When the Ravens talk about this year's draft, one point clearly sticks out: This is a deep class.
The quality of players extends well into the third day, and that's good news for the Ravens in a year where they're armed with 12 total picks.
"This year, unlike other years, we find that there are probably about 185 players that we think are draftable players," Assistant General Manager Eric DeCosta said. "Most years we're trying to get to 150, so this is a very, very deep draft, with a lot of extra players, and we're very excited about that."
With 185 draftable prospects, the Ravens like their chances to get high-quality players in the later rounds, and also possibly as undrafted free agents.
The Ravens already have a reputation of picking well in the late rounds, and a better overall crop of players should bolster those odds even more.
"I think numbers-wise, we see an extra round, basically, and about 32 or 35 extra players that we think are draftable players in this draft," DeCosta said. "The pool of players is greater."
There are 254 total picks in this year's draft, including all of the compensatory picks for each team.
The Ravens put grades on every player that they scout, and then organize that list into a board of prospects that they consider draftable. Most years all of their draft picks end up coming from their list of top 100 players, and then they prioritize their undrafted free agent targets based on those left on the draft board.
DeCosta also pointed out that the draft board continues to evolve, even throughout the weekend.
"The board is never set," DeCosta said. "Even during the draft, the board is changing. It could be that as we draft a player, that position may not be as important to us. We're not going to draft five safeties in the draft, or six safeties in the draft, for example, so the board changes – the shape of the board, the positions change, the value of the player changes based on what we've done, what other teams have done."
