Rookie TEs Ed Dickson, Dennis Pitta and WR David Reed have all looked good so far in their first tastes of the NFL.  Dickson was picked in the third round and he has caught 3 passes for 30 yards (10.0 avg).  Despite looking good so far he could still open the season as the Ravens’ #3 TE.  That’s because 4th round pick Dennis Pitta has also looked good catching 4 passes for 65 yards (16.3 avg) so far this pre-season.  David Reed was a 5th round pick last April and despite having a solid pre-season (4 rec, 38 yards, 9.5 avg) he could still have a rough time making the team as the Ravens are stacked at WR for 2010.  It should come as no surprise that these guys look so good in the pre-season as Ravens’ GM Ozzie Newsome knows what he’s doing every single April at the NFL Draft.

Ravens’ 2nd round pick OLB Sergio Kindle has fractured his skull after falling down two flights of stairs.  He will not be able to fly from Austin, Texas to Baltimore for at least the next three weeks.  Kindle will miss all of training camp and he probably will miss the start of the 2010 regular season for the Baltimore Ravens.  This is a huge blow to Kindle’s career but the Ravens will be able to recover because they weren’t depending on him to produce much in his rookie year.  Hopefully he will have a speedy recovery.

The Ravens have selected OT Ramon Harewood out of Morehouse College (Georgia) with the 194th pick (6th round) of the NFL Draft.  Harewood is a giant man at 6’6″, 358 pounds.  He is a good run blocker but he runs out of gas quite a bit.  He will be a developmental project for the Ravens but he has a huge upside.  He played in 10 games (all starts) for Morehouse last season and he played in 33 games (all starts) in his four years there.  You probably won’t see Harewood in a game too soon but he does have a nice upside.

The Ravens have selected DT Arthur Jones with the 157th overall pick (5th round) of the NFL Draft.  Jones was projected to go in the 2nd or 3rd round by most draft “experts”.  He slid because of his questionable work ethic and dedication to the game of football.  He does have outstanding size as he is 6’3″, 302 pounds.  The Ravens’ coaching staff will have to be all over Jones to keep him focused and motivated.  If the coaching works the Ravens probably have a steal in Jones.  Jones played in 9 games (all starts) for Syracuse last season and he finished up with 19 tackles, 7 tackles for a loss, 1.5 sacks and he recovered 2 fumbles.  In his four years in college, Jones played in 44 games (32 starts) in which he had 120 tackles, 38.5 tackles for a loss, 6.5 sacks, he batted down one ball and he recovered 2 fumbles.  This was a boom or bust pick for the Ravens.

The Ravens have picked WR David Reed with the 156th overall pick (5th round) of the NFL Draft.  Reed is a slender guy at 6’0″, 186 pounds and he’s not the fastest WR around as he runs a 4.54 40.  But, he has a outstanding set of hands and he is tough for a little guy.  He also can help the Ravens on special teams as a possible kickoff returner.  He will need to work on his run blocking as the Ravens will have to coach him up in that area of his game.  Reed played in 13 games (all starts) for Utah last season and he caught 81 passes for 1,188 yards (14.7 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  He played in 26 games (13 starts) in his two years at Utah and he caught 106 passes for 1,616 yards (15.2 avg) with 11 TD grabs.  Reed will have to make the Ravens on special teams at least initially as they are suddenly pretty deep at WR.

The Ravens have picked TE Dennis Pitta with the 114th overall pick (4th round) of the NFL Draft.  Pitta gives Joe Flacco another good target in the passing game as he is 6’4″, 252 pounds despite being a tad slow running a 4.75 40.  He has outstanding hands but he needs to improve his blocking a bit.  Pitta played in 13 games (all starts) at BYU last season in which he caught 62 passes for 829 yards (13.4 avg) with 8 TD grabs.  He played in 50 games (30 starts) in his four years at BYU in which he caught 221 passes for 2,904 yards (13.1 avg) with 21 TD grabs.  This was a solid pick for the Ravens as Pitta could help them soon.

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