The Ravens prospects’ cupboard should be full of day two draft targets. The Ravens filled their primary inside linebacker position last night with the selection of Patrick Queen. That box is now checked. Now, let’s take a look back at our Ravens big board and see what we think the Ravens can and do in rounds two and three. Who should be the Ravens day two draft targets?
Wide Receiver Day Two Draft Targets
We were surprised that so many receivers went in the first round. Chalk that up to the Eagles surprise selection of Jalen Reagor. We love Reagor and were hoping the Ravens might be able to land him in the second round, where we think he was better slotted. And we were equally surprised that the 49ers opted for Brandon Aiyuk in the first round too. We saw him more as a third rounder (maybe later second round). Regardless, Reagor and Aiyuk were both guys we thought the Ravens would target on day two, and they’re both gone.
So who’s left and makes sense as day two draft targets? For us the clear favorite is Laviska Shenault, who we reviewed here. Shenault is not a completely clean pick and the question for the Ravens is, could he be this year’s D.K. Metcalf? A guy who is a fabulous athlete but whose route running and technical skills are questioned. But we’re not talking about making a round one selection, where we don’t like to have a lot of question marks. We think Shenault is well worth the risk and is the best wide receiver fit remaining for the Ravens.
Will he be available at pick 55? There is real risk that he won’t be, and if the Ravens really like him they may have to make a move up to go get him.
Now could the Ravens covet Tee Higgins? We hope not, as we outlined. But we’d be OK with Denzel Mims (though we would not trade up to get him). Or Michael Pittman though he’s not the explosive player that Shenault is (a primary reason we favor Shenault). We don’t favor K.J. Hamler because he’s just too small to line up along with Marquise Brown.
Day Two Draft Choices (in order of priority): Shenault; Mims; Pittman.
Interior Offensive Line
Robert Hunt remains our favorite choice. It will be interesting to see whether he’s still there at 60. He might be. Now there are one or two others who are potential round two guys. We’re talking Lucas Niang, a guy who player tackle in college where the biggest question is, can he slide inside at 6’7” without guys getting under his pads? We like him a lot but do the Ravens see him as a guard?
There are a couple of other guard prospect, but we see them as round four guys – maybe someone at the bottom of round three. Here we’re primarily talking Ben Bartch and Jonah Jackson. But there aren’t a lot of relatively clean guard prospects, which we think puts pressure on the Ravens to try to nab Hunt. Or perhaps to look at Josh Jones moving from tackle to guard. We could see him in the second round too.
Day Two Draft Choices (in order of priority): Hunt; Jones; Niang
Day Two Draft Prospects: Edge Rusher
As we’ve said all along, this is not a great draft for edge rushers. Not even a particularly good draft either. The Ravens arguably have a need at the edge slot, but we’ve outlined earlier that the need in 2020 might be a bit overstated. But if they opt to go in this direction on day two, we don’t see too many good choices. We see Zack Baun and Darrell Taylor as the top two choices.
We doubt whether Baun will be on the board at pick 55, the Ravens’ highest second round selection. Is he worth a trade up for the Ravens? We don’t think so. Now we like Baun a lot. We think he projects very favorably as a guy who can line up all over the field, offering the Ravens tremendous defensive flexibility. He’s got a lot of skills. But he’s not a lock to be a superior edge rusher and tasking him with setting the edge on first and second downs is not a good use of his skills. Furthermore, asking him to line up on the inside on those downs is too much for a rookie with little experience in that role. He would likely be a rotational piece in 2020, but certainly not a full-time starter.
If he makes it to 55 we think he could be a consideration. But we see wide receiver and guard as much bigger needs for 2020.
Taylor may have more upside from a pass rushing perspective. But he needs more development. We’ve heard that some teams are enamored with his upside and he might not make it to the third round, where we think better reflects his risk/reward. Also, there are a few character questions with Taylor. We like him, but not for the Ravens in the second round.
Round three would be a good spot to consider Alex Highsmith. We think Highsmith offers some good upside. The Ravens could spot him on the field situationally and as a rotational guy. The Ravens could take their time developing Highsmith while expecting some immediate contributions rotating in for Matt Judon and Jaylon Ferguson.
Day Two Draft Choices (in order of priority): Baun; Taylor; Highsmith.
Day Two Draft Targets: Other Positions
We think the Ravens have some other needs at inside linebacker (Patrick Queen notwithstanding) and safety (they just can’t count on Deshon Elliott). And certainly defensive line depth is a need. Accordingly, we could see any of the following players as very strong day two draft targets who the Ravens should target with one of their third round picks.
Defensive Line
Davon Hamilton is the clear favorite here. An excellent choice to rotate over the nose with Brandon Williams. He could be the natural successor to Williams. Leiki Fotu is probably a notch below Hamilton and would be a reasonable fallback if Hamilton is gone. But both of these guys are two-down players and don’t warrant a selection in round two. Jordan Elliott would also be a solid choice. And then there’s Neville Gallimore and Justin Madubuike, both of whom offer some talents, but neither of whom are perfect fits.
Day Two Draft Choices (in order of priority): Hamilton; Elliott; Fotu
Inside Linebacker
With Jordyn Brooks shockingly going in the first round (and before Patrick Queen!), we see only two day two draftable prospects left. Here, the clear preference for us is Logan Wilson, who would be an excellent complement to Patrick Queen. Pairing Wilson with Queen give the Ravens great flexibility on the interior. Granted, it would be challenging to see them playing together a great deal in their rookie seasons. But we are projecting out to years two, three and beyond. This combination could fill the interior linebacker spots smartly for the long haul.
Beyond Wilson, Malik Harrison offers excellent classic run defense capabilities. We’d be satisfied with his selection in the third round. But at this point, he doesn’t project being on the field on passing downs. That’s ok, given the Ravens use of personnel.
Day Two Draft Choices: Wilson; Harrison
Defensive Secondary
The Ravens strongest positional group, the Ravens always make at least one selection in the secondary. The primary focus should be at safety, as the Ravens already have four strong corners (Marcus Peters, Marlon Humphrey, Jimmy Smith and Tavon Young). They need depth and a potential successor to Earl Thomas.
We would not go safety in the second round, even though no safeties were selected on day one. The Ravens likely wouldn’t go safety until the third round, at the earliest. Ashtyn Davis is the clear choice for a potential third rounder. But we don’t see much more until further down the draft.
At corner, we could certainly see nickel being the focus, with Amit Robertson as the best in that group.
Day Two Draft Choices: Davis; Robertson
Tight End
With the trade of Hayden Hurst the Ravens need a third tight end. This year’s tight end class is not strong at all. We see only two candidates for round three (or lower). Both Devin Asiasi and Adam Trautman would be solid choice, though we believe Trautman will likely go higher. It’s hard to see the Ravens picking a third tight end before the last of their third-round choices (and maybe even not then). Trautman may well be gone by then, but perhaps not Asiasi.
Day Two Draft Choices: Trautman; Asiasi
Running Back
The Ravens are seemingly set at running back, with three complementary players. It’s hard to see the Ravens keeping four running backs, unless that fourth is a terrific special teams player. On the other hand, we believe none of the Ravens backs’ offer elite quickness. Justice Hill is a one-cut-and-go back with excellent straight-line speed. But there is no one with jitterbug-type skills.
We really like Cam Akers and Antonio Gibson. Either one would be very intriguing, and we doubt either will be there after round three is over. To our memory, the Ravens did not deploy any packages last year with two pure running backs in the backfield. Pairing either Akers or Gibson with any of the Ravens existing backs could make it that much more difficult on defenses.
If Akers or Gibson could be special-teamers, the case for keeping Chris Moore diminishes. Moore is the fifth wide receiver on a team that does not use five wide receiver sets. He’s there for special teams play. Akers or Gibson would certainly offer much more offensively than Moore. But the balance, of course, is the danger of keeping only four wide receivers in the face of possible injury – versus adding the skill sets of a fourth running back who may not be on the field much either. But we also must be mindful that Mark Ingram is getting older and suffered a material tissue injury last year. It’s not too far-fetched to see another running back.
Day Two Draft Choices: Gibson; Akers.
Day two is the key to the Ravens’ draft. Let’s see what happens.
