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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Kevin Oestreicher

Ravens GM Eric DeCosta on picking at No. 30: ‘I don’t see any unique challenges’

The Baltimore Ravens lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game. Baltimore was outplayed. As such, the Ravens are picking No. 30 in the 2024 NFL draft, a position with many pros and cons.

When asked what picking at No. 30 can entail, Baltimore general manager Eric DeCosta said he doesn’t see any unique challenges between picking early or late. He mentions that either way, you’re trying to get value, and at the end of the day, you grade and rank players and select based on multiple factors.

“I don’t see any unique challenges picking early [or] picking late. It’s really the same. It’s just having the players that you really want be there when you have to pick. If you have a typical Draft, if you’re picking 10th, you maybe have four or five guys you really want. If you’re picking 28th or 30th, you might only have 15 or 20 guys that you really want. The way your brain works, is you [assign] a value to players, and you’re hoping to get that value at that pick. You really want to get value. For us, it’s just you hope and pray that one of those top 20 guys might be there for us at [pick No.] 30 so we have some additional value associated with that. In the end, you just grade the players, and you rank the players.”

The No. 30 pick could hold possible value for teams trying to trade to back into the first round, or there could be a fall of a player that the Ravens can get lucky with. There will still be plenty of quality options available when Baltimore is slated to be on the clock, with plenty of possible outcomes.

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