The Ravens have selected TE Ed Dickson out of Oregon with the 70th overall pick (3rd round) of the NFL Draft.  Dickson is 6’3″, 245 pounds and he runs a 4.75 40.  Dickson does not have enough strength yet to be a good blocker in the running game but he tries hard.  Maybe the Ravens can coach him up and make him a complete TE but they drafted him because of his receiving ability.  Dickson played in 13 games (all starts) for the Ducks last season and he caught 42 passes for 551 yards (13.1 avg) with 6 TD grabs.  He played in 52 games (39 starts) in his four years in Oregon and he caught 124 passes for 1,557 yards (12.6 avg) with 12 TD grabs.  Look for Dickson to push Todd Heap for playing time early in his career with the Ravens as he has a nice upside.

The Ravens have selected DT Terrence Cody out of Alabama with the 57th overall pick (2nd round) of the NFL Draft.  Cody is a mountain of a man at 6’4″, 370 pounds and he demands a double team almost every play because of his power.  Still, he doesn’t provide much of a pass rush making him more of a two down player.  He played in 14 games (all starts) for the Crimson Tide last season and he finished up with 28 tackles, 6 tackles for a loss and he batted down 1 pass.  In his two years with Alabama, Cody played in 26 games (all starts) in which he finished up with 44 tackles, 10.5 tackles for a loss, he had 1/2 a sack, 1 batted down pass and 1 forced fumble.  If  the Ravens can keep Cody in good enough shape to play the inside linebackers of the Ravens are going to love having him in front of them.

The Baltimore Ravens have selected OLB Sergio Kindle out of Texas with the 43rd overall pick (2nd round) of the NFL Draft.  Kindle is a super fast player off of the edge and many project him to be better than 2009 first round pick OLB Brian Orakpo of the Redskins.  If that is indeed the case then the Ravens got a major steal in Kindle.  Past knee surgery is what likely caused Kindle to drop to the Ravens in the second round but he didn’t have any problems with that knee last year.  Kindle played in 14 games (all starts) for the Longhorns last season and he had 70 tackles, 22 tackles for a loss, 5.5 sacks and he broke up 4 passes.  He played in 46 games (25 starts) in his four years at Texas and he finished up with 163 tackles, 40.5 tackles for a loss, 16 sacks and he broke up 7 passes.  The Ravens are masters at catching good players who fall in the NFL Draft and they just got another one in Sergio Kindle who has the potential to be a major star for them.

The Ravens have brought in a lot of talent this off-season already so they head into this weekend’s NFL Draft without any glaring needs.  The Ravens have 2 of the top 57 picks in the NFL Draft and only 5 picks overall.  I don’t see the Ravens doing much trading likely sitting pat and taking the best player available unless they move down to add more picks which is always a possibility.  The Ravens top three needs are CB, TE and MLB.  With that in mind I see the Ravens targeting TE Jermaine Gresham, TE Rob Gronkowski, CB Kyle Wilson, CB Patrick Robinson, ILB Rolando McClain and ILB Sean Lee.

PROJECTED FIRST ROUND PICK:  LB, Rolando McClain, Alabama

The Baltimore Ravens looks at their team needs this off-season and then they were aggressive in fixing the situations.  It all started when the acquired WR Anquan Boldin from the Cardinals in a trade.  He gives the Ravens a legit #1 WR for the future starting in 2010.  They didn’t stop there signing WR Donte’ Stallworth who was suspended last season for a drunk driving “accident” in which he killed a pedestrian in Miami.  He has the speed to help out the WR corps if his head is on straight.  DT Cory Redding was also signed in free agency giving the Ravens another big body for the interior of the D.  It will be interesting to see what the rookie haul is this weekend for the Ravens as they always seem to do a good job in the draft.

The Ravens have released 33-year old CB Samari Rolle.  Rolle did not play all of last season due to a neck injury.  He played 5 years with the Ravens appearing in 48 games in which he made 136 tackles, defensed 34 passes, he had 1 sack, forced 3 fumbles and he had 8 interceptions.  Rolle was a solid player for the Ravens but this was the right move to make due to the seriousness of his injuries.