The 2020 NFL Combine has finished, which means a new wave of mock drafts are incoming. ESPN’s Todd McShay has one of those — his third of this offseason. In his last mock draft, McShay handed the Baltimore Ravens an inside linebacker to replace C.J. Mosley, who left in free agency last offseason. This time around, McShay is still mocking Baltimore an inside linebacker but a different name.
In his third mock draft, McShay has the Ravens taking LSU linebacker Patrick Queen at No. 28.
Either Queen or Oklahoma’s Kenneth Murray make sense for the Ravens here, but I give the slight edge to Queen at the moment. He has 4.50 speed and posted 85 tackles, including 12.5 for loss, last season with the national champion Tigers. A playmaking linebacker in the middle of the defense could take the unit to a whole other level in 2020 — Baltimore never really replaced C.J. Mosley in that role. Josh Bynes and Patrick Onwuasor are both free agents, so landing Queen at No. 28 would be a perfect marriage of talent, value and need for a Baltimore team that will again be contending for the Super Bowl.
Inside linebacker is one of Baltimore’s biggest glaring needs. There was hope Patrick Onwuasor was going to be able to step up into the role but it only took a few weeks before he lost his communication helmet and his starting job to midseason free-agent acquisitions.
The Ravens also need to find help at pass rusher, even if they’re able to retain outside linebacker Matthew Judon. However, names we’ve seen mocked to Baltimore in the past were already gone. Penn State’s Yetur Gross-Matos, Iowa’s A.J. Epenesa and LSU’s K’Lavon Chaisson had already been selected, leaving Alabama’s Terrell Lewis, Boise State’s Curtis Weaver and Notre Dame’s Julian Okwara as potential second-round options.
Wide receiver is another position many fans are excited about. But in McShay’s mock draft, six wide receivers were taken before Baltimore got on the clock, including some pretty big reaches. It would make more sense in that case for the Ravens to sit tight and grab someone in the second or third round rather than waste a first-round pick by taking a second-round player.
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