The Baltimore Ravens come into the offseason with not a ton of huge needs. While the needs that exist are big ones, the Ravens are coming off a 14-2 season with a young roster that has a ton of talent, so they aren’t in rebuild mode in the 2020 NFL Draft. The potential exists that Baltimore will see a top player fall right into their laps at one of their major needs. According to ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper, that’s exactly what happened.
In Kiper’s second mock draft, he has the Ravens selecting LSU linebacker Patrick Queen in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
“I love the fit with Queen in Baltimore, which lost C.J. Mosley in free agency last offseason and could replace him a year later with a sideline-to-sideline run-and-hit inside linebacker. This is one of the NFL’s best rosters — look no further than the Ravens putting 12 players in the Pro Bowl — so it’s tough to find a position outside of middle linebacker that could see a rookie come in and start on day one. Keep an eye on a possible trade-down situation here with teams trying to trade into Round 1 to get their guy.”
As Kiper said, Queen would be a great fit for the Ravens and one that fits in their history at the position. He’s got the speed to handle this era’s style of play that will see him often running around in coverage while being a big thumper when asked to come down and hit a running back.
Over the last two seasons at LSU, Queen has 125 total tackles, 17 tackles for a loss, four sacks, one fumble recovery, one interception and two passes defended. Kiper has Queen as the second-best inside linebacker in this draft class behind Kenneth Murray, who he had mocked at No. 19 to the Las Vegas Raiders.
While Queen would make a ton of sense for the Ravens at No. 28, they have bigger needs at pass rusher if they can’t re-sign Matthew Judon and potentially inside offensive lineman if Marshal Yanda retires this offseason. Penn State EDGE Yetur Gross-Matos and guard Cesar Ruiz were still available on Kiper’s mock draft, which could be potential options for Baltimore as well.
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