From 1996 to 2008, the Ravens drafted 15 players who went on to make Pro Bowl appearances for the team.
They’ve drafted just one player who has been selected to the game since then, linebacker C.J. Mosley, and that recent run came up for discussion during Tuesday’s pre-draft press conference with General Manager Ozzie Newsome and assistant G.M. Eric DeCosta. While the team has picked up several productive players -- some of whom have gone on to land big contracts with other teams as free agents -- Newsome agreed that there was room for improvement.
“I would say it’s not up to my standards and not up to Eric’s standards and not up to the Ravens’ standards when you compare it to what we did very early on,” Newsome said, via the team’s website.
Newsome added that you “have a chance to be a lot more successful” when you’re drafting early in the order and the Ravens have the sixth pick this year, which is the highest they’ve picked since taking running back Jamal Lewis with the fifth pick of the 2000 draft. The gap between those appearances at the top of the draft speaks to how well Newsome, DeCosta and the rest of the front office have done in building the team overall. A few hits this year would go a long way toward changing the subject for 2017’s press conference.