What We Learned From Ravens Wired Inside the Draft

“You have all these players, they’re all graded closely together, and you’re going to take the premium position guys and probably move them up a little bit because they play a premium position. Except that you’re also going to weigh, how clean is the player?” DeCosta said.

“You get a guy that is super smart, he’s been productive, he’s extremely durable, he’s been a team captain, incredible interview and all that stuff versus the other guys in the bucket that maybe aren’t as productive or maybe have some injuries or maybe have some injuries, or maybe don’t test that well. With Malaki, you’re truly looking at the best player at his position and probably, when it all comes down to it, maybe, arguably the cleanest player at his position. Literally no questions whatsoever.”

Unprompted, DeCosta brought up Simmons.

“There were some other really good players that were there when we picked. For instance, Josh Simmons, Ohio State, tremendously talented,” DeCosta said. “Probably the best feet in the draft coming off a patella injury, so that just, in some ways, slightly muddies the water. That’s a great player, Josh Simmons. They got a great player. The Chiefs got a great player with a lot of upside. Probably going to be a Pro Bowl player at some point, but he suffered a serious knee injury. Everything matters when you’re evaluating these guys and you’re really trying to separate. For us, Malaki was like, ‘What can’t this guy do?’ … If there were 20 boxes, he would check off all 20 boxes.”

Cordell Woodland of 105.7 The Fan believes the Ravens might have been between Starks and South Carolina Nick Emmanwori, who ended up going No. 35 to the Seattle Seahawks. We may never know, but it’s fun to debate.