In case you weren’t annoyed enough by the Baltimore Ravens’ draft haul up to this point, thus far scoring four players who would look fantastic in the black and gold, get ready to gouge out your eyes, because they will own this afternoon.
After failing to make any traded up on Day 2, and in fact making a trade backward or two, the Ravens enter the third day of the 2022 NFL Draft holding six draft selections in the fourth round. That is believed to be an all-time NFL record for the most selections in a single round any team has ever held.
They own nearly 16 percent of the entire fourth round, in other words, including compensatory selections. That gives them a lot of ammunition to be flexible on this day, if they want to. Or they can utilize those resources to accumulate future draft picks, as future picks generally get bumped up a round (see: Pittsburgh trading a 2022 fourth for a 2021 fifth last year).
Or they could actually make those selections an address depth across their roster. They are certainly bound to draft a wide receiver, after trading Marquise Brown on the first day of the draft. They got the 23rd overall pick as part of that trade, and then moved back two spots, getting the 25th pick in the fourth round back in exchange, from the Buffalo Bills.
And that is their fourth of six selections, starting with the fifth pick in the round that they acquired via trade with the New York Giants. Their 14th selection in the round is their natural pick. They also hold pick 23 in the round from the Arizona Cardinals, to whom they traded Brown.
To top it off, they have two compensatory fourth-round draft picks as well, 34th and 36th overall, which they received after losing pass rushers Matt Judon and Yannick Ngakoue last offseason. In other words, they have picks scattered throughout the round.
They do not, however, have any selections remaining in the fifth or seventh rounds. They have one selection in the sixth round, 18th overall, which they got as part of a deal with the Miami Dolphins. But with seven picks remaining and four already used, they could draft at least 11 players in total, if they choose.
I personally suspect that they will end up acquiring at least one future draft pick before the fourth round is over. That’s certainly what I would do if I were general manager Eric DeCosta. The chances of hitting on six fourth-round picks in one year are not great.
If you were Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert and you had six fourth-round picks today, what would your strategy be?
