After two days of going defense-heavy in the draft to rebuild an aging, underachieving defense, the Baltimore Ravens addressed the interior of the offense line early on Day 3, taking San Diego State guard Nico Siragusa with the 122nd overall pick before drafting Texas A&M guard Jermaine Eluemenor with the 159th pick in the draft.
Rounding things out on Day 3, Baltimore drafted Virginia Tech safety Chuck Clark with the 186th overall pick, giving the Ravens a haul of five defensive draft picks and two offensive draft picks in 2017.
Starting with Siragusa, he’s a big mauler in the run game that played a key role in Donnel Pumphrey setting the all-time rushing mark in college football for a career. Siragusa was great value for the Ravens in the fourth round and should be able to come in right away to and improve one of the worst rushing attacks in the NFL last season.
As for Eluemenor, he’s more of a long-term project along the offensive line, where he could be a guard or a tackle down the line. I don’t ever see Eluemenor starting consistently in the NFL, but he makes sense for the Ravens to bring in and eventually develop into depth along the line.
With the final pick of the draft, Baltimore again dipped into defense, selecting Clark out of Virginia Tech.
It makes sense for the Ravens to go defense heavy in this draft, considering the division that they play in and the number of talented quarterbacks in the AFC as a whole.
Clark doesn’t jump out on tape and doesn’t make a ton of plays on the ball, but he’s a solid depth piece in the secondary that gives the Ravens more options in the back end.
Overall, the Ravens did a really good job of addressing needs while getting some serious high-end guys in the first four rounds, setting up a good defensive core moving forward.
