The Baltimore Ravens selected 11 players in the 2022 draft with high hopes that they could contribute both in the present and future. Baltimore general manager Eric DeCosta gave a lengthy explanation of his feelings on his 2022 rookie class in comments to the media during the team’s end-of-season press conference.
When asked for his impression of the work that Baltimore’s rookies put in this season, he did not hold back in his praise of the younger talent on the Ravens’ roster. He mentioned how he thought the team’s first-year players did well, and is excited for the potential of a second-year jump that has been seen many times throughout the organization.
“I think they did well. We’re excited about what these guys are going to do. It was a huge draft for us last year, and we had a lot of picks. We spent a lot of energy on that draft. There was a lot of anxiety, I know for me, just looking at players. There were so many players last year. I think those guys did well across the board, but we think they have a lot more to give, too. These guys are young players, and so, what we see often times is guys get a lot better, they come in here their second year, they’re in the offseason program, they learn, they understand what it means to be a pro, and they play a lot better. That’s what we expect, and that’s what we demand. And so, the fact that some of these guys played as well as they did this year, that is a good indication that they’re futures are very bright, and I think a lot of these guys have a chance to be good players. When we look at the 2018 Draft, I think eight or nine of those guys are starters now in the league. Looking at this draft, I’m not going to say that, but when we look at it, we think a lot of these guys have a lot of potential to play and be significant players for us at some point.”
For comparison, DeCosta pointed to Baltimore’s 2018 class as an example of a successful draft strategy that paid dividends for the Ravens over the course of time. Though he wouldn’t go so far as to say the most recent crop of new talent would exceed the 2018 class’ track record, DeCosta seems to think Baltimore’s young talent was built to last.
