Ravens

The Ravens still have holes. They need to find a starting left tackle, and they could use a No. 2 receiver and add depth at the linebacker and offensive line positions as well. But as the NFL draft ended Saturday night and the Ravens walked out of the auditorium at the team's training complex in Owings Mills, the defending Super Bowl champions appeared to be potentially as good as last year. Because of retirement and free agency, which led to the exodus of several important veterans, the Ravens are lighter on experience but bigger, stronger and faster than a year ago on defense.

As the third and final day of the draft gets underway with the Philadelphia Eagles selecting USC quarterback Matt Barkley to kick off the fourth round, the Ravens have seven total picks remaining and a host of positions that they'd still like to fill. The Ravens have two picks in the fourth round (numbers 129 and 130), one in the fifth round (168), two in the sixth round (200 and 203) and two in the seventh (238 and 247). The picks at 130, 168, 203 and 247 are compensatory meaning that they can't be traded.

When the three-day NFL draft was finally nearing its end and the Ravens had made the last of their 10 selections, general manager Ozzie Newsome headed downstairs and ticked off all the things that the front office had just accomplished. They had strengthened the defense up the middle in a big way with the drafting of safety Matt Elam (first round), inside linebacker Arthur Brown (second), and nose tackle Brandon Williams (third). They added depth and versatility to the offensive line with Saturday's selections of Wisconsin tackle Ricky Wagner, the fifth-round pick who could move to guard, and Colorado State-Pueblo tackle Ryan Jensen who will come in as a center.

The Ravens used both of their sixth-round picks to add depth to positions that they had already addressed in the draft. With the 200 th overall pick, they selected Notre Dame defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the Fighting Irish's loss to Alabama in the BCS championship game. Three picks later, they grabbed Ryan Jensen, an offensive guard out of Colorado State-Pueblo. Earlier in the day, the Ravens took Ohio State defensive end/outside linebacker John Simon (fourth round)

The Ravens repopulated their defense during the first four rounds of the NFL draft and found several high-quality players to help fill the biggest holes remaining on a defensive unit that lost six key contributors during the team's post-Super Bowl roster shuffle. That group included safety Matt Elam, whose rise from a harrowing childhood has made him one of the inspirational stories of the draft, and high-character players Arthur Brown, Brandon Williams and John Simon. The player personnel types call those guys “red star” players, which is the pre-draft equivalent of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

The Ravens continued their trend of beefing up their defense with their first selection of the fourth round and then they finally drafted an offensive player one pick later. With the 129 th overall pick, the Ravens drafted John Simon, a defensive end from Ohio State. They then used the 130 th pick, a compensatory one, on Harvard fullback Kyle Juszczyk. Simon was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year last season with 44 tackles, including 14 ½ for losses, and a career-high nine sacks.

The 2013 NFL draft is over, and looking back at what the Ravens have accomplished this weekend, it is fairly obvious that they wanted to focus on defense after slowly rebuilding the offense over the past few offseasons. As I wrote in this space earlier this weekend, I like the selection of Florida strong safety Matt Elam and Kansas State inside linebacker Arthur Brown . Both are capable of starting as rookies. I still don't know much about big Southern Missouri State nose tackle Brandon Williams , but he figures to have a meaningful role this year, too. On Saturday, the third and final day of the draft, the Ravens used three of their seven draft picks on defense, making it six of 10 picks overall, including their first four.

The Ravens did us beat reporters a minor disservice on Saturday afternoon, drafting Harvard fullback Kyle Juszczyk, whose surname will leave behind many red squiggly lines as we learn to spell it, in the fourth round. It's too soon to say that this did a disservice to Pro Bowl fullback Vonta Leach, whose future could be in doubt . “I couldn't ask for a better mentor,” Juszczyk said Saturday. “I think he's been the best fullback in the league.” As we have seen for two years, Leach is probably the best blocking fullback in the NFL, and he has the dented facemasks to prove it. But Juszczyk appears to be a better fit for the future as the Ravens, with quarterback Joe Flacco, continue to modernize their offense.

Here's who the Ravens' AFC North rivals have selected thus far in the 2013 NFL draft. Cleveland Browns Round 1, pick 6: LSU DE Barkevious Mingo Pittsburgh Steelers Round 1, pick 17: Georgia LB Jarvis Jones Cincinnati Bengals Round 1, Pick 21: Notre Dame TE Tyler Eifert   What they're saying about the AFC North teams' first-round picks --Terry Pluto of The Cleveland Plain...