Ravens front office press conference: Ravens tried to trade up

The Ravens have selected Marlon Humphrey with the 16th overall pick in the NFL Draft, but from what the team has said in the press conference, Humphrey looks to have been a back up plan.

Humphrey didn’t even come to Baltimore in a pre-draft visit, but according to head coach John Harbaugh, Humphrey was “by far” the best player left on their board.

However, Newsome said in Thursday night’s press conference that the team tried to trade up in the teens, but couldn’t make a deal. Per Zrebiec, Newsome did not say who the target was, but it can be assumed it was for either Derek Barnett or Haason Reddick.

The team tried to trade up and failed, didn’t even have Humphrey in a for a visit, and yet he was still the best player on the board? I’m very curious to know what the team thought of Jonathan Allen and Reuben Foster.

Allen just had a shoulder injury that caused concern, but reports were that it was minor. Foster has character concerns after getting kicked out of the Combine, as well as having a diluted sample. However, both Allen and Foster are more talented players on the field than Humphrey.

In addition, Zrebiec reports that the got offers to trade down, but none were good enough to take.

Newsome, Harbaugh and Eric DeCosta all made it clear that the Ravens thought Humphrey fit the team well.

Newsome said, “now we have four really good corners. I feel like we got better in the secondary.”

DeCosta said, “he’s a Raven. He plays like we like to play.”

Finally, Harbaugh said, “this is the strongest we’ve been in the secondary in a long time.”

Overall, this pick has been very controversial. Make sure to stay tuned to Baltimore Beatdown for all of the latest draft news.