Super active 1st Round for the Ravens….
Kyle Hamilton
Safety, Notre Dame, Round 1, Pick 14
Kyle Hamilton is a surprise because the Ravens already had their starting safeties. But Baltimore is a team that trusts its board and Hamilton was surely the highest-graded player, and it could have been by a large margin. He’s a big-bodied, versatile safety who stands in at 6-foot-4, 220 pounds who many thought he would easily be a top-10 pick before he ran a slower-than-expected 40-yard dash. But the tape doesn’t lie. Hamilton can be a difference-maker at every level. New Defensive Coordinator Mike Macdonald can deploy him next to new rangy free safety Marcus Williams. The Ravens suddenly have arguably the best safety room in the NFL.
Tyler Linderbaum
Center, Iowa, Round 1, Pick 25
Tyler Linderbaum started the draft process as a popular pick for the Ravens at No. 14, but they got him at No. 25. He’s regarded as the top center prospect to come out of the draft in quite some time. The Ravens said they like big centers, but Linderbaum is the smallest offensive lineman in the draft at 6-foot-2, 296 pounds. His talent is too good to pass up, however. Linderbaum dominated at Iowa and makes up for his smaller size with physicality and excellent quickness. He comes from an Iowa program that has produced numerous excellent offensive linemen, including one of Linderbaum’s mentors and Ravens legend Marshal Yanda. Lamar Jackson’s pass protection just improved dramatically and Linderbaum will help take Baltimore’s run game to another level.
Then the big trade:
The Ravens traded wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown to the Arizona Cardinals for the 23rd-overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Baltimore also sent the 100th-overall pick (third round) to the Cardinals as part of the trade.
Brown was the Ravens’ leading wide receiver last season, hauling in 91 passes for 1,008 yards and six touchdowns. But Baltimore also used a first-round pick on Rashod Bateman in last year’s draft, and he will now be relied upon to take on an even bigger share of the load.
Brown was approaching his fourth NFL season and the Ravens hadn’t picked up his fifth-year option yet, although General Manager Eric DeCosta said the expectation was that Baltimore would. However, the trade market for wide receiver has exploded this offseason and the Ravens had a chance to recoup the first-round pick they used on Brown (No. 25 in 2019) before he got too expensive to keep.
List of Upcoming Picks
Round 2: No. 45
Round 3: No. 76
Round 4: No. 110 (from Giants), 119, 128 (from Cardinals), 130, 139, 141
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