Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta has established himself as one of the best in the business over the short amount of time he’s run the team. Taking over the position from former Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome in 2019, DeCosta has shown the ability to sign quality free agents both in and out of season, acquire playmakers via trade, and draft well.
NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal put together a list of every NFL general manager who have been in charge for two drafts or more and ranked them in terms of how well he believes they draft talent. He also didn’t go back past 2015, so any draft class before then had no impact on Rosenthal’s rankings.
Out of 23 general managers who qualified for the list, DeCosta was ranked 17th. Rosenthal’s reasoning for ranking DeCosta at No. 17 is as follows:
“Ozzie Newsome left big shoes to fill, especially after selecting Lamar Jackson, Orlando Brown and Mark Andrews in his final draft. It’s early, but DeCosta’s first two hauls look unlikely to produce a difference-maker. Last year’s first-rounder, Patrick Queen, was the lowest-graded rookie linebacker by Pro Football Focus (min. 20% of snaps), but it’s too early to put a “worst pick” tag on him. The team’s first-round pick in 2019, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, has played his best in the playoffs.”
Rosenthal lists J.K. Dobbins as Baltimore’s best selection during DeCosta’s tenure as general manager, but doesn’t list a worst pick, presumably because there hasn’t been enough time to deem anyone from his two draft classes a “bust”.
Although it’s only been two years at the helm for DeCosta, he’s shown a keen ability not only to take great prospects, but also to maneuver up and down the draft board to position himself to select impact playmakers. Some of the players that the former assistant general manager has selected include Brown, Queen, Dobbins, Justin Madubuike, Devin Duvernay and more. While his 2019 draft class that includes Jaylon Ferguson and Miles Boykin doesn’t look as strong as his 2020 haul, DeCosta has gotten enough out of the players he’s taken to rank higher on a list of general managers based off of their drafting ability.
DeCosta was most likely ranked so low on Rosenthal’s list because of his lack of experience as the true general manager plus a subpar 2019 draft class, which are both fair points. However, he worked under Newsome for years and was a key voice in prior drafts, which holds weight. DeCosta is one of the best general managers in the league, and as he gains experience as the head man for the Ravens, he will gain more respect from people outside of Baltimore.