'All Things Being Equal...' Baltimore Ravens GM Eric DeCosta Reveals Possible Draft Strategy In First Round

The Baltimore Ravens have lots of roster holes to fill during this offseason, and could use selections in this month's NFL Draft to help. But will they pick best available players or pick to fill specific team needs?

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Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta has his work cut out for him this offseason.

The team from Charm City suffered significant losses during free agency, and have added very little in response. DeCosa and Co. will need to utilize this month's NFL Draft to replace starters along the offensive and defensive lines, as well as linebacker.

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However, philosophies differ around the league, but the popular opinion is teams that remain good from year to year draft the best players available regardless of where they pick. Other, less successful teams must draft "for need" just to field a competitive team.

Where do the Ravens stand in all of this? Maybe a little bit of both.

"I think it depends on best player, and also, team need. Both," DeCosta said during media availability on Tuesday. "If there's a player that's there that we think is too good to pass up on, we're gonna take that player. We've proven that. We've shown that. That started with Ozzie Newsome and that's gonna continue as far as I'm concerned as long as I'm here. We're going to take the best available player.

"Now that being said, if you're picking in the first round and you have an MVP quarterback and there's a quarterback that's the best available player, chances are we're not going to draft the quarterback. But all things being equal, we're going to draft the best available player when we're on the clock."

Whatever DeCosta's draft philosophy is, it's working. The Ravens have been one of the more successful teams since he was promoted to general manager in 2019.

In that time, Baltimore has gone 56-27 in the regular season, but just 2-4 in the playoffs - including a disappointing 17-10 home loss to the eventual champion Kansas City Chiefs in last season's AFC title game.