Bevy of Draft Prospects Visit the Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens, like every other NFL franchise, are permitted a total of 30 "out-of-town" pre-draft visits with any given draft prospect and are also allowed an "unlimited" amount of pre-draft visits with prospects that are "local" to any one teams’ own stomping-grounds.

Though the NFL draft process is long, chaotic, and hyped-up in almost every corner of the known world, each franchise really only has a few chances to get up-close and personal with a limited handful of the hundreds of prospects due to enter the draft.

Between the Combine, Pro-Days, and these pre-Draft visits, each franchise has a very limited amount of time to actually get to know the players that they’ve been watching on film for months, maybe even years. And though the game film doesn’t usually lie when trying to determine a player’s worth on the football field, what it doesn’t show is the player behind the pads.

With franchises preparing to give some of these prospects, future stars and busts alike, millions upon millions of dollars, front offices around the league have to execute a phrase that’s used a lot around Draft time: due diligence. And that’s exactly what these visits are for the Ravens; performing their due diligence on players that they may (or even possibly may not be) interested in.

(After the "Jump", a quick breakdown of rumored prospects to have visited the Ravens.)

With the start of the 2012 NFL Draft not much more than a week away, things are starting to heat up around the league. In about a weeks time, there will be a few new additions to the Ravens franchise, and perhaps a few of them could be from the list of some of the prospects that the Ravens have had in for a visit.

Here are some of the prospects rumored to have visited with the Ravens:

OT Levy Adcock, Oklahoma State: Senior, 6-6 320 lbs.

OG Brandon Brooks, Miami (Ohio): Senior, 6-4 346 lbs.

CB Ron Brooks, LSU: Senior, 5-10 190 lbs.

OLB Zach Brown, North Carolina: Senior, 6-1 244 lbs.

G/C Gino Gradkowski, Delaware: Senior, 6-2 300 lbs.

CB Brandon Hardin, Oregon State: Senior, 6-2 215 lbs.

WR Stephen Hill, Georgia Tech: Junior, 6-4 200 lbs.

CB Buddy Jackson, Pittsburgh: Senior, 6-0 187 lbs.

WR A.J. Jenkins, Illinois: Senior, 6-0 190 lbs.

DE Cam Johnson, Virginia: Senior, 6-4 268 lbs.

C Ben Jones, Georgia: Senior, 6-3 303 lbs.

ILB Mychal Kendricks, California: Senior, 5-11 237 lbs.

CB Dre Kirkpatrick, Alabama: Junior, 6-2 190 lbs.

C Peter Konz, Wisconsin: Junior, 6-4 315 lbs.

RB Isaiah Pead, Cincinnati: Senior, 5-10 197 lbs.

CB Josh Robinson, Central Florida: Junior, 5-10 195 lbs.

WR Nelson Rosario, UCLA: Senior, 6-5 225 lbs.

S Phillip Thomas, Syracuse: Junior, 5-10 190 lbs.

LB Bobby Wagner, Utah State: Senior, 6-0 241 lbs.

Here is a quick breakdown of prospect visits around the league, including the Ravens: Link

Over the next week leading up to the draft, expect that the Ravens will bring in at least a few other prospects that they may have their eyes on. While some of these players are ones that the Ravens may or may not be specifically targeting, these pre-draft visits will help flesh out the Ravens’ draft board come next week.

One things is for sure, GM Ozzie Newsome always has a bit of magic up his sleeve and it won’t be long until we get to witness what he has in store for the Ravens in the upcoming draft this off-season.