5 things we learned about Baltimore Ravens in 2023 NFL draft

The NFL Draft is the time of the year when we can really find out what the front offices of these teams are really thinking. You cannot lie when you draft, because these are the cornerstone moments for team building. So, it is always good to look back and wonder what the team is and how that impacts them moving forward.

What are five things that we learned about Baltimore Ravens General Manager Eric DeCosta and his team during the 2023 NFL draft?

5. Baltimore Ravens tried, and failed to trade down

One of the locks of the draft weekend was that the Baltimore Ravens would trade down. The team had just five picks entering the weekend and ended up needing to dip into next year for the sixth. That is not how the Ravens usually operate, but as the weekend went on they remained unsuccessful in their trade-down attempts.

Eric DeCosta joked that he thought that his phones were off of the hook due to the lack of calls. However, as DeCosta notes, it is easier to call a team to trade when they have other picks. Maybe you move up 10 spots and move back 10 in a different round. In the case of the Ravens, they wanted to move down but then wanted someone to toss them a cheap pick in return, not a swap of picks in a different round.

Beyond that, the Ravens tried to stick to their best player available strategy. At times when they picked you could argue there was a tier break, and that if the team moved back, they would have potentially got a much worse option. So, was the trade-down worth it?

The Ravens do not usually run so cold when it comes to compensatory picks, and they do not plan to make a splash trade like Roquan Smith again, so things should be back to normal next year. However, this year was an un-Ravens-like draft, mainly because they were so quiet in round four, but also because they did not move down at all.