Ravens receive two compensatory picks in 2021 NFL Draft

Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta likes many things, chief among them Dunkin Donuts, French fries, Coca Cola, and Pearl Jam. But there’s another thing that he very much likes, germane to an announcement that was made today in regards to the upcoming NFL Draft.

Every NFL club presumably likes extra draft picks, which is why they’re likely to keep an eye out for the announcement of the compensatory selections that are doled out on an annual basis ahead of free agency opening. This was the case on Wednesday, as the league released it’s list of the picks and the corresponding clubs via release, something made public by NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero.

The Ravens received one selection each in the third and the fifth round, with the third rounder (Pick 105) coming as a somewhat unexpected (but still very much welcome) byproduct of the Texans hiring away passing game coordinator David Culley as their head coach thanks to some new additions to the Rooney Rule. The fifth rounder (Pick 184) is compensation for the Ravens loss of defensive tackle Michael Pierce last offseason, who actually didn’t play in 2020 due to opting out for COVID concerns.

All in all, it’s a pretty solid haul considering the fact that Culley’s hiring was fairly out of the blue, and Pierce didn’t figure to be much of a big loss either way. We’ll surely have more on what Baltimore can do with these picks down the line, but for now, the number of selections they’ll have in the 2021 Draft is officially set in stone.