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Coming out of the 2022 NFL Draft with 11 selections shows that the Baltimore Ravens may have liked this draft class more than some other teams. By letting the board fall and taking the best player available in certain situations, the Ravens were able to come out with one of the strongest classes this year.
After having entered Day 1 of the draft with a lone first-round selection, the Ravens ultimately shipped out WR Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown to the Arizona Cardinals, receiving their 25th overall selection in return for the former Oklahoma Sooner. With Rashod Bateman now leading BAL’s WR room, the offense will have a different look to it this season.
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Baltimore Ravens 2022 NFL Draft Grades
Round 1, Pick 14 – Kyle Hamilton, S (Notre Dame)
Grade – A-
Is safety seen as a shortcoming of the current roster for the Ravens? Maybe not (especially with how their current safety depth looks), but being able to select a player of the caliber that Kyle Hamilton is certainly is hard to pass up. Having the ‘unicorn’ label thrown around seems to happen for one defensive prospect every year, and with the likes of Isaiah Simmons and Jabrill Peppers some of the more notable recipients, it is time for Hamilton to show what he can do.
While passing on offensive line, edge rusher, and even WR will certainly be attached to Hamilton’s career, the Ravens did well with their first selection of the 2022 NFL Draft, not reaching for a player while also addressing an area of their defense that can never have too many options.
R1, P25 – Tyler Linderbaum, C (Iowa)
Grade – A
With their second selection on Thursday, the Ravens decided to use this selection on their first center earlier than the fourth round since 2006 in Iowa’s Tyler Linderbaum. As the Ravens will likely turn even more to their rushing attack, Linderbaum’s shorter frame and strength will be great additions to the blocking game.
Baltimore could have gone other avenues with this selection, but Linderbaum has a certain pedigree to him that makes him one of the more unpassable prospects in this year’s class, even if he was not selected until the back-end of the first round.
R2, P45 – David Ojabo, DE (Michigan)
Grade – A
Once seen as a potential top-five selection, Michigan’s David Ojabo was relegated to a free fall due to a serious injury suffered during a pre-draft workout. With the Ravens having the ability to give Ojabo a chance down the road and having the roster space to do it, this was a no-brainer selection.
While not necessarily on the same plane of competition as his Wolverine counterpart Aidan Hutchinson, Ojabo has a sense of ferocity in him when he hunts the QB, and that kind of mean streak will help endear him to the already-stout defensive attack when he is healthy.
R3, P76 – Travis Jones, DT (Connecticut)
Grade – A-
Quite the far fall for a prospect that was once seen as a fringe first-rounder, Travis Jones was an excellent addition this deep in the draft. To find this kind of value in round 3 represents a fantastic approach to drafting for needs versus BPA, and the Ravens were able to capitalize.
Jones is a solid interior option that can help pair with Michael Pierce to help eat up blocks and force the issue from the interior of the defensive line. While there may be a few elements that Jones needs to catch up on due to having played at UConn, the Ravens got a great player who should become a stud on their DL for years to come.
R4, P110 – Daniel Faaele, OT (Minnesota)
Grade – B
Standing at 6’8 and around 380 lbs. will absolutely put you on the draft radar, and Minnesota’s Daniel Faaele is a direct testament to that. With the Ravens looking to continue their OL upgrade, selecting Faaele to compete for a starting tackle spot was a good value pick.
Faaele has a limited history playing football, so he will be a player that will be a work in progress, at least at the beginning of his professional career. The Ravens naturally do need a strong OL unit to help support Jackson and the running game, and having that kind of road grader that Faaele can be certainly helps boost their offensive outcomes this season.
R4, P119 – Jalen Armour-Davis, CB (Alabama)
Grade – C
Jalen Armour-Davis became the 12th player that the Ravens selected out of Alabama since 1997, dating back to when Ozzie Newsome made these draft decisions. While finding more depth for their defensive secondary was imperative, Armour-Davis does not look like he will make a huge impact in Year 1.
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While starting at Alabama pushes you up the draft board, Armour-Davis only has one year of starting experience, limiting any sort of impact he can provide. There is a big difference between adding a CB option and adding someone just to take up a spot on the depth chart, something that Armour-Davis will need to prove in camp.
R4, P128 – Charlie Kolar, TE (Iowa State)
Grade – C+
With Hollywood Brown out of the picture, Lamar Jackson needs more targets in the passing game. Going the route of adding a TE in the fourth round is certainly an interesting one, especially in a year where that group was not all that strong.
ISU’s Charlie Kolar is a 6-foot-6 red-zone threat for jump balls, but what the Ravens needed here was more of a WR than a TE. Romeo Doubs, Calvin Austin III, and Khalil Shakir were still on the board here, which would have a better option instead.
R4, P130 – Jordan Stout, P (Penn State)
Grade – C-
The draft’s best-rated punter was San Diego State’s Matt Araiza, but he was not selected until the sixth round, making Baltimore’s choice of Penn State’s Jordan Stout quite the confusing one. Only SF’s Mitch Wishnowsky (110th in 2019) has been selected higher than Stout in the past few years, and selecting a specialist with an early Day 3 selection usually never works out.
R4, P139 – Isaiah Likely, TE (Coastal Carolina)
Grade – B-
Even with Lamar Jackson completing 49.5% of his career passes to TEs, adding a second TE in the fourth round seems like a misallocation of resources, especially for a team like the Ravens who typically have a strong scouting department.
Isaiah Likely was reliant on the big play in college, and while his strong numbers (27 TDs in four seasons) make him stand out in this weak TE group, another non-WR pass-catcher was not the right path for the Ravens to take here.
R4, P141 – Damarion Williams, CB (Houston)
Grade – B
Needing to find the next nickel back, the Ravens decided to go after Houston’s Damarion Williams with their sixth(?!?) and final selection of the fourth round. While on the shorter side, Williams made a name for himself in college and looks to be a solid selection at this point in the draft, one of the team’s better allocations of their copious sixth-round selections.
R6, P196 – Tyler Badie, RB (Missouri)
Grade – B
Baltimore’s final selection in the 2022 NFL Draft went back to the offense with Missouri’s Tyler Badie. Adding another late-round RB option to their stable is a great way to hopefully make sure last year’s injury debacles don’t happen again this year. While Badie is known for his ball security, he profiles as a change-of-pace option that likely will be RB3 or 4 on the depth chart moving forward.
Overall Grade – B+
Their solid grade is supported by their Day 1 and 2 takeaways, especially since they decided to focus on questionable areas on Day 3. The Ravens went after weak spots early in the draft, and even though they did trade Hollywood Brown, they still came out of this draft a better team than when they went into it.
