Despite the additions of Calais Campbell and Derek Wolfe this offseason, one of the Baltimore Ravens’ biggest priorities heading into the draft will be to beef up their outside pass rush. The Ravens were the most blitz heavy team in the NFL in 2019, but despite sending extra rushers on 54.9% of their defensive snaps they still finished the season with the 12th fewest sacks.
Though Baltimore has outside linebacker Matthew Judon returning in 2020 via the franchise tag, they could use some help opposite him and potentially need his replacement. In order to remedy their pass rush and build towards the future, the Ravens will likely turn to the 2020 NFL Draft. But as we’ve seen in previous years, Baltimore won’t reach for a player and could look to any of the seven rounds for their player.
With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the best options for the Ravens in each round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
1st Round – Yetur Gross-Matos, Penn State
The two best edge-rushing prospects in the draft, Chase Young and K’Lavon Chaisson, will be long gone by the time the Ravens make their first pick at 28. But there’s a good chance Gross-Matos will still be available.
Gross-Matos ended his time with the Penn State Nittany Lions with 18.5 sacks as well as a whopping 36.5 tackles for loss. He played as an edge defender for most of his career but was often deployed inside on passing downs. His versatility would be an asset to Baltimore and make him a handy tool for defensive coordinator Don Martindale.
Gross-Matos is far from a finished product but he has enough skills to contribute as a pass rush specialist early in his career while he finetunes the rest of his game.