OTL: Latest Ravens Mock Draft Round-Up

Baltimore’s coaching staff is starting to come together around new head coach, Jesse Minter. The biggest move in creating the post-Harbaugh staff in Baltimore was getting the play-caller for Lamar Jackson and company. The Ravens hired Declan Doyle to be their offensive coordinator and the reactions are in. Here is what Dustin Cox of Baltimore Beatdown thinks of the move:

Jesse Minter continues to make smart hires. While Doyle does not have play calling experience, he has learned under two of the best offensive minds in football in Sean Payton and most recently Ben Johnson. Doyle is the same age as Lamar Jackson, which could be a massive plus from a relationship and relatability standpoint. Jackson is experienced and knows what he wants to do at this point, so going with a young coordinator to form a true partnership with makes a lot of sense. This coaching staff seems to be undergoing quite a youth movement the offseason, which I believe could reinvigorate energy and optimism in the building.

The hire of Doyle feels like a philosophy fit. The Ravens are not banking on a retread, they are going for the coordinator that brings them the philosophy that rings truest to Minter as the head coach of the Ravens, and Eric DeCosta as the general manager. Most of the takes from the Ravens hiring of Doyle as offensive coordinator touch on the same core argument: he is an unproven play-caller but has been around some of the league’s smartest minds. Doyle will be tasked with being innovative while at the same time showing off how much of his mentors’ wisdom he absorbed.

This is what Beatdown’s Stephen Bopst has to say about the hire:

The Ravens have made it clear they want coaches who can relate to and connect with Lamar Jackson. Fortunately, both Doyle and Jackson are 29 so that’s something to build off of. I think this is a hiring with unlimited upside for Baltimore and I fully expect him to be an NFL head coach in the next few years.

There is a sense that the Ravens got the up and coming coaching talent with this move. The upside is that there is so much untapped potential and room for this to grow. The downside is that if Doyle achieves the kind of success the Ravens envision, he will be yanked by another team to the Head Coaching ranks. I will say that I think this is an inspired move for that reason. The Ravens could have gone with Kliff Kingsbury and been dreadfully predictable yet his very availability should have sparked concerns about his ability. Sometimes playing it safe and predictable with a veteran play-caller is not the most aggressive path. Make no mistake: the Ravens took a big swing here; let’s see if it works out.

I don’t know about you but I am already thinking of beyond the Super Bowl and into making the next version of the Baltimore Ravens. Let’s get in NFL Draft mode. In the post Senior Bowl mock draft from CBS Sports, Ryan Wilson has the Ravens adding to Minter’s defense. The player picked for the Ravens is the big defensive lineman from Ohio State, Kayden McDonald.

McDonald is elite in the run game and plays with heavy hands to consistently win early in the rep. He consistently eats up double teams, making him the perfect early-down anchor for any defense looking to get physical up front. As he continues to improve as a pass rusher, he could end up as one of the best players in this draft class.

I like this pick a lot. From the eye test, just watching Ohio State, I can tell you that he is a physical presence for the opposing offensive linemen to deal with. I wish he had a little more length, but he is the good old fashioned two-gap monster for the defensive line, With the injury concerns of Nnamdi Madubuike, this could be a prudent selection for the Ravens. I’m not going to be totally satisfied with anything that doesn’t help the offensive line, yet winning in the trenches on either side of the ball is smart football.

Now Daniel Jeremiah’s mock draft is going after my heart. In his mock draft he has the Ravens selecting Olaivavega Ioane, an offensive lineman from Penn State.

The Ravens need to upgrade at guard, and center Tyler Linderbaum is due to reach free agency in March. Ioane has a strong case to be considered the best offensive lineman in this year’s draft.

With all due respect to this prospect, I can’t wait for Roger Goodell to try to pronounce his name at the NFL Draft podium. It almost makes up for the draft being in Pittsburgh. I bet he butchers it. Give me the big offensive lineman who unlike Daniel Faalale isn’t big for nothing. This pick sounds solid but most importantly it fills the Ravens’ most critical need. I’m here for it.

In his latest mock draft for Pro Football Focus, Max Chadwick has the Ravens going after another playmaker for the offense in Makai Lemon from USC.

The Ravens need to surround Lamar Jackson with more wide receivers outside of Zay Flowers. Lemon has been the best receiver in college football this season, taking home the Biletnikoff Award. His 90.8 PFF grade leads all wideouts in college football.

Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN agrees. He also has Lemon making the Ravens’ offense just a bit sweeter:

Lemon is one of my favorite prospects in this class. He attacks the ball in the air, and you can see his competitiveness in the way he plays the game. Like Zay Flowers, he’s on the smaller side at 5-foot-11 and 195 pounds. But also like Flowers, he still has inside-outside flexibility. Lemon went for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns this past season, and that kind of production could help get Lamar Jackson back to MVP levels.

The best part of reading a Mel Kiper mock draft is that you can almost hear the analysis in his voice; it’s like hearing Kevin Conroy’s voice when you read a Batman comic. I don’t dislike Lemon as a prospect. He’s a great player. That said, I think he’s too much like Flowers and in the first round the Ravens need a way to protect Jackson. Jackson is the franchise and he just had injury after injury in 2025. I will scream for an offensive lineman the way one might scream for ice cream, though I don’t automatically dislike every other first round idea.

In Trevor Sikkema’s latest PFF Mock Draft, the Ravens are taking a pass rusher from the ACC in Peter Woods.

From a traits perspective, the former four-star recruit moves exceptionally well for a 6-foot-3,

315-pound defensive lineman and flashes top-10 talent. While his week-to-week impact dipped this season, he still posted run-defense and pass-rush grades above 70.0 and previously earned overall grades north of 83.0 as both a freshman and sophomore.

With the Ravens’ defensive line lacking the same punch since Nnamdi Madubuike went down and his long-term future uncertain, Woods could be a good fit alongside Travis Jones.

This is another mock draft with a big space-eating defensive lineman. I think it makes sense, and I could see this easily being called a “Best Player Available” kind of decision for DeCosta. I’m more familiar with McDonald than Woods, just because I tend to be more locked into the Big 10 and SEC games, but this move makes solid sense to me. Getting bigger and badder on the defensive line is not a bad idea if it is paired with need filling picks for the offensive line.

It’s draft season! I guess you’re allowed to have the Super Bowl, but then we really need to get on with it. Bring on the offseason!

Happy Monday. Go get it for Baltimore and Maryland!

The post OTL: Latest Ravens Mock Draft Round-Up appeared first on Russell Street Report.