Ravens Owner Steve Bisciotti was on a call with Head Coach John Harbaugh recently when they started gushing about a late-round or undrafted wide receiver they both love.
That's how in-depth Bisciotti gets into the Draft. While he generally prefers to stay in the background, Bisciotti does get more invested this time of year.
"I just love it," Bisciotti said of the Draft this week at the NFL owners meetings. "That's my hobby on top of my main hobby. That's my offseason hobby."
The start of free agency is often Groundhog Day in Baltimore. The Ravens have more talented free agents than they can afford to keep. They keep some, lose others, and generally don't have a lot of money to spend on outside free agents.
That's what happens when you draft and develop well. You pay to keep your premier talent and restock the pipeline.
"We have a budget and we quickly burn through it," Bisciotti said. "You know going in you're going to have more free agents that you want than you have money to spend on.
"I tell people, 'That's my money. That's our money.' But the draft is already in Eric [DeCosta's] budget. So I say the Draft is like going Christmas shopping with somebody else's credit card. That's how exciting it is."
Draft picks' salaries are slotted into the Collective Bargaining Agreement, so teams know what they're going to spend on their rookie class for years to come. Nailing those picks and getting significant contributions from players on cheaper rookie deals (which balance out the larger contracts of star players) has been critical in the Ravens' continual long-term success.
When it comes to evaluating the prospects, it's all hands on deck in Baltimore. The college scouting department spends the entire year working on the process. The coaches get involved in the months leading up to the Draft. Even Bisciotti watches tape of the college prospects and shares his ideas with his top decision-makers.
"I love watching these guys," Bisciotti said. "I can't believe some succeed and I can't believe some fail. When I go through the people that we've loved – I've loved more than you (Harbaugh), you've loved more than me – and some of them are great and some of them you think, 'How did that guy fail?'"
Of course, the ultimate decision of who gets picked is made by DeCosta. But like his predecessor, Ozzie Newsome, DeCosta values everyone's opinion. DeCosta fields calls from Bisciotti and often chats with Harbaugh, who has an office just across the hall.
"Can't talk about it enough. I just love watching the tape, the grind part of it – 171 players we were talking about," Harbaugh said. "It's like who fits our team? Who do you really want? I'll ask the coaches all the time and Eric asks the question. It's just, 'Tell me who you want. Tell me who you want and who you see a spot for on this team. Who are you excited about?' That's the fun part of it."
