In the second round, the Ravens selected Kruger, whose motor has been compared to that of Jared Allen, one of the NFL's top pass rushers. By the time the Ravens drafted again, five of the six picks that preceded them in the third round had been used on wide receivers (Derrick Williams, Brandon Tate, Mike Wallace, Ramses Barden and Patrick Turner).
"When I looked at our football team, I felt securing a tackle for the future was No. 1," Newsome said. "Any time I would talk with the personnel staff, the coaches or the owner, I would talk about getting this tackle thing straightened out because of our quarterback. He is the franchise, and you have to take care of that."
projected starting lineup
Offense
WR: Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton
LT: Jared Gaither
LG: Ben Grubbs
C: Matt Birk
RG: Marshal Yanda
RT: Michael Oher
TE: Todd Heap
QB: Joe Flacco
FB: Le'Ron McClain
RB: Willis McGahee
Defense
RT: Trevor Pryce
NT: Kelly Gregg
LT: Haloti Ngata
LOLB: Jarret Johnson
LILB: Ray Lewis
RILB: Tavares Gooden
ROLB: Terrell Suggs
LCB: Fabian Washington
SS: Dawan Landry
FS: Ed Reed
RCB: Domonique Foxworth
Special teams
K: Steve Hauschka
P: Sam Koch
PR-KR: Chris Carr
grading the ravens by jamison hensley
After assessing the draft, this is how the Ravens' roster grades out against the rest of the league:
Quarterback: : Joe Flacco laid the foundation for a promising career. He became the first rookie quarterback to win two NFL playoff games. But Flacco has to improve throwing over the middle (47.7 percent completion rate in that area) and get off to faster starts (quarterback rating of 70.8 in first quarter). Troy Smith is an adequate backup. Grade: B:
Running back: : The wild card of this group is Willis McGahee, who had a career-low 671 rushing yards last season. With the right mind-set, he could still be an impact player. The combination of Le'Ron McClain and Ray Rice could develop into a dangerous one-two punch. Grade: B:
Wide receiver: : The only dependable target is Derrick Mason, who is 35. Mark Clayton and Demetrius Williams haven't lived up to expectations. It's unknown whether Marcus Smith, a fourth-round pick from a year ago, is ready to contribute to the passing game. Is Anquan Boldin still available? Grade: C-:
