We’re officially deep into mock draft season. The dust has mostly settled from free agency, pro days make keeping up with flight logs impossible, and now it’s all about connecting the dots. For the Baltimore Ravens, most of those dots point toward offensive line, defensive back, and pass-rushing help.
Once the doldrums of free agency set in, the board settles. Teams get a much clearer sense of what they’ll need to target come draft night.
But the closer we get to the draft, the more it becomes clear that there are a few under-the-radar roster spots Baltimore should address earlier than people expect. One of them? Defensive tackle.
On paper, the Ravens still have one of the better defensive interiors in football. Nnamdi Madubuike is locked in after his $98 million extension. Travis Jones is a breakout candidate. But that doesn’t mean the room’s fully stocked. Not with Michael Pierce retired and Brent Urban still unsigned. Those aren’t headline names, but they mattered in what the Ravens do up front—and those snaps have to go somewhere.
Don’t sleep on defensive tackle for the Ravens
Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine recently put defensive tackle on his list of surprising needs the Ravens could address in the 2025 NFL Draft. It might not be the flashiest pick, but it’s worth considering—especially when you look at how the roster’s been reshaped this offseason.
“What gets lost in the shuffle is that the Ravens lost Michael Pierce to retirement and Brent Urban to free agency,” Ballentine wrote. “Neither were superstars, but they teamed up with younger players Nnamdi Madubuike and Travis Jones to give the team a formidable rotation up front.”
The Ravens need to rebuild that rotation. Ballentine threw out names like Derrick Harmon (Oregon), Kenneth Grant (Michigan), and Alfred Collins (Texas) as potential targets. And there’s a solid logic behind all of them. Harmon brings burst. Grant’s a brick wall with feet. Collins has length and flexibility to move around.
The Ravens could find real value on any day of the draft, depending on how the board shakes out.
But it’s not just about 2025—it’s about what comes next. Jones is entering a contract year. If he takes that next step as a pass rusher, his price tag could jump into a tier that Baltimore just can’t reach. Jones is good enough to be a long-term starter, but with Kyle Hamilton and Tyler Linderbaum set for massive extensions too, the math might not work.
So no, drafting a defensive tackle this year actually wouldn’t be all that surprising. In fact, it borders being necessary. The Ravens need more depth in the trenches right now—and they might need a new starter a year from now. Better to solve both problems at once.
This defensive line class is loaded, and with the right pick, Baltimore could be getting ahead of a potential headache before it even starts.