Despite weighing 325 pounds, Jones possesses a surprising amount of speed and explosiveness that helps him beat double teams. Given his skill set, Jones could quickly grow into a starting role in Mike Macdonald’s scheme in 2022 and shouldn’t be so easily overlooked.