If the Baltimore Ravens could enter every draft with 20 picks, they probably still wouldn’t be happy and would actively look to trade back at some point to acquire more. But this offseason, the Ravens’ draft cupboard is pretty bare as they start thinking about the 2021 NFL draft.
Currently, Baltimore has just five picks in the 2021 NFL draft after trading for players like Yannick Ngakoue. But that’s before the NFL announces the compensatory picks, which should give the Ravens quite the boost in draft capital.
According to Over The Cap, the Ravens are set to earn two compensatory picks in the 2021 NFL draft — in the third- and fifth-round — bringing their total to seven draft picks. While the compensatory picks aren’t locked in stone, OTC has been one of the best at predicting which teams will earn what, so it’s a pretty safe bet.
Baltimore’s third-round compensatory pick is already guaranteed to happen. With the Houston Texans hiring former Ravens wide receivers coach David Culley as their new head coach, Baltimore earns a third-round compensatory pick in both the 2021 and 2022 NFL drafts. It’s a part of the league’s new minority hiring initiative, unanimously agreed to by team owners in November as a way to promote minority head coach and general manager candidates.
It’s the fifth-round pick that OTC is really predicting. They’re expecting defensive tackle Michael Pierce, who signed with the Minnesota Vikings last year but opted out of the 2020 season under the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols, to earn one of the last remaining fifth-round picks. The Vikings signed Pierce to a three-year $27 million contract that has an APY of $9 million, which is a major factor in the compensatory pick formula, per OTC.
While the compensatory picks haven’t been announced yet, here are the expected Ravens’ 2021 NFL draft picks.
| Round | Pick # |
| 1st | 27 |
| 2nd | 58 |
| 3rd | 104 *Comp pick for David Culley |
| 4th | 131 |
| 5th | 169 |
| 5th | 184 *Comp pick for Michael Pierce |
| 6th | 211 |
