Ravens Look to Choose Wisely

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- It is clear the Baltimore Ravens need to add a quarterback, whether through this weekend's NFL draft or free agency. Steve McNair, their expected starter, retired last week after 13 NFL seasons, leaving the team with two on the roster: former first-round pick Kyle Boller and second-year player Troy Smith.

With the eighth and 38th picks, Baltimore is in a position to address that need. But what has been running through Eric DeCosta's mind over the past week is the need for the Ravens to remain as objective as possible when evaluating the quarterbacks, and not straying too far from the philosophy that has made them so successful in previous drafts.

"When you have a big need on your team, it's easy to get emotional and maybe over-value those players because you need it so badly," said DeCosta, Baltimore's director of college scouting. "That's a dangerous thing."

Baltimore may have done that five years ago, when it traded two draft picks -- including its first-round selection in 2004 -- to the New England Patriots in order to move back into the first round to take Boller with the 19th overall pick. Now heading into his sixth season, Boller has yet to show he can be a consistent, dependable NFL starter.

The Ravens, under General Manager Ozzie Newsome, have had draft success thanks to a process that focuses on taking the best player available, as opposed to drafting based on need. When a team is desperate to take a player to fill a hole, eventually it will open itself up to taking a player too high, according to DeCosta.

"When you do that, you create a false sense of expectations," DeCosta said. "You expect, as an organization, for a player to be something because you drafted him in that spot, when in reality, you only drafted him in that spot because you created an artificial sense of value. Even though quarterback is a perceived need for this franchise, we've tried to be as objective as possible, and not scout in a vacuum, and compare the quarterbacks to . . . every other position."

DeCosta described the top four quarterback prospects -- Boston College's Matt Ryan, Michigan's Chad Henne, Louisville's Brian Brohm and Delaware's Joe Flacco -- as "intriguing guys, all in their own right."

Ryan, the ACC player of the year, is tall (6 feet 5), poised and intelligent. DeCosta was among the reported crowd of 150 -- ranging from NFL personnel to media -- at Ryan's pro day workout in Boston in March, and he was impressed with the quarterback's accuracy, as well as his composure under pressure and in the spotlight.

"I think he has his priorities really well-organized, and that's critical for a quarterback. It's easy to get caught up in the limelight and the glitz and the glamour," DeCosta said. "I think Matt Ryan is very well-grounded, and he's primed for success because he's lived it, he's wanted to be good for a long time, and I think when he gets his opportunity he'll succeed."

Henne started for four years at Michigan and posted a 33-14 record. He has what DeCosta calls "that 'It' factor" -- that combination of leadership and charisma a quarterback needs, along with the work ethic and smarts. Brohm, a finance major with a 3.52 grade-point average, started for three seasons at Louisville and is the most accurate passer (65.7 percent) in Big East history.

Flacco, who is 6-7 with a strong, accurate arm, "might be the most talented," according to DeCosta, but the fact that he played for Delaware, as opposed to one of the division I-A powers, "is a bit of a concern."

However, Flacco, who started his college career at Pittsburgh, won games with the Blue Hens, leading them to the Football Championship Subdivision final. Delaware upset two higher-seeded teams on the road in the playoffs.

"If a guy can win a game, whether he's a quarterback or whatever position, [and he] comes from a winning program, I think that rubs off on the players," DeCosta said. "What we're trying to do here is to create that expectation level of winning every game."

Newsome said during last week's pre-draft news conference there are four traits the Ravens look for when evaluating quarterbacks. He wouldn't elaborate, but he did say he draws on his experiences as a player.

"I've been in the huddle with some good quarterbacks, so I can recall how those guys reacted, how those guys responded to things, and I try to base my evaluation off of that," said Newsome, a Hall of Fame tight end. "At the end of the day, it's how a guy plays. It's a lot of different things that you can try to look for to manufacture whether a guy is going to be good or not, but you've got to put the tape on, watch the guy, watch the guy in critical situations, and see how he handles himself."

Baltimore was 13-3 and won the AFC North in 2006, but injuries and sloppy play (league-high 40 turnovers) contributed to a 5-11 record in 2007. But the Ravens said they feel they have the pieces in place to be successful this season. Coach John Harbaugh, who was hired in January to replace Brian Billick, is going to give whatever quarterback the Ravens bring in a chance to compete for the starting position.

"It will be tough for anybody to come in and win a job against" Boller and Smith, Harbaugh said last week during the team's first minicamp. "Those two guys are solid quarterbacks. They can both play. But whoever we draft is going to be a really good quarterback too, so it's going to be a competition. We're going to roll the balls out and let them fight for the job."