April 25, 2025 • 30 mins
Team insiders Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing talk about how Malaki Starks fits in Baltimore, why he 'checks every box,' how he'll alter the secondary, and what Ravens fans should expect on Day 2 of the NFL Draft.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome into lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Mink here
with Garrett Downing, and we are going to break down
and give our initial reaction to the Ravens first round
selection of Georgia safety Malachi Starks, the newest Raven and really.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Excited about this pick. I love it for a.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Number of reasons that we're going to dive into, Garrett.
But first of all, I gotta take my victory lap,
and I gotta say, Garrett, it's not a victory lap.
This is going to be a victory marathon, Okay, Because
Malachi Starks was my mock draft pick, and I just
want to turn back the dial here and go back
in history.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Garrett.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Not only was he my final pick, he was my
original pick because on February thirteenth.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Garrett, we had the receipts.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I got the receipts February thirteenth.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I said, I'm planning my flag on Malachi Starks as
my guy. And this year I didn't get in my
own head. I didn't minker with the pick. Stuck to
my guns. Malachi Starks was consistent. You tried to.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Throw shade the whole way through. Tell me I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I was.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Oh, I tried. You were casting a lot of doubt.
I stuck with it. Malachi starts the pick feels good, Garret,
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, I'll give you credit. You did keann On Starks
early in the process, and and look, I I liked
Malachi Starks as well. I just couldn't take the same guy.
So that's why I went different here we go. I
would have I liked him too. I just you claimed
your first. I was like, all right, I don't want
to take the same guy. That's why you played your flag,
you planned your flag, you claimed him, you called DIBs,
(01:36):
so I just let you have him. But but in
all honesty, I think that this is, like, it's a
really good pick for this team, and and the like
the reason you you were not by any means on
an island. On the Malachi Starks connection to the Ravens.
There was a lot of people. We put together a
compilation of mock drafts today, and he was by far
the favorite in those mocks. So a lot of people
(01:58):
felt like he could end up in Ballultimate, which.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Actually had us sort of doubting whether he was going
to be the pick up because when everybody else on
the outside, it's like, oh, it's gonna be Malachi Starks.
You're like, I know, Eric DaCosta likes to play games.
He likes to, you know, manipulate the board. Like does
he want everybody thinking that they're gonna take stars and
they're gonna take somebody else?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, you know that did.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Like that was the that was almost like a red
flag today that I was like, everyone's saying Starks. It
can't be him, right right, it just seems too obvious
and uh. And Eric even said afterwards when he met
with me, he said, like I made him a little nervous,
and it was weird to see so many mock drafts
tying the Ravens to him. But at the end of
the day, he makes it to the Ravens and they
(02:39):
get the best safety in the draft. They get somebody
who instantly makes their defense better, Like instantly their defense
is better because of what he brings and the way
that allows them to free up the rest of the
players of the secondary. It's him and the impact that
he has.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Just big picture of view and the reason why I
love Malachi starts from the beginning so much as he
checks every box, versatility, toughness, four to two straight starts,
three year starter, was a starter from day one at
Georgia on a national Championships on a nation big program,
National Championship team, smart communicator, playmaker, right six career interceptions
(03:21):
and you watch some of those picks, It's not like
these are pedestrian interceptions, like ball skills, right tackles, well,
like every off the field, the intangibles off the field,
his story growing up, and the adversity faced, the kind
of athlete he is just and we'll go into each
one of these, but you go check check, check, check check.
(03:44):
And that's why Eric DaCosta said after making the selection,
this guy, it's he's wired to be a raven.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah. I thought that was really interesting and and Eric
also made the point at the combine that that Malki
had one of the best combine interviews that they'd ever seen.
And they he left the room and everyone looks around
with their grading scale and they and they gave him perfect.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Score straight sevens Hi.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, I know that sounds weird. You think it's like
seven out of ten. No, seven is the top end
score for this grading scale. And so he got a
perfect score and.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Said that basically they they were putting up the plays,
the Georgia's defensive plays, and before they would hit play,
he knew what the play was, where everybody was supposed
to be and they hadn't even shown him anything.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah, I honestly like I had a similar feeling based
on his press conference. If you remember when we talked
at the combine and the you know, kind of the
immediate aftermath of the combine. He was somebody that I
came away with incredibly impressed, Like he stepped to the podium,
big crowd around him, really poised, didn't seem like it
just seemed really smart, seemed confident. And I came away
(04:51):
from that being like, man, this guy just feels like
from a makeup, from a mentality standpoint, the player who
would you would want to have in your locker room,
Like if you're if a coach is sitting there and
they're sitting around the table saying like, who are the
types of guys that we want? It's you feel like
they would describe exactly what I saw from that fifteen
minute press conference and what they saw as well, and
the time that they got with him.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, and that was honestly the reason that I thought
he might not get to twenty seven. Was that the
buzz around draft circles, in media draft circles, was that
a bunch of NFL coaches love this guy like he.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Is a coach's dream. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I mean John Harball and Eric Tkasta said he's like
another coach, yeah, on the field. And to hear that
said about a player who has not even played in
an NFL game, yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Like he's a coach on the field. Usually hear about
that about a ten years. We're talking about Kyle van
Noy or something like that. A ten year exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And you know, for a rookie, yeah, to be that
smart and have that much knowledge about the game, and
so like, you know, for so many coaches around the
league to just really love this guy. I felt like
somebody's going to convince their GM or whatever or the
head coach has you know a lot of sway and
making this pick and they're going to take them, and
(06:08):
just somehow you just kind of fell down the board. Well,
I think it what always happens, by the way, It
just it always happens.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I think, I mean, similar to Kyle Hamilton was one
of the best players in that draft. And he fell
down the board. And I think a lot of it
is positional value. The safety is not valued the same
way that pass rusher and cornerback is on the defensive
side of the ball and not even to mention the
offensive side. So you have really good safeties that often
end up going later than they should. And Malachi Starks,
I think it's just the latest example.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Well, a lot of pass rushers went in the first round.
A lot of defensive linemen went in the first round
of this year's draft, and it was a strong D
line class, and there are a lot of pass rushers too,
And so as the board fell, even some of the players,
you know, both the top guards went, you know, some
of the wide receivers that we weren't positive we're going
to be ahead of twenty seven went, you know, And
so the board fell.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
The Ravens way, I was like, we were watching it.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
We both were saying, like, this is good, this is going.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Well yep, and so all right, so I want to
get a little bit back into the boxes that Malachi
Starks checks. And we talked about kind of the intangibles,
how smart he is, the communication, the leadership, right, you
become your day one starter on George's defense, National winning
championship winning defense. Yeah, you know you're a leader, right,
(07:25):
But I also want to talk about just the fit
here and the versatility that he has, and because I
think that's so important and a major reason why he's
the Ravens pick is not only is he versatile, but
now it enables Kyle Hamilton to remain versatile. And John
Harwall said, really what they envision is opponents have no
idea where these guys are going to.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Be, Like they could be anywhere.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
And that is really something that a lot of defensive
coordinators want these days, is that positionless football and to
be able to do that and keep an offense and
a quarterback constantly guessing Where's Where's Hamilton gonna be?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Where's you know?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
And now Malachi Starks once he makes a couple of plays,
where Stark's gonna be? I don't want to, you know,
you gotta know? And they could be anywhere, And so
Malachi starts. According to Pro Football Focus, paid four hundred
snaps at deep deep safety last year, two hundred and
seventy one in the slot, two hundred and fifteen in
the box. He also can play dime linebacker, John Harball
(08:23):
said he can play anywhere, and the nice compment is
it shades a little bit more towards deep safety. That's
been his primary spot at Georgia was deep safety, which
is a nice comment to Kyle Hamilton, a much bigger
bodied guy who you want a little bit close to
safe to the line of scribrace. So like if that's
kind of where each of them shade, right, but they
(08:47):
can are also interchangeable, that's a perfect fit.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yeah, it fits perfectly. I remember at the at the outset,
and we've talked about this a few times on the podcast.
At the outset of this process, I kind of I
was looking at it like Malachi Stars is just the
deep safety, the traditional center fielder, and he can do that.
But like versatility, as you just laid out, is part
of the game. About half of his snaps came half
(09:11):
of his snaps are deep safety, and half of them
were elsewhere m exactly. So it's slot in the box,
especially fifty to fifty in terms of whether he's a
little deep safety or a little bit more not.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
At deep sea exactly.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, And so so like he has that ability, he's
really good with the ball skills and so that was
part of. At the beginning, I was like, Oh, he's
just a deep safety. But as I dug into it
more and again, I go back to that combine and interview,
and the thing that I came away with is it
felt like every third word out of his mouth was versatility. Yeah,
and he just talked about versatility. Versatility, versatility. That's what
(09:46):
he prides himself on. And in order to be versatile,
you gotta be smart. Okay, we heard all about that.
You need to have a really good understanding and to
be confident. And so he has all those abilities, and
I think that, like, it's just going to a lot.
I think it's going to all another element of this
defense because you're gonna have all these really good players
on the back end of the defense who can all
(10:07):
play at a really high level. And then it's going
to keep offenses guessing in a way that's just going
to challenge these quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
It also helps Ardarius Washington, who can play nickel and safety,
as we saw at the end of last season. It
also helps Marlon Humphrey, who was another versatile player. Yeah,
corner and nickel, And so the Ravens have an embarrassment
of riches in their secondary that they can play them
all over the place and it's gonna be really fun
(10:37):
to watch. I also want to talk about just the
playmaking skills. And we talked about six interceptions in three seasons.
You know that's not a number that makes you go wow. Right,
there are some other guys like Xavier Watson this year's
drafts who made more interceptions. But you go watch those
interceptions and look, all right, this is going to sound crazy.
(10:58):
This is gonna sound crazy. And I said to one
of our cafeteria workers tonight while I was getting dinner,
and of course on draft.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Night, everyone's talking about everybody. Yeah, who you got, Who
you got? Who you gonna think? You know, I'm telling
everybody I got my Malchi Starks.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
That's my guy.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
And I'm talking to Brian down in the cafeteria and
I said, look, Brian, this is gonna sound nuts and
it's blasphemous, but I see shades of Ed Reid.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I see shades of that.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
And I'm not just gonna sit here and say Malchi
Starks is going to become Ed Reid. He's Y's hall
favorite guy, hasn't played the NFL game, right, But like
you go watch some of those plays that he made
that he's made, and boy boy.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
It looks reminiscent. Well, look dad, he can go up
and get the ball.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Daniel Jeremiah, he was talking more body type, but after
that he is.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Kind of wiry like that. He's kind of a unique
athlete like Ed was.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Yeah, I mean, Jeremiah made the point like body type
composition wise reminds him of Ed, of course, and edw.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
And I just want to stop you for a second
because Ed was like a great athlete, but in no
testing would you have said, oh, Ed ran a blaze.
He wasn't Nick amm Emon worry out there running a
four to three whatever forty.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
That wasn't Ed.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
But like, but you say, who's the most athletic guy
on the feud? He said that number twenty.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
That that is kind of what Malachi reminds me of.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah, and and so he has like this really good
athleticism and that's part of why he's able to play
in all these different roles exactly. And then he has
he has the production and like there is something to
be said. Eric has shaved. Eric Tacosta has shaded towards
drafting players from big schools in his time as GM,
and he was he was asked about that, and he
(12:38):
made the point like, when you look at our history,
a lot of the best players that we've drafted have
come from these premiere programs. And I mean ed Miami
in those in the nineties. That was a prettier program,
no doubt about it, powerhouse and and you could there's
lots and lots of different examples of that. And and
so you get a guy that's just a super product
(13:00):
player for one of the best teams in college football
over the last three years, with a tremendous defense.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
That's defenses right, Yeah, it's.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
It's like it's hard not to like that.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, oh absolutely. And so so production wise, I think, uh,
you know this, this team needs more takeaways. They they
were kind of middle of the pack this past season
as a defense, and I think that there's a track
record now, you know, that's been part of the problem.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
The bugaboo in the.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Playoffs is they haven't got enough takeaways. They've also turned
the ball over too much offensively, but they just haven't
gotten enough takeaways.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
It hasn't matched the regular season. So like, all right,
let's go get a guy.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
You know, Like I think that that's going to as
we see this draft unfold, that will that could be
a theme. Well, I actually get some playmakers takeaway guys.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Yeah, and he has that again, six interceptions. It's not
like a jaw dropping number, but like it's pretty darn
good in college.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Yeah, he got his hands on a lot of balls.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of pass passes, defense. Uh.
But the theme to what you're talking about that And
I thought it was interesting that Eric and Hardball both
mentioned this is that like when they met at the
end of the season and talked about who are the
types of guys that we want to bring in here.
They talked a lot about like makeup, intelligence, attitude, love football,
(14:18):
and I guess like you would always want those guys.
But it seemed like both of them mentioned off the
top of the press conference like they had a type
of player that they want to bring to Baltimore and
Malachi Starks fits that.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Well, he's the Red Star player. Yes, you know, and
for listeners out there who don't know what a red
Star player is. For the Ravens, every scout gets one
Red Star that they can put on a player that
not only embodies what a Raven is, on the field,
but off the field, it's everything that we're talking about,
Like they just play the game like a raven, tough, physical,
(14:53):
all those things, and then the intelligence, the character, the
football character, the personal care character, all of those kind
of intangibles are also there. And Malachi Starks as one
of their Red Star players this year.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, and so like and I think sometimes when you
start talking about like the intangible stuff, you can overlook
the production that we just covered. Yeah, it's not like that. Hey,
he's a great guy. He's a leader, He's going to
take great notes in the classroom, like, oh no, he's
also a baller when he gets on the field.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I also think that his athleticism, and this might have
been part of why he got to the Ravens at
twenty seven, was a little bit misconstrued.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I kind of talked about the Ed Reid thing. But
you go back to this.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Guy in Georgia and I'm his like, he is a
legendary athlete in his community. I mean, we're talking about
he was the Georgia track athlete of the year in
the entire state, the track athlete of the year in Georgia,
which I'm gonna guess they have a lot of athletes
in Georgia when he was like coming out of middle
(15:58):
school right then, and he was a state in the
middle school track high thank you, Dame Brugler, state champion
long jumper, right he was top five and one hundred,
one hundred meters. Yeah, he got some straight line speed
on him too. I mean he was the top rated
athlete like recruit going into college. Just some of them
are athletes if they don't have a defined position. Because
(16:20):
guess what, he played quarterback among many other positions, and
he went fourteen and one went to the state championship
as a quarterback yep, in high school, and so he
was the top rated athlete recruit in the twenty twenty
two class in the entire state of Georgia.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Yeah, I mean he's a tremendous athlete. And so at
the combine, like he ran a four or five forty,
which is like right, so her flat people are like,
you know, it's not tremendous, but a for a safety,
that's plenty fast. And also you you gotta look at
the full picture, and I think that like the Ravens
(16:57):
do that, and his other by the way, like when
you're just talking about the Kyle Hamilton.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
By the way, I didn't run him blazing.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Forty dash exactly. Also, other actual testing metrics, not just
a forty yard dash. He performed very well in other
testing metrics at the combine. Yeah, it's not like the
guy had a bad combine.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
He had the fastest like mile per hour in the
short shuttle.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Roll of any of anybody.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yeah, so like his his his combine performance fourteen point nine.
I think it was a little bit of a misnomer conversation.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
It kind of got misconstrued.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I think that that I think that's a large reason
why he could have fallen to twenty seven. It's like
people just didn't look at him and say, Shamar Sewart
went whatever. Yeah, ten picks earlier to the Bengals, right now,
blew up the combine like he. I think a lot
of people came out of the combine and said, Stark's
really that kind of a premier athlete that I want
(17:49):
to use a first round pick on him.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Well, and this is a tale his ownest time for
the Ravens. Well, yeah at this now, no'll draft the
athlete too. Nate Wiggins, he blew it.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Up, you know.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
But I think that if you were talking about a
safety who blew up the combine. You were talking about
Nick Emun war because he was bigger, he was faster,
and so you're like, oh, okay, that's the safety that
you're talking about, having a tremendous combine. And so everyone
came out of the combine saying like Nick even Warre.
Now he ended up falling due he didn't get drafted
in the first round. But but that was the conversation then,
(18:21):
and I think it overshadowed just how good that Starks
was in some of the other testing.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And overall, I also think it's a position, right, Do
I need a safety that runs a four to four
sub four four? No, it's a different You don't need
that kind you don't have to have that kind of
speed at safety at corner. If I'm gonna put that
guy on an island and expect them to run with
Jamar Chase and co. Yeah, I want Nay Wiggins to
be able to run in the four threes. You know, like, yes,
(18:49):
but safety is a different position.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yeah, I'm with you, and and you know it's always
part of the question is always like who's going to
get there? Eric did make the point that he was
by far the best available guy on the board. That
was quite by far the best available guy there. Yep,
and I was it was interesting. We actually did get
a chance to ask Eric this. But right before the
Ravens were on the clock, the Atlanta Falcons traded in
(19:14):
front of them. They traded with the Rams, and it's
like whenever a team trades right in front of you,
you wonder, like, what's gonna what's gonna happen here? They
end up taking the passbuster James Pierce, and no idea
what the Ravens had as a great on James Pierce.
But I got to believe that they were just thrilled
that they end up getting Malachi Starks, who's still there
for them.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah. Absolutely, And Malachi you know, he said he was
he was playing a game of Uno, getting ready to
play a game of in the green room and every
Bay good game. I still get down with some Unos
sometimes with the kids. Yeah, Nick, it wrong.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Well, it's also like I think for these guys that
end up going at the end of the first round,
like it's a long night, like it's a long day.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, they're in.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Green Bay for a few days, you know, they get
they get the suit on, they walk the red carpet
like three hours before the draft, like and by the
time it's done, you just like, I to get my
mind off of this thing. The green rooms get a
little empty here. I just need to pass the time,
and so playing a little bit of Uno and the
Ravens call and ends up being in you know, a
great story.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
I'm really happy for Malachi starts to you know, you
see him with his family there in Green Bay. And
by the way, make sure you check out our interview
with Malachi Starks. Cassie Cherigo was in Green Bay. So
it's always fun. Also when your guy's there and gets picked.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
That's that's like selfishly, we're all rooting for the fact that,
like we have a crew there and it could go right.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
It's a boomore, but I want to set and the crew
for a reason.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah, and so it worked out. We've actually had pretty
good luck if you go back over the years, we've
had a pretty good luck when it comes to the
draft and have the player at the draft. So always
excited to have him.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
There and you know, just full circle here. It never
gets old seeing these guys have these emotions and you
can see that Malachi starts immediately after he has drafted.
The emotions were there, and you know that's the other
box that he checks is the advert city that he's
come through just as a person, you know, I mean,
(21:04):
this is a kid who, according to the Dame Brugler
of the Athletic, was homeless, you know, from grades three
to six and kind of bouncing around between temporary housing
and uh, you know, I can't imagine and for him
to get through that with his family and uh, you know,
become the person that he is, you just feel even
(21:26):
happier for the guy.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Yeah, I think that he is someone. When we had
a chance to talk with him, the theme was like
I can't wait there and get to work. I can't
wait to get there and get to work. And I
think that that speaks to the type of player.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
And also it's supposedly a great guy in the community too,
like just a legend back from Georgia, like with young
younger guys like this guy just.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Want Smith.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
It was it was asked about him this week and
rocol was like, look, I don't know a lot of guys,
but when he's asked about Malachi Stars, He's like, everything
I've heard about him is that they rave about. So
even Rokwan's getting the good reports from Georgia about how
good of a player Malachi Starks is. And he also
talked like there's there's confidence with him, but I also
(22:14):
got a real sense of humility too, like he's like,
I'm excited to come learn from Kyle Hamilton him like,
I'm excited to learn from these veteran Pro Bowl caliber players.
That's what I And so again he's not coming in
like I'm running the show. He's coming in like I'm
a confident player and I'm going to get to learn
from some of the best. And I think that that's
like the right approach for a rookie to have.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Completely agree. So a great pick for the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Really excited about Malachi Stark's really excited to continue to
brag about hitting my pick instead of you. I know
your selection was Derek Harmon. By the way, he was
a Pittsburgh Steeler. You have to live with that too.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I know, if your guy's a Steeler, every play that
he makes, I'm going to just lament that that pick
and it's going to be etched in history. So we're
going to take a quick break when we come back.
We're going to share some final thoughts on the draft
and also do a quick preview on what the Ravens
could do on the second day. You're listening to the
Lounge podcast. We are coming to you from the seat
Geek Studio. We want to mention our partners at Draftking
(23:11):
sports Book. They are an official sports betting partner of
the Baltimore Ravens Draft King Sports Book. The Crown is yours. So,
as we mentioned, the draft kind of broke the Ravens way,
I think in a lot of ways. A couple of
notes from me, just to look around the division. You
mentioned that Cincinnati took Schamar Stewart. He was linked to
the Ravens in plenty of mock drafts. So they get
(23:32):
the really athletic gifted pass rusher.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Low on production, high on upside, yep athletic upside for sure.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Uncertainty there in Cincinnati with Trey Hendrickson, who's asked for
a new contract and could they trade him. Not sure
how the addition of Shamar Stewart impacts Trey Hendrickson and
his status, but they get a talented player there. The
Browns were one of the big stories in the first
part of the draft. They had the second pick coming
into the night, moved back from two to five, end
up adding some additional picks, including one of the second
(24:02):
round this year in a first round er next year.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
They gotta three spots.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
They moved three spots back, and they get a ton
of return, But on the flip side, they give up
the potential of getting Travis Hunter. So the Jaguars move up.
They take Travis Hunter, who a lot of people felt
was the best player in the draft, of course, won
the heidst Of Trophy.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Player can play both ways, super talent, generational prospect.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
And then the Browns end up taking defensive tackle Mason
Graham out of Michigan, So certainly not as exciting as
it would have been with Travis Hunter. You think you're
getting this two wave player who's a Heisman Trophy winner,
and they end up going with the defensive lineman. Now
on the flip side, they get an extra second round pick,
and they've got a chance to get should or Sanders
(24:45):
if they want to go that route. In the second round.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
You didn't get drafted.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
He did not get drafted, so he goes he should Sanders.
Everyone talked about him coming into the draft, doesn't get drafted,
Browns have a chance to get him.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
On Day two, and the New York Giants drafted their
quarterback and Jackson Dart they were the other team that
was certainly in that market. Yes, the Saints certainly could
draft a quarterback still, but the Browns are going to
have the second pick, and I'll tell you the Titans
are not taking quarterbacks. So unless the Titans were to
trade back, then the Browns are going to have their
(25:15):
shot at Shdor Sanders. Do they take it, I don't know,
but they're going to back to back picks, and so
it would be surprising.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
The Browns had the first pick of the second round.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
They have the first pick.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
They got the first pick of the second round, so
they have a chance if they want.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Him and brown exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Now, that would be an interesting pairing Dion and all
the glitz and glamour heading to Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
But you know, we'll see, we'll see if that happens.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
My takeaway from the division was everybody wants to try
to load up to stop Lamar Jackson, Dereck Henry, everybody
in the vision took a defensive lineman Derek Carmon to
the Steelers Shamar Stewarts d end Edge to Cincinnati and
then the Browns with Mason Graham.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
So you know, the Steelers didn't like Derek Can. We're
running all over him.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
In the playoffs and everybody else down like Lamar, They're
they're tired of that, and so defensive linemen heavy.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Yeah, I in addition to like losing my chance to
have my mock draft hit with Derek Carmon, the defensive
tackle from Oregon going to the Steelers, it is painful
because I to be honest, I think he's a really
good player, and I think that like the cop on
him is Cam Hayward and who's been just like a
like a nuisance for the Ravens for like a decade,
you know, just a really good player who's who's difficult
(26:29):
so to stop it makes life hard. So I think
they did get a good player. So that's that's a
tough blow to see him going the division.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
There, you know they're you're they're gonna get good players
in the first round, and you know that's power goes.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
That's how it goes exactly. More. My focus with the
Steelers is who's playing quarterback?
Speaker 1 (26:49):
So yeah, that's what I'm really curious to see if
we see that move on day two.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Yeah, because a lot of people thought they could take Sanders,
they passed and they took Derek Carmon instead. So quickly,
just what's your thought on the direction? You know, my
mock basically blow it up. I guess I still have
The other great part is that set up for success? Yeah?
Now you know both of us actually had a corner
back in the second round, so we both could could
(27:15):
hit that. You know, as I look at the second round,
there's still plenty of good corners on the board. Both
of the corners, of course, who we ended up taking
taking the second round or still on the board, Shavon
Ravel so you took and I took. That's right, Thomas
out of Florida state, So both of them are still there. Yeah.
So I think that could be a position that the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Go, gosh, this secondary you know, you take Malachi starts
in the first and then you go corner in the second.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Yeah, that would be I mean.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
I think ed Rusher certainly, Yeah, high possibility there and
defensive lineman, this would be the spots that I would look.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
At the other possibility and I've I've mentioned this, like,
I'll be curious to see what happens in the running
back situation.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I sure, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Yeah, I've mentioned this many times, Like I still think that,
like if there's a blue hip running back, and I
mentioned the Ohio State running backs, both of them Trevon
Henderson Henderson and quinch Quinn Shawn Judkins as being like
really talented and maybe just because the Ravens took a
second round running back out of a high state when
nobody expected them to with JK. Dobbins, that's like stuck
and burned in my head. But if if one of
(28:18):
those guys is there, I think it would be an
interesting conversation.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Surprise pick outside of outside of corner, defensive line, edge rusher,
this would be the big three remaining outside of that.
If I were picking a surprise position outside of that,
I would probably take inside linebacker and an interior offensive lineman.
Offensive linean could happen at any time, yeah, but I would.
(28:43):
I would probably say, if there's going to be a
surprise second rounder for me, that would be an inside linebacker.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Well, John Campbell was a guy who thought maybe like
could be too good of a player to pass up,
and the Ravens did pass them up. They go with
Malachi Starks. The linebacker from Alabama was on the board.
The Ravens went with Starks, And so may I would
I would be more surprised at linebacker than I would
running back, just as example I.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Will, I would I would put inside linemakers.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Maybe well, maybe I'm buying into the smoke screens and
and the way that the Ravens have talked about the
possibility of drafting a running back. Uh, but that's uh,
that'll be part of the fun Friday night. So uh,
we are going to do another podcast on Saturday once
the whole draft is done. So we'll do a full
recap podcast on Saturday once we have rounds two through
(29:29):
seven and put a nice bow on it. Also, Malachi
Starks is going to be in the building on Friday.
He's gonna fly here from Green Bay, and we're gonna
have all sorts of fun content playing with him. While
he's here. He's gonna do an introductory press conference. So
there's a lot happening. It's a fun time. You guys
can send your emails. We already got a bunch of
home people celebrating your success. So I appreciate you all
(29:50):
those out put them on the board, put them on
the fridge.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Yeah, you can email us at the lounge at Ravens
at NFL dot net. Thank you for listening and we
will be back with you again on Saturday
Welcome into lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Mink here
with Garrett Downing, and we are going to break down
and give our initial reaction to the Ravens first round
selection of Georgia safety Malachi Starks, the newest Raven and really.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Excited about this pick. I love it for a.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Number of reasons that we're going to dive into, Garrett.
But first of all, I gotta take my victory lap,
and I gotta say, Garrett, it's not a victory lap.
This is going to be a victory marathon, Okay, Because
Malachi Starks was my mock draft pick, and I just
want to turn back the dial here and go back
in history.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Garrett.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Not only was he my final pick, he was my
original pick because on February thirteenth.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Garrett, we had the receipts.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I got the receipts February thirteenth.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I said, I'm planning my flag on Malachi Starks as
my guy. And this year I didn't get in my
own head. I didn't minker with the pick. Stuck to
my guns. Malachi Starks was consistent. You tried to.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Throw shade the whole way through. Tell me I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I was.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Oh, I tried. You were casting a lot of doubt.
I stuck with it. Malachi starts the pick feels good, Garret,
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, I'll give you credit. You did keann On Starks
early in the process, and and look, I I liked
Malachi Starks as well. I just couldn't take the same guy.
So that's why I went different here we go. I
would have I liked him too. I just you claimed
your first. I was like, all right, I don't want
to take the same guy. That's why you played your flag,
you planned your flag, you claimed him, you called DIBs,
(01:36):
so I just let you have him. But but in
all honesty, I think that this is, like, it's a
really good pick for this team, and and the like
the reason you you were not by any means on
an island. On the Malachi Starks connection to the Ravens.
There was a lot of people. We put together a
compilation of mock drafts today, and he was by far
the favorite in those mocks. So a lot of people
(01:58):
felt like he could end up in Ballultimate, which.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Actually had us sort of doubting whether he was going
to be the pick up because when everybody else on
the outside, it's like, oh, it's gonna be Malachi Starks.
You're like, I know, Eric DaCosta likes to play games.
He likes to, you know, manipulate the board. Like does
he want everybody thinking that they're gonna take stars and
they're gonna take somebody else?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, you know that did.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Like that was the that was almost like a red
flag today that I was like, everyone's saying Starks. It
can't be him, right right, it just seems too obvious
and uh. And Eric even said afterwards when he met
with me, he said, like I made him a little nervous,
and it was weird to see so many mock drafts
tying the Ravens to him. But at the end of
the day, he makes it to the Ravens and they
(02:39):
get the best safety in the draft. They get somebody
who instantly makes their defense better, Like instantly their defense
is better because of what he brings and the way
that allows them to free up the rest of the
players of the secondary. It's him and the impact that
he has.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Just big picture of view and the reason why I
love Malachi starts from the beginning so much as he
checks every box, versatility, toughness, four to two straight starts,
three year starter, was a starter from day one at
Georgia on a national Championships on a nation big program,
National Championship team, smart communicator, playmaker, right six career interceptions
(03:21):
and you watch some of those picks, It's not like
these are pedestrian interceptions, like ball skills, right tackles, well,
like every off the field, the intangibles off the field,
his story growing up, and the adversity faced, the kind
of athlete he is just and we'll go into each
one of these, but you go check check, check, check check.
(03:44):
And that's why Eric DaCosta said after making the selection,
this guy, it's he's wired to be a raven.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah. I thought that was really interesting and and Eric
also made the point at the combine that that Malki
had one of the best combine interviews that they'd ever seen.
And they he left the room and everyone looks around
with their grading scale and they and they gave him perfect.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Score straight sevens Hi.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, I know that sounds weird. You think it's like
seven out of ten. No, seven is the top end
score for this grading scale. And so he got a
perfect score and.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Said that basically they they were putting up the plays,
the Georgia's defensive plays, and before they would hit play,
he knew what the play was, where everybody was supposed
to be and they hadn't even shown him anything.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah, I honestly like I had a similar feeling based
on his press conference. If you remember when we talked
at the combine and the you know, kind of the
immediate aftermath of the combine. He was somebody that I
came away with incredibly impressed, Like he stepped to the podium,
big crowd around him, really poised, didn't seem like it
just seemed really smart, seemed confident. And I came away
(04:51):
from that being like, man, this guy just feels like
from a makeup, from a mentality standpoint, the player who
would you would want to have in your locker room,
Like if you're if a coach is sitting there and
they're sitting around the table saying like, who are the
types of guys that we want? It's you feel like
they would describe exactly what I saw from that fifteen
minute press conference and what they saw as well, and
the time that they got with him.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, and that was honestly the reason that I thought
he might not get to twenty seven. Was that the
buzz around draft circles, in media draft circles, was that
a bunch of NFL coaches love this guy like he.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Is a coach's dream. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I mean John Harball and Eric Tkasta said he's like
another coach, yeah, on the field. And to hear that
said about a player who has not even played in
an NFL game, yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Like he's a coach on the field. Usually hear about
that about a ten years. We're talking about Kyle van
Noy or something like that. A ten year exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And you know, for a rookie, yeah, to be that
smart and have that much knowledge about the game, and
so like, you know, for so many coaches around the
league to just really love this guy. I felt like
somebody's going to convince their GM or whatever or the
head coach has you know a lot of sway and
making this pick and they're going to take them, and
(06:08):
just somehow you just kind of fell down the board. Well,
I think it what always happens, by the way, It
just it always happens.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I think, I mean, similar to Kyle Hamilton was one
of the best players in that draft. And he fell
down the board. And I think a lot of it
is positional value. The safety is not valued the same
way that pass rusher and cornerback is on the defensive
side of the ball and not even to mention the
offensive side. So you have really good safeties that often
end up going later than they should. And Malachi Starks,
I think it's just the latest example.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Well, a lot of pass rushers went in the first round.
A lot of defensive linemen went in the first round
of this year's draft, and it was a strong D
line class, and there are a lot of pass rushers too,
And so as the board fell, even some of the players,
you know, both the top guards went, you know, some
of the wide receivers that we weren't positive we're going
to be ahead of twenty seven went, you know, And
so the board fell.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
The Ravens way, I was like, we were watching it.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
We both were saying, like, this is good, this is going.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Well yep, and so all right, so I want to
get a little bit back into the boxes that Malachi
Starks checks. And we talked about kind of the intangibles,
how smart he is, the communication, the leadership, right, you
become your day one starter on George's defense, National winning
championship winning defense. Yeah, you know you're a leader, right,
(07:25):
But I also want to talk about just the fit
here and the versatility that he has, and because I
think that's so important and a major reason why he's
the Ravens pick is not only is he versatile, but
now it enables Kyle Hamilton to remain versatile. And John
Harwall said, really what they envision is opponents have no
idea where these guys are going to.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Be, Like they could be anywhere.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
And that is really something that a lot of defensive
coordinators want these days, is that positionless football and to
be able to do that and keep an offense and
a quarterback constantly guessing Where's Where's Hamilton gonna be?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Where's you know?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
And now Malachi Starks once he makes a couple of plays,
where Stark's gonna be? I don't want to, you know,
you gotta know? And they could be anywhere, And so
Malachi starts. According to Pro Football Focus, paid four hundred
snaps at deep deep safety last year, two hundred and
seventy one in the slot, two hundred and fifteen in
the box. He also can play dime linebacker, John Harball
(08:23):
said he can play anywhere, and the nice compment is
it shades a little bit more towards deep safety. That's
been his primary spot at Georgia was deep safety, which
is a nice comment to Kyle Hamilton, a much bigger
bodied guy who you want a little bit close to
safe to the line of scribrace. So like if that's
kind of where each of them shade, right, but they
(08:47):
can are also interchangeable, that's a perfect fit.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yeah, it fits perfectly. I remember at the at the outset,
and we've talked about this a few times on the podcast.
At the outset of this process, I kind of I
was looking at it like Malachi Stars is just the
deep safety, the traditional center fielder, and he can do that.
But like versatility, as you just laid out, is part
of the game. About half of his snaps came half
(09:11):
of his snaps are deep safety, and half of them
were elsewhere m exactly. So it's slot in the box,
especially fifty to fifty in terms of whether he's a
little deep safety or a little bit more not.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
At deep sea exactly.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, And so so like he has that ability, he's
really good with the ball skills and so that was
part of. At the beginning, I was like, Oh, he's
just a deep safety. But as I dug into it
more and again, I go back to that combine and interview,
and the thing that I came away with is it
felt like every third word out of his mouth was versatility. Yeah,
and he just talked about versatility. Versatility, versatility. That's what
(09:46):
he prides himself on. And in order to be versatile,
you gotta be smart. Okay, we heard all about that.
You need to have a really good understanding and to
be confident. And so he has all those abilities, and
I think that, like, it's just going to a lot.
I think it's going to all another element of this
defense because you're gonna have all these really good players
on the back end of the defense who can all
(10:07):
play at a really high level. And then it's going
to keep offenses guessing in a way that's just going
to challenge these quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
It also helps Ardarius Washington, who can play nickel and safety,
as we saw at the end of last season. It
also helps Marlon Humphrey, who was another versatile player. Yeah,
corner and nickel, And so the Ravens have an embarrassment
of riches in their secondary that they can play them
all over the place and it's gonna be really fun
(10:37):
to watch. I also want to talk about just the
playmaking skills. And we talked about six interceptions in three seasons.
You know that's not a number that makes you go wow. Right,
there are some other guys like Xavier Watson this year's
drafts who made more interceptions. But you go watch those
interceptions and look, all right, this is going to sound crazy.
(10:58):
This is gonna sound crazy. And I said to one
of our cafeteria workers tonight while I was getting dinner,
and of course on draft.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Night, everyone's talking about everybody. Yeah, who you got, Who
you got? Who you gonna think? You know, I'm telling
everybody I got my Malchi Starks.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
That's my guy.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
And I'm talking to Brian down in the cafeteria and
I said, look, Brian, this is gonna sound nuts and
it's blasphemous, but I see shades of Ed Reid.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I see shades of that.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
And I'm not just gonna sit here and say Malchi
Starks is going to become Ed Reid. He's Y's hall
favorite guy, hasn't played the NFL game, right, But like
you go watch some of those plays that he made
that he's made, and boy boy.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
It looks reminiscent. Well, look dad, he can go up
and get the ball.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Daniel Jeremiah, he was talking more body type, but after
that he is.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Kind of wiry like that. He's kind of a unique
athlete like Ed was.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Yeah, I mean, Jeremiah made the point like body type
composition wise reminds him of Ed, of course, and edw.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
And I just want to stop you for a second
because Ed was like a great athlete, but in no
testing would you have said, oh, Ed ran a blaze.
He wasn't Nick amm Emon worry out there running a
four to three whatever forty.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
That wasn't Ed.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
But like, but you say, who's the most athletic guy
on the feud? He said that number twenty.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
That that is kind of what Malachi reminds me of.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah, and and so he has like this really good
athleticism and that's part of why he's able to play
in all these different roles exactly. And then he has
he has the production and like there is something to
be said. Eric has shaved. Eric Tacosta has shaded towards
drafting players from big schools in his time as GM,
and he was he was asked about that, and he
(12:38):
made the point like, when you look at our history,
a lot of the best players that we've drafted have
come from these premiere programs. And I mean ed Miami
in those in the nineties. That was a prettier program,
no doubt about it, powerhouse and and you could there's
lots and lots of different examples of that. And and
so you get a guy that's just a super product
(13:00):
player for one of the best teams in college football
over the last three years, with a tremendous defense.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
That's defenses right, Yeah, it's.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
It's like it's hard not to like that.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, oh absolutely. And so so production wise, I think, uh,
you know this, this team needs more takeaways. They they
were kind of middle of the pack this past season
as a defense, and I think that there's a track
record now, you know, that's been part of the problem.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
The bugaboo in the.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Playoffs is they haven't got enough takeaways. They've also turned
the ball over too much offensively, but they just haven't
gotten enough takeaways.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
It hasn't matched the regular season. So like, all right,
let's go get a guy.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
You know, Like I think that that's going to as
we see this draft unfold, that will that could be
a theme. Well, I actually get some playmakers takeaway guys.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Yeah, and he has that again, six interceptions. It's not
like a jaw dropping number, but like it's pretty darn
good in college.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Yeah, he got his hands on a lot of balls.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of pass passes, defense. Uh.
But the theme to what you're talking about that And
I thought it was interesting that Eric and Hardball both
mentioned this is that like when they met at the
end of the season and talked about who are the
types of guys that we want to bring in here.
They talked a lot about like makeup, intelligence, attitude, love football,
(14:18):
and I guess like you would always want those guys.
But it seemed like both of them mentioned off the
top of the press conference like they had a type
of player that they want to bring to Baltimore and
Malachi Starks fits that.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Well, he's the Red Star player. Yes, you know, and
for listeners out there who don't know what a red
Star player is. For the Ravens, every scout gets one
Red Star that they can put on a player that
not only embodies what a Raven is, on the field,
but off the field, it's everything that we're talking about,
Like they just play the game like a raven, tough, physical,
(14:53):
all those things, and then the intelligence, the character, the
football character, the personal care character, all of those kind
of intangibles are also there. And Malachi Starks as one
of their Red Star players this year.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, and so like and I think sometimes when you
start talking about like the intangible stuff, you can overlook
the production that we just covered. Yeah, it's not like that. Hey,
he's a great guy. He's a leader, He's going to
take great notes in the classroom, like, oh no, he's
also a baller when he gets on the field.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I also think that his athleticism, and this might have
been part of why he got to the Ravens at
twenty seven, was a little bit misconstrued.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I kind of talked about the Ed Reid thing. But
you go back to this.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Guy in Georgia and I'm his like, he is a
legendary athlete in his community. I mean, we're talking about
he was the Georgia track athlete of the year in
the entire state, the track athlete of the year in Georgia,
which I'm gonna guess they have a lot of athletes
in Georgia when he was like coming out of middle
(15:58):
school right then, and he was a state in the
middle school track high thank you, Dame Brugler, state champion
long jumper, right he was top five and one hundred,
one hundred meters. Yeah, he got some straight line speed
on him too. I mean he was the top rated
athlete like recruit going into college. Just some of them
are athletes if they don't have a defined position. Because
(16:20):
guess what, he played quarterback among many other positions, and
he went fourteen and one went to the state championship
as a quarterback yep, in high school, and so he
was the top rated athlete recruit in the twenty twenty
two class in the entire state of Georgia.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Yeah, I mean he's a tremendous athlete. And so at
the combine, like he ran a four or five forty,
which is like right, so her flat people are like,
you know, it's not tremendous, but a for a safety,
that's plenty fast. And also you you gotta look at
the full picture, and I think that like the Ravens
(16:57):
do that, and his other by the way, like when
you're just talking about the Kyle Hamilton.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
By the way, I didn't run him blazing.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Forty dash exactly. Also, other actual testing metrics, not just
a forty yard dash. He performed very well in other
testing metrics at the combine. Yeah, it's not like the
guy had a bad combine.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
He had the fastest like mile per hour in the
short shuttle.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Roll of any of anybody.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yeah, so like his his his combine performance fourteen point nine.
I think it was a little bit of a misnomer conversation.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
It kind of got misconstrued.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I think that that I think that's a large reason
why he could have fallen to twenty seven. It's like
people just didn't look at him and say, Shamar Sewart
went whatever. Yeah, ten picks earlier to the Bengals, right now,
blew up the combine like he. I think a lot
of people came out of the combine and said, Stark's
really that kind of a premier athlete that I want
(17:49):
to use a first round pick on him.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Well, and this is a tale his ownest time for
the Ravens. Well, yeah at this now, no'll draft the
athlete too. Nate Wiggins, he blew it.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Up, you know.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
But I think that if you were talking about a
safety who blew up the combine. You were talking about
Nick Emun war because he was bigger, he was faster,
and so you're like, oh, okay, that's the safety that
you're talking about, having a tremendous combine. And so everyone
came out of the combine saying like Nick even Warre.
Now he ended up falling due he didn't get drafted
in the first round. But but that was the conversation then,
(18:21):
and I think it overshadowed just how good that Starks
was in some of the other testing.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And overall, I also think it's a position, right, Do
I need a safety that runs a four to four
sub four four? No, it's a different You don't need
that kind you don't have to have that kind of
speed at safety at corner. If I'm gonna put that
guy on an island and expect them to run with
Jamar Chase and co. Yeah, I want Nay Wiggins to
be able to run in the four threes. You know, like, yes,
(18:49):
but safety is a different position.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yeah, I'm with you, and and you know it's always
part of the question is always like who's going to
get there? Eric did make the point that he was
by far the best available guy on the board. That
was quite by far the best available guy there. Yep,
and I was it was interesting. We actually did get
a chance to ask Eric this. But right before the
Ravens were on the clock, the Atlanta Falcons traded in
(19:14):
front of them. They traded with the Rams, and it's
like whenever a team trades right in front of you,
you wonder, like, what's gonna what's gonna happen here? They
end up taking the passbuster James Pierce, and no idea
what the Ravens had as a great on James Pierce.
But I got to believe that they were just thrilled
that they end up getting Malachi Starks, who's still there
for them.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah. Absolutely, And Malachi you know, he said he was
he was playing a game of Uno, getting ready to
play a game of in the green room and every
Bay good game. I still get down with some Unos
sometimes with the kids. Yeah, Nick, it wrong.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Well, it's also like I think for these guys that
end up going at the end of the first round,
like it's a long night, like it's a long day.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, they're in.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Green Bay for a few days, you know, they get
they get the suit on, they walk the red carpet
like three hours before the draft, like and by the
time it's done, you just like, I to get my
mind off of this thing. The green rooms get a
little empty here. I just need to pass the time,
and so playing a little bit of Uno and the
Ravens call and ends up being in you know, a
great story.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
I'm really happy for Malachi starts to you know, you
see him with his family there in Green Bay. And
by the way, make sure you check out our interview
with Malachi Starks. Cassie Cherigo was in Green Bay. So
it's always fun. Also when your guy's there and gets picked.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
That's that's like selfishly, we're all rooting for the fact that,
like we have a crew there and it could go right.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
It's a boomore, but I want to set and the crew
for a reason.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah, and so it worked out. We've actually had pretty
good luck if you go back over the years, we've
had a pretty good luck when it comes to the
draft and have the player at the draft. So always
excited to have him.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
There and you know, just full circle here. It never
gets old seeing these guys have these emotions and you
can see that Malachi starts immediately after he has drafted.
The emotions were there, and you know that's the other
box that he checks is the advert city that he's
come through just as a person, you know, I mean,
(21:04):
this is a kid who, according to the Dame Brugler
of the Athletic, was homeless, you know, from grades three
to six and kind of bouncing around between temporary housing
and uh, you know, I can't imagine and for him
to get through that with his family and uh, you know,
become the person that he is, you just feel even
(21:26):
happier for the guy.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Yeah, I think that he is someone. When we had
a chance to talk with him, the theme was like
I can't wait there and get to work. I can't
wait to get there and get to work. And I
think that that speaks to the type of player.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
And also it's supposedly a great guy in the community too,
like just a legend back from Georgia, like with young
younger guys like this guy just.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Want Smith.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
It was it was asked about him this week and
rocol was like, look, I don't know a lot of guys,
but when he's asked about Malachi Stars, He's like, everything
I've heard about him is that they rave about. So
even Rokwan's getting the good reports from Georgia about how
good of a player Malachi Starks is. And he also
talked like there's there's confidence with him, but I also
(22:14):
got a real sense of humility too, like he's like,
I'm excited to come learn from Kyle Hamilton him like,
I'm excited to learn from these veteran Pro Bowl caliber players.
That's what I And so again he's not coming in
like I'm running the show. He's coming in like I'm
a confident player and I'm going to get to learn
from some of the best. And I think that that's
like the right approach for a rookie to have.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Completely agree. So a great pick for the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Really excited about Malachi Stark's really excited to continue to
brag about hitting my pick instead of you. I know
your selection was Derek Harmon. By the way, he was
a Pittsburgh Steeler. You have to live with that too.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I know, if your guy's a Steeler, every play that
he makes, I'm going to just lament that that pick
and it's going to be etched in history. So we're
going to take a quick break when we come back.
We're going to share some final thoughts on the draft
and also do a quick preview on what the Ravens
could do on the second day. You're listening to the
Lounge podcast. We are coming to you from the seat
Geek Studio. We want to mention our partners at Draftking
(23:11):
sports Book. They are an official sports betting partner of
the Baltimore Ravens Draft King Sports Book. The Crown is yours. So,
as we mentioned, the draft kind of broke the Ravens way,
I think in a lot of ways. A couple of
notes from me, just to look around the division. You
mentioned that Cincinnati took Schamar Stewart. He was linked to
the Ravens in plenty of mock drafts. So they get
(23:32):
the really athletic gifted pass rusher.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Low on production, high on upside, yep athletic upside for sure.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Uncertainty there in Cincinnati with Trey Hendrickson, who's asked for
a new contract and could they trade him. Not sure
how the addition of Shamar Stewart impacts Trey Hendrickson and
his status, but they get a talented player there. The
Browns were one of the big stories in the first
part of the draft. They had the second pick coming
into the night, moved back from two to five, end
up adding some additional picks, including one of the second
(24:02):
round this year in a first round er next year.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
They gotta three spots.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
They moved three spots back, and they get a ton
of return, But on the flip side, they give up
the potential of getting Travis Hunter. So the Jaguars move up.
They take Travis Hunter, who a lot of people felt
was the best player in the draft, of course, won
the heidst Of Trophy.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Player can play both ways, super talent, generational prospect.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
And then the Browns end up taking defensive tackle Mason
Graham out of Michigan, So certainly not as exciting as
it would have been with Travis Hunter. You think you're
getting this two wave player who's a Heisman Trophy winner,
and they end up going with the defensive lineman. Now
on the flip side, they get an extra second round pick,
and they've got a chance to get should or Sanders
(24:45):
if they want to go that route. In the second round.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
You didn't get drafted.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
He did not get drafted, so he goes he should Sanders.
Everyone talked about him coming into the draft, doesn't get drafted,
Browns have a chance to get him.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
On Day two, and the New York Giants drafted their
quarterback and Jackson Dart they were the other team that
was certainly in that market. Yes, the Saints certainly could
draft a quarterback still, but the Browns are going to
have the second pick, and I'll tell you the Titans
are not taking quarterbacks. So unless the Titans were to
trade back, then the Browns are going to have their
(25:15):
shot at Shdor Sanders. Do they take it, I don't know,
but they're going to back to back picks, and so
it would be surprising.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
The Browns had the first pick of the second round.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
They have the first pick.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
They got the first pick of the second round, so
they have a chance if they want.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Him and brown exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Now, that would be an interesting pairing Dion and all
the glitz and glamour heading to Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
But you know, we'll see, we'll see if that happens.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
My takeaway from the division was everybody wants to try
to load up to stop Lamar Jackson, Dereck Henry, everybody
in the vision took a defensive lineman Derek Carmon to
the Steelers Shamar Stewarts d end Edge to Cincinnati and
then the Browns with Mason Graham.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
So you know, the Steelers didn't like Derek Can. We're
running all over him.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
In the playoffs and everybody else down like Lamar, They're
they're tired of that, and so defensive linemen heavy.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Yeah, I in addition to like losing my chance to
have my mock draft hit with Derek Carmon, the defensive
tackle from Oregon going to the Steelers, it is painful
because I to be honest, I think he's a really
good player, and I think that like the cop on
him is Cam Hayward and who's been just like a
like a nuisance for the Ravens for like a decade,
you know, just a really good player who's who's difficult
(26:29):
so to stop it makes life hard. So I think
they did get a good player. So that's that's a
tough blow to see him going the division.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
There, you know they're you're they're gonna get good players
in the first round, and you know that's power goes.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
That's how it goes exactly. More. My focus with the
Steelers is who's playing quarterback?
Speaker 1 (26:49):
So yeah, that's what I'm really curious to see if
we see that move on day two.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Yeah, because a lot of people thought they could take Sanders,
they passed and they took Derek Carmon instead. So quickly,
just what's your thought on the direction? You know, my
mock basically blow it up. I guess I still have
The other great part is that set up for success? Yeah?
Now you know both of us actually had a corner
back in the second round, so we both could could
(27:15):
hit that. You know, as I look at the second round,
there's still plenty of good corners on the board. Both
of the corners, of course, who we ended up taking
taking the second round or still on the board, Shavon
Ravel so you took and I took. That's right, Thomas
out of Florida state, So both of them are still there. Yeah.
So I think that could be a position that the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Go, gosh, this secondary you know, you take Malachi starts
in the first and then you go corner in the second.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Yeah, that would be I mean.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
I think ed Rusher certainly, Yeah, high possibility there and
defensive lineman, this would be the spots that I would look.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
At the other possibility and I've I've mentioned this, like,
I'll be curious to see what happens in the running
back situation.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I sure, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Yeah, I've mentioned this many times, Like I still think that,
like if there's a blue hip running back, and I
mentioned the Ohio State running backs, both of them Trevon
Henderson Henderson and quinch Quinn Shawn Judkins as being like
really talented and maybe just because the Ravens took a
second round running back out of a high state when
nobody expected them to with JK. Dobbins, that's like stuck
and burned in my head. But if if one of
(28:18):
those guys is there, I think it would be an
interesting conversation.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Surprise pick outside of outside of corner, defensive line, edge rusher,
this would be the big three remaining outside of that.
If I were picking a surprise position outside of that,
I would probably take inside linebacker and an interior offensive lineman.
Offensive linean could happen at any time, yeah, but I would.
(28:43):
I would probably say, if there's going to be a
surprise second rounder for me, that would be an inside linebacker.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Well, John Campbell was a guy who thought maybe like
could be too good of a player to pass up,
and the Ravens did pass them up. They go with
Malachi Starks. The linebacker from Alabama was on the board.
The Ravens went with Starks, And so may I would
I would be more surprised at linebacker than I would
running back, just as example I.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Will, I would I would put inside linemakers.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Maybe well, maybe I'm buying into the smoke screens and
and the way that the Ravens have talked about the
possibility of drafting a running back. Uh, but that's uh,
that'll be part of the fun Friday night. So uh,
we are going to do another podcast on Saturday once
the whole draft is done. So we'll do a full
recap podcast on Saturday once we have rounds two through
(29:29):
seven and put a nice bow on it. Also, Malachi
Starks is going to be in the building on Friday.
He's gonna fly here from Green Bay, and we're gonna
have all sorts of fun content playing with him. While
he's here. He's gonna do an introductory press conference. So
there's a lot happening. It's a fun time. You guys
can send your emails. We already got a bunch of
home people celebrating your success. So I appreciate you all
(29:50):
those out put them on the board, put them on
the fridge.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Yeah, you can email us at the lounge at Ravens
at NFL dot net. Thank you for listening and we
will be back with you again on Saturday
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com