After two trades, Ravens draft Iowa’s Linderbaum
The Ravens took Iowa’s Tyler Linderbaum with the No. 25 overall pick Thursday night, adding the NFL draft’s top center prospect after a series of trades that sent wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown to the Arizona Cardinals.
The 6-foot-2, 296-pound Linderbaum’s arrival suggests the team’s run-game philosophy will change next season. A former wrestler and consensus All-American, Linderbaum was considered a better fit for zone-running schemes during the predraft process. Ravens officials have typically targeted bigger interior linemen for their power-heavy concepts.
Despite Linderbaum’s high-level production and impressive athletic profile, he seemed to fall out of the Ravens’ range after he measured in shorter than expected at the NFL scouting combine. Team officials had also touted Patrick Mekari as their replacement for center Bradley Bozeman entering next season. But general manager Eric DeCosta called Linderbaum “probably one of the better centers we’ve seen come out in a long time.”
“Just one of the very most enjoyable football players to watch this year,” DeCosta said after the first round Thursday night. “I think all of the scouts would say that.
You’re talking about one of the best technicians: strong, physical, tough, quick-footed. Somebody said it on TV, I think: ‘If he was an inch taller and his arms were a half-inch longer, he’d have been a top-five pick.’ And I believe that.
“So it filled a huge need for us. We feel that this offseason, we’ve had a chance to address the offensive line in different ways and improve the depth and the quality along the front. And we’re not done.”
The pick was the byproduct of two draftnight trades. Minutes after taking Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton at No. 14 overall, the Ravens announced they’d traded Brown, their leading wide receiver, and a third-round pick to the Cardinals for the No. 23 overall pick. Forty minutes later, they swapped spots with Buffalo, acquiring the Bills’ picks at Nos. 25 and 130 overall.
With needs at edge rusher, cornerback and offensive tackle, DeCosta instead produced another surprise. At his predraft news conference earlier this month, he’d suggested that the Ravens were looking for centers bigger than the short-armed Linderbaum.
“Our philosophy, honestly, is, we want big guys,” he said.
“We want big guys at every position, across the offense, across the defense [and] in general. So it’s a tough position to fill via the draft at times.”
Ravens director of player personnel Joe Hortiz said Linderbaum “can play, really, in any scheme.”
“His core strength — I mean, he’s not the biggest guy, but he gets on guys,” he said. “You guys saw the highlights. That’s him every play. Big guys don’t affect him. He can leverage guys. You saw the wrestling. He just is a really tremendous athlete, knows how to play the position, knows how to get his body in the right spot, and then he just consistently works at maintaining his blocks. And you’ll see it when they show highlights. He’ll block three guys in one play. He’s a lot of fun to watch.”
The Ravens now have six fourth-round selections, all of them within a 31-pick span
(No. 110 to No. 141). They’ll enter Day 2 with a second-round pick (No. 45), one third
round pick (No. 76) and plenty of ammunition to move up.