NFL mock draft 2023: Ravens 7-round mock draft

The 2023 NFL offseason for the Baltimore Ravens has been centered mostly around Lamar Jackson, and how to get the star QB to return in the purple and black. As Jackson's desire to receive a contract from another franchise grows more palpable by the day, we go over the Ravens' offseason acquisitions, as well as a potentially durable draft.

The Ravens finished with a 10-7 record, and second in the AFC North last season. There's going to be quite an upheaval in the organization as we inch closer to the NFL Draft. Thus far, Baltimore has let go of their three-year defensive lineman Calais Campbell and has made various moves along the way to bolster the roster.

Significant free agency additions

• RB Justice Hill
• WR Nelson Agholor
• CB Trayvon Mullen
• S Geno Stone

Significant free agency losses

• TE Josh Oliver
• OG Ben Powers
• DE Calais Campbell
• S Chuck Clark (trade)

Ravens 7-round mock draft

With the Ravens currently holding the 22nd pick, it will be incumbent on the organization to fill their current needs of wide receiver and cornerback. Here is the team's 7-round mock draft.

22. WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ohio State
86. CB Sydney Brown, Illinois
124. DE Dylan Horton, TCU
157. S Chamarri Conner, Virginia Tech
199. OT Connor Galvin, Baylor

The Ravens typically follow the mindset of selecting the best player available on the board, but they head into April's draft with three clear needs in a wide receiver, cornerback, and pass rusher. Then again, their entire draft playbook hinges on the elephant in the room: will Jackson play another snap for the Ravens again?

We're operating with the same mindset as the Ravens' front office in this mock draft, in that we are confident Jackson will be back under center for Baltimore in the future. When that will happen is unclear, but it's the world's worst-kept secret that he needs more weapons on the outside to target. Thus the first name we called off the board was Smith-Njigba, who should pair nicely with the recently added Agholor.

Baltimore's defense as of late has been a far cry from their historic predecessors, so expect the front office to address their needs with younger additions on that side of the ball. In 2022, the Ravens had the 23rd-ranked passing defense (229.4 YPG allowed), so to insert a spark into the positional unit, we selected Sydney Brown out of Illinois with our second draft pick and closed out our second-to-last selection with safety Chamarri Conner out of Virginia Tech.

  
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