We've seen a ton of mock drafts that predict who the Baltimore Ravens will take in the first round of next month's NFL Draft, but little on what might happen beyond the 26th overall pick. Many of the posters here on the Beatdown have speculated as to what we will need to draft later on in the draft, but not too many have gotten specific as to who we might specifically target, much less what will be available in the second round.
Therefore, I took a tour around the internet and found a few Mock Drafts that went into the second round and thought it would stimulate debate on who these drafts had the Ravens taking with their second round pick. Here are a few of the lesser known guys (in no particular order) projected to be on Baltimore's radar and a little nugget or two about them:
William Moore, SS (Missouri)- 6', 220 pounds, Moore was rated the second best out of 144 strong safeties in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com. He had eight interceptions this past season and returned four of his eleven career picks for TD's.
Phil Loadholt, OT (Oklahoma)- 6'8", 332 pounds, a huge guy, Loadholt was rated the 8th best out of 184 tackles reviewed.
Max Unger, C (Oregon)- 6'5", 309 pounds, Unger was rated second out of 87 centers and was a Sports Illustrated First Team All American. He is also a versatile lineman, as he started 25 consecutive gamesin his freshman and sophomore years at left tackle before switching to center for his final two years.
Jairus Byrd, CB (Oregon)- 5'11", 200 pounds for this First Team All PAC-10 corner and Defensive MVP of the 2008 Holiday Bowl. Byrd led the conference in interceptions and is also the son of a former NFL cornerback, Gill Byrd, who played for the San Diego Chargers.
Fili Moala, DT/DE (USC)- 6'4", 305 pounds (and reportedly still growing) and rated 6th of 164 DT's reviewed. Some of the Baltimore Beatdown readers may recall his name, as he is the cousin of current Ravens DT, Haloti Ngata. Moala had 30 tackles in 2008, including 10 for losses and 4.5 sacks. Wouldn't he look great next to his cuz?
I now there are a lot more players that could easily be on this list, but it is based on who will still be there and what the Ravens Big Board might look like, compared to what Mel Kiper or Todd McShay's best players available lists will look like. Furthermore, it is also based on whether or not the Ravens decide to go with the BPA or try to strengthen a specific position, to which we leave that up to our draft guru, Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome. In Oz we trust!