ExtremeRavens Posted yesterday at 10:18 PM Posted yesterday at 10:18 PM INDIANAPOLIS — Daniel Jeremiah’s career has unfolded with a certain serendipity. A former college quarterback who transferred from Northeast Louisiana to Appalachian State, Jeremiah tore up his knee running an option on the second play of the second half against Wake Forest in 2000. During rehab one afternoon, T.J. McCreight — then a scout for the Ravens and Jeremiah’s brother’s former college roommate — came across him in the training room and they began to chat. The two stayed in touch. A year later, Jeremiah was working a Ravens game as an entry-level production assistant for ESPN when their paths crossed again in Baltimore. McCreight asked whether he had ever considered scouting. The idea stuck. Jeremiah joined Baltimore as a personnel assistant from 2003 to 2004, became the club’s west coast scout in 2005 and later a national scout for the Cleveland Browns in 2007 and then west coast for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2010 before returning to television, joining NFL Network in 2012. Put another way, Jeremiah arrived at this week’s NFL scouting combine with an intimate knowledge of both the college talent pool and the inner workings of the Ravens’ organization. He worked closely with general manager Eric DeCosta and previous general manager Ozzie Newsome, learning firsthand how Baltimore tends to approach roster building and weeks like this one. The Ravens now have an entirely new coaching staff led by first-year head coach Jesse Minter, but philosophically, the organization has not strayed far from its core principles. So, to borrow from a 1980s advertising slogan, when Jeremiah speaks, people listen — something made clear Wednesday inside the Indianapolis Convention Center, where a gaggle of reporters clustered around the podium as if he were one of the draft prospects himself. In a sense, he is. Jeremiah’s evaluations carry weight, especially when it comes to Baltimore. And as the Ravens enter an offseason filled with questions, he sees a team likely to return to its roots. “There’s such immense pride in that building for how you play defense, and it hasn’t been up to their standard,” Jeremiah said when asked about the need to fortify the lines of scrimmage. “When they’re at their best, they are big — big everywhere. “They want to be kind of a bully, and they got away from that a little bit. There’s some finesse players, some speed players they brought in, and I look for them to get back to that tenacity, that style.” Baltimore has no shortage of decisions ahead and size could be a factor amid several positions. The Ravens have 19 players who are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents when the legal tampering period begins March 9, with free agency opening two days later. Among the most pressing needs: edge rusher, defensive line, cornerback and wide receiver. In Jeremiah’s most recent mock draft, he projects Baltimore selecting Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson with the 14th overall pick. Tyson would become the fourth wide receiver the Ravens have drafted in the first round since 2019, joining two-time Pro Bowl selection Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. After a down season from Bateman last year, Jeremiah sees Tyson as the kind of complement Baltimore has been seeking alongside Flowers. “He’s got size, he’s sudden, he’s explosive off the line,” Jeremiah said. “You’ll see him kind of levitate up in the air.” There are, however, durability questions. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Tyson missed 15 games across the 2022 and 2023 seasons with a torn ACL, MCL and PCL, and later additional time in 2025 with a fractured collarbone and a hamstring injury. If Tyson is unavailable or they are uninterested, USC wide receiver Makai Lemon, who has drawn comparisons to Detroit Lions star Amon-Ra St. Brown, could be another option. However it unfolds, a receiver capable of contributing immediately feels like a priority. DeAndre Hopkins is headed for free agency and unlikely to return, and the depth behind Flowers and Bateman remains thin and largely unproven. Edge rusher is another area to watch. The group in this year’s class, Jeremiah said, may lack elite headliners but offers considerable depth. “I think it’s really deep,” he said, adding he doesn’t think there is a Myles Garrett and Nick Bosa in this class but a pool of players who can still be meaningful contributors. “I think you can get depth all the way into the fourth round where you’ll see guys making an impact next year.” Among the prospects who could percolate higher, though, are Auburn’s Keldrick Faulk and Texas A&M’s Cashius Howell. With outside linebackers Dre’Mont Jones, Kyle Van Noy and David Ojabo all scheduled to hit free agency, the position could require a significant infusion of talent. The defensive line likewise looms as an area of uncertainty, particularly following Nnamdi Madubuike’s season-ending neck injury in Week 2 last year and uncertainty over his future. Prospects such as Clemson’s Peter Woods or Florida’s Caleb Banks could help reinforce the front. On the offensive side, Jeremiah singled out Penn State guard Vega Ioane as the top offensive lineman in the class, regardless of position, and described him as a “middle-of-the-fairway” type of selection — the kind of reliable pick that has long appealed to Baltimore. There is also the possibility the Ravens could maneuver on draft night, too, either trading back to accumulate more picks, or, less likely, moving up the board. The latter has rarely been their preference, and this year’s class may not demand that kind of aggression. Moving back, however, would align with a team expected to already hold 11 picks while trying to address multiple needs. No matter what, though, the guiding principle remains largely unchanged inside the Ravens’ building. “I learned under Ozzie Newsome, and we’ve always been a best-player-available team, and that’s important to me,” DeCosta said. “That’s in my DNA. It is something I believe in.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah says this year's draft class is deep at edge rusher, although there might not be an obvious future star from the group. (Gregory Payan/AP Content Services for NFL) View the full article Quote
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