The Baltimore Ravens have plenty of enticing scenarios available to them throughout the course of the 2021 NFL draft. After trading Orlando Brown Jr. to the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore has nine draft picks to work with, giving them plenty of options with trades to move both up and down throughout the three days of the festivities.
In an article discussing last-minute news and rumors for the draft, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said that he’s heard “rumblings” that the Ravens could be looking to move into the 20s.
There are rumblings that Baltimore and Cleveland could move up in the 20s, too—and my sense is that there’s going to be a premium on corners in that range.
The Cleveland Browns are mentioned alongside Baltimore as teams who might be looking to make a move up into the 20s. He also mentions a run of cornerbacks in that range, which makes more sense for the Browns as opposed to the Ravens.
Breer also talks about what Baltimore might do with their other first-round pick at No. 31.
Speaking of the Ravens, we mentioned they could move up from No. 27. They’ve also had talks on moving down from No. 31.
If the Ravens were to make a move up from No. 27, they’d have to surrender a few draft assets. If they then traded down from No. 31, they would gain some, if not all, of those assets back. If there’s a player that Baltimore likes that they feel won’t make it to them at No. 27, it would make sense for the team to try to move up to get their guy. However, that would most likely leave them with little to no Day 2 picks.
Trading back from No. 31 is also an option that makes sense for the Ravens. The team currently has to wait from their 31st overall selection all the way until the end of the third-round at No. 94. If Baltimore wants to acquire an early second-round pick as well as another third or fourth rounder, moving off of their second first-round pick could be well worth it.
There are no shortage of options for the Ravens throughout draft weekend. What the team does in the first round will dictate how they maneuver through the rest of the draft, and there will seemingly be plenty of activity by the team over the course of the next three days.