April 25, 2025 • 20 mins
S Malaki Starks, General Manager Eric DeCosta, and Head Coach John Harbaugh speak to the media after the first round.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Ravens Press Pass Podcast. The Ravens have
made their first round draft pick in the twenty twenty
five NFL Drafts, selecting safety Malachi Starks out of Georgia.
He's clearly fired up to be a Raven and he's
going to bring some real versatility to the back end
of this defense. He was a highly productive player at Georgia,
had six interceptions in his college career, and he was
(00:24):
the guy who had been linked to the Ravens throughout
this process, and the Ravens certainly were excited about the
potential of getting him with their first round pick. Eric
Tacosta and John harball I met with the media after
the pick and here's what they had to say about
drafting Malachi Starks.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well, everybody, we are happy to take Malachi Starks. He's
a player that we've seen over the last couple of years,
a great football player at a great football program, wired
like a Raven, great mental, probably one of the most
impressive interviews we've ever had at the combine.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Ballhawk.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
He's a physical guy. He's a very very good tackler,
and I was reminded that the last time we took
a starts in the first round. He ended up intercepting
a pass in the Super Bowl, so hopefully that ends
up happening again. Questions you can chair with.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Malachi and you kind of touched upon the interview with
the kind of back Was there anything else that kind
of stood out throughout the draft process? That kind of
means you and kind of stooted out.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Together, you know. I just think that as we go
back and look at our very best players, they've just
wired a certain way, they play a certain way consistently
and throughout the process. Malachi was a guy that just
really passed every single test he we have, you know,
as far as football GPA, very very high production as
(01:55):
a player, durability, ability, everything. Really, it just made a
lot of sense for us to take him.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
John, do you already are to kind of visualize what
your defense looks like, especially now teaming him up with
Hamilton who walls and does.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
A variety of league we have we have I think
when you when you look at Malachi on tape and
you guys have seen him, I'm sure all different positions
he plays. He plays both safety, he plays nicol he
plays the dime linebacker spot, which is what Kyle does.
Which is what Adarius does. And then Marlon plays inside
and outside. So the ability to move all those pieces
around and get him in different positions is pretty pretty exciting.
(02:34):
The other thing is, you know, Eric kind of just
mentioned this, but when we first came out of the season,
we had a conversation about just the type of mindset
that we were looking for and the guys who are
going to bring in, and to me, Malachi he fits
that perfectly. You know, he's smart, he's tough, he loves football,
he loves everything about football. And you saw it when
he walked up to see I saw it when he
(02:55):
walked you can see it when he walked down the
hallway there and out to the stage. It looked like
he was coming through the tunnel game day. He's ready
to go, you know, and we're just I think he's
just excited to be a raven, as we are excited
to have him be a raven.
Speaker 6 (03:10):
Do your phone ring?
Speaker 7 (03:10):
Do you consider being back it all up? Was starting
to target all along, and how busy was.
Speaker 8 (03:15):
That at the time we were going a far.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, you know, I think that as we looked at
this draft, you know, the first round, we kind of
got a sense for most of the players that were
going to get picked in front of us, and we
had maybe three or four players that we thought might
have a realistic chance of being in when we picked
the phone started ringing. We had some opportunities to trade back.
In the end, you have to look at you know,
(03:39):
the you know, the excitement of actually getting some additional picks,
which we do love, versus you know, what kind of
player are you're going to get potentially, And you know,
for me, maybe I'm getting older and just you know,
a little bit more conservative than I used to be.
But you know, I think looking at the quality of
player that we had with Starks versus what we might
have to get, it just it didn't make enough sense
(04:02):
for me. This was a guy that really checked every
single box for us in a lot of different ways.
There were some other players that we covered it as well,
but in the end, he was by far the best
guy available for us when we made the pick.
Speaker 8 (04:15):
Were you surprised to how things kind of happened with
so many guys that world into you or you thought
of you that fits near Multimore?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You know, I really wasn't surprised by the way this
this draft kind of unfolded. You know. In fact, I
think that in a lot of cases I kind of
knew which players were going to get picked, generally speaking,
and that was one of the reasons why for me
that I was nervous this year in the first round,
I was kind of nervous that we weren't going to
get a chance to get the player like Malachi, just
(04:45):
because this is what I would refer to as a
flat draft, and so you have, you know, probably ten
players that everybody puts up there, and then it really
flattens out and it stays that way. It's gonna stay
that way in a second and third and fourth round.
So from that standpoint, it's a really good draft if
you have a lot of picks because it's flat in
the middle. But that being the case, you know, there
(05:05):
were really just a few players that we thought we
might have a chance to get, and fortunately we got
one of those guys, Aaron or John.
Speaker 9 (05:13):
I think GM's and coaches some don't talk about how
hard it is to evaluate safeties just in general. Is
there any that you guys, did you wait more or
less and more doing that evaluation.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
That's a sort of.
Speaker 10 (05:25):
Position good John.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
I don't think it's that hard to evaluate safeties. I mean,
he's running the guys, running around, making plays all over
the field. You know, we've done pretty well with those guys,
and we missed on guys just like everybody else. But
I mean he's a very versatile player. You know, he
covers people man the man, he comes up and tackles people.
He he's in zone. He plays nickel zone responsibility, which
(05:49):
is really kind of tricky. You know, he's got a
good feel for that in the deep middle. You know,
he's got range. So he showed ball skills, he showed
all the things, and then you you kind of put
on top of that the mentality that we talked about,
the mindset, kind of the football character. I guess you
could call it. The guy just loves to be out
there and he wants to He loves to play. He
(06:10):
can't wait to hit the grass. And to me, that's
a that's been a good recipe for success. It really
kind of no matter what the position is. But he
looks like a safety to me. We'll see, but I
bet I bet he'll prove us right here.
Speaker 10 (06:23):
John's utul This is a little bit but last year
with Kyle label something you had to play a little
more split safety second half of the year, or not
just getting a player that starts as talent as he is,
but being able to maybe free.
Speaker 8 (06:35):
Up Hamilton to be as versatile as he can be.
I mean, how important is that for you?
Speaker 5 (06:40):
Definitely gives us that option, you know. And uh, and
it's not to say that Kyle won't be back there,
because he will be. But but the good news is,
like the offense isn't gonna know who's going to be
back there on any given play, not gonna be able
line up and say, Okay, Kyle's gonna be deep, you know,
or even our Darius is going to be deep, or
Darius all three of those guys could be on the
field a lot, or Marlon Marlin can go back and play,
can play deep if we wanted them to. But really,
(07:01):
now it's it's those three guys. You know, it's interchangeable
parts playing any one of those four positions in there.
That's pretty pretty exciting.
Speaker 8 (07:11):
I'm sure you had, you know, a bunch of guys
obviously help would defense in that in that attention and
getting a guy.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Back.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, so, I you know, I didn't, we didn't go
into it. You know, thinking that we'd take a defensive player.
You know, we were going into it thinking we're gonna
take the best football player we can take. And uh,
you know, there were some guys on the offensive side
of the ball too that got picked, and there were
a few really good players that were still there when
we picked Malachi. But you know, I think generally speaking,
we want to be a balanced drafting team. You know,
(07:47):
we want both sides of the ball to be really
strong and so, uh, you know, we're fortunate this draft,
as I said, we have a lot of opportunities the
next coming in a couple of days to get some
good players. And uh, I think you'll see us uh
fill some needs, take some really good football players, and
hopefully hit on a bunch of guys.
Speaker 11 (08:03):
Eric, here's a high level starter at one of the
best burms in the country for three years. I mean,
does that Does that always give you more confidence than
a guy will step right on the field and help.
Speaker 7 (08:12):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I mean, you know one thing that I've I've learned
from Assie. I mean, over the years, you look at
some of our best picks in their big school guys
sec you know, big ten, you know, pack ten back
in the day, guys like that, experienced guys from winning programs.
That's a big deal. That's important, and that's something that
we we definitely look for. I mean, let's face it,
you know, the SEC is if not one, I mean
(08:36):
probably one, but one or two in terms of the
best football conferences in the country. And this is a
guy that's won national championships and played at a very
high level.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
That's important. You guys keep your draft playing so close
to the best.
Speaker 12 (08:52):
Were you I don't know, concern is the right word,
but were you aware of which is I mean there's
so much talk that you love stars. You know, he
said that he was your ideal pay That makes you
at all comfortable during this week?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
You know, it did again, like I I sort of
like handicap it and model this thing out, and I
figured like, okay, well, you know, if Starks gets picked,
you know, and this is going to be another player there.
We had a few players that we really liked, and uh,
but yeah, you know, it was kind of weird to
just always consistently seeing us you know, tied to him.
(09:28):
I mean there were a few other players too. In
the end, I think it's just it it fell for us,
and we're lucky that it did. But I can promise
you that if if somebody else has been there, the
right player, that we would have taken him. And I
believe he'd be a really good player.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
For us because of you know, you sound like he did,
like Starks was already thought about possibly trading up at all.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Uh, you know, I'm not. I'm not really, you know,
I feel like you guys ask me this question every year.
I'm not. I'm not a big, big bl in trading up.
I just I just don't think that the data supports
that generally speaking. But you know, we always look at
it potentially, and again, I think it's assessing what other
teams are going to do. It's kind of the flow
(10:14):
of the draft. As you get to you know, we're
picking twenty seven. As you get to say, eighteen or nineteen,
that's when you might consider trading up, probably, But then
you look at the players that are still there, and
you start looking at each pick, and every time a
player gets taken outside your range or out of your sequence,
you're like okay, And you finally get to the point
where we're like, okay, this three or four guys, we
(10:36):
don't have to trade up. We're gonna get one of
three or four of these guys. We feel happy with
all these guys and we're good to go. So when
that happens, you know you're at peace. It's a good
place to be.
Speaker 11 (10:45):
You said it was one of the best combined interviews
you've ever done or.
Speaker 9 (10:49):
Having a player.
Speaker 13 (10:51):
What does that look like and what.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Is it that impresses you so much? In that second?
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I just think it was remarkable, you know, the way
that he could discuss football, his awareness, his ability to
call out the plays from their defense before we even
showed the play. It's just based on formation. His ability
to dissect and talk about what happened at any given play
and to know what his teammates were doing in any
given play. I mean, it was like he was a coach,
(11:16):
and you know, we just when he got up, we
just were all kind of like looking at each other
and we you know, we use a grading scale. We
gread every interview and seven is the best, and across
the board he got straight sevens. So it was just
super impressive. I haven't seen that type of detail in
a long time.
Speaker 11 (11:34):
You said you had a really good feel for how
this first round was going to break. Do you feel
that for the second and third rounds as well? Or
is that a little bit more weed?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
And see, yeah, you know, it really drops off. I mean,
my prognostication ability falls off a cliff when you get
into the second and third round, I think, because you know,
I mean, you guys cover the first round, right, everybody
covers the first round, the media and it's so much
mocking now and all these different things in social media
and just you know, generally speaking, I've said, as I
said before, like the first rounds nowadays were a lot
less unpredictable than they used to be. Now you might
(12:05):
get one or two picks that kind of go rogue,
but you know, now everything's fairly predictable. Like our list
of top thirty two players, you're gonna see thirty players
drafted off that list right now. So but when you
get to the second round, that's where you start to
see the deviation and you start to see random players,
and you start to see slippers and you seequen from players.
Random players get picked. So now you might see, you know,
(12:26):
a player that we have rated at like one ten
get picked at forty two. And then we start high
five and then we're laughing, like we can't believe he
took that guy, and that guy might end up in
the Pro Bowl, you know, but that's just the nature.
That's just the nature of the draft. As you get
into these rounds now and you see a lot of
really differences in your sequences, you can edit that.
Speaker 8 (12:46):
Interview processes that set out if you're out in the
mail or in addition to just foll like print.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
I mean, it's a fifteen minute interview. But he's smart.
He knows that he knew the defense. But just the
fact that he was a red star guy, I think
kind of was the story. You guys have heard that
here and you look at the bording areas with the
red stars sitting next to his name, and then the room.
You know, the way the scouts felt about him once
we once we picked him, you know, they were like jacked.
You know, they know this guy better than anybody.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
So, yeah, they don't always clap upstairs. They clapped this year,
So you know that's how oide the scouts.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Well, sometimes they're always a clap, but sometimes.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
It's it's like a little bit of like one of
these kind of class There are how much changes now
when you get your guy, your red star guy quickly.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
For you it's tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Do you change a lot more when you kind of
get maybe you're slammed dunk on day one. I mean,
I think we just have to now what I have
to do tomorrow morning has come in and be stack
and and that's a process where you know, it's painful
because there may be some other really good safeties, right
and we could still take one. But the reality of
it is there's like some really good safeties in this draft,
(13:51):
and so you know you have to now kind of
look at it and be like, well, we're not going
to take six safeties, you know, so there's gonna be
some really good safeties somebody else. We got the best one,
somebody else is gonna get probably get the second best one,
is what it amounts to. And we'll find other guys
that are in those same clumps very close and find
the best guys in those clumps that we can use.
We can use in different ways.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
I think it's like that. I think it's like the
ninth time they it's select the defensive back and the
first down. As you know in the industry, do you
think it's just the way that sometimes the board has
fallen over the years, or do you feel like there
there is an investment, there is a priority placed. Uh,
kind of in the in the in the secondary.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Fast well, I mean, you know, usually four or five
guys are playing in the secondary and any in any
given place, so you got more guys. But secondly, you know,
in my experience, like if you're gonna lose a game,
an easy way to lose it is by having a
bad secondary. So you know, we never want to be
in that position. That's a bad place to be. So
you know we're gonna have a strong secondary. And John
(14:52):
was a was a secondary coach in Philly for a
while too. He understands the importance of it as well.
And uh and so, and I really appreciate that because
you know, I think it's a really important critical part
of your defense.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Played a little bit in the retirement.
Speaker 13 (15:06):
We need to see the tape.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Just out of curiosity. There was a giraffe in the
background and those draft room was the plan.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
Who's I do with that?
Speaker 13 (15:16):
Is that?
Speaker 14 (15:17):
I'm sure he's been in there.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
I'm story behind that.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, But you know, I mean there's certain things we
can discuss and there's certain things we can't, but that
giraffe has been in there for a long long time.
That was my son, Michael, who's now seventeen. That was
a gift to him when he was born. And I
got the idea years ago because we we were talking
to the scouts and I'm saying, guys, you know, the
(15:41):
best scouts stand on the table, they stick their next out,
and I just it just popped into my brain. I
had this old giraffe back at home, and so one
day brought it in and we put it in the
draft room as reminded for these guys too, if they
really like somebody to stand up on the table and
stick the next out, Hi, guys off.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
We also heard from Alchai soon after the pick as
he met with the media on a virtual press conference,
and here's what he had to say. Hey, Malchai, congratulations.
I know the Ravens have been linked to you throughout
this process. Did you feel like this was the place
that you could land and get a good feel for
the team in the organization throughout this process.
Speaker 13 (16:27):
Yeah, I feel like it was a really good place
for me to be just with the type of organization
that they've running. You know, the history they have there
as well, just to think that they've been doing the
last few years. I think it's a great fit for
me just to come in and learn from a guy
like call Himlton and a lot of events in the
world like Wild Huntfrey. I think I think it's a
I think I fit the culture very well, and.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
I should mention for the media members joining us, if
you can use the raise hand function please, I will
call on you accordingly. Why don't we jump to Brian
Wacker the Baltimore Sun for the time being.
Speaker 15 (17:06):
Brian, there we go, can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Kai?
Speaker 13 (17:12):
Yes, sir?
Speaker 15 (17:13):
Well, first, congrats, Just how familiar argue with with the
Ravens defense playing alongside obviously now Kyle Hamilton and some
of their other players.
Speaker 13 (17:25):
Yeah, I think I got a good feel for it
through through the whole process. I met with him when
I went to come on, and I had some zooms
as well, So I got a good feel for it
and I'm ready to go learn. There's a lot more
I have to learn, but I'm ready to get in
and like I said, just learn from the Vets and
you know, really to dive into the whole process of
being a Raven.
Speaker 15 (17:42):
And just what was your reaction when you got the
news and found out.
Speaker 13 (17:46):
Yeah, I was, uh, I was. I was sitting on
the couch about to play. Who know, it's been a
long night, so I was just trying to stay stay
calm through the whole thing. And then I heard the
phone ring and I knew I was at even So
I'm excited, you know, I don't want to waste opportunity.
I'm ready to get to work.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Cordell Woodland and then Ryan Mink, Hey, Malaca, congratulations. So
much made in this a f C North Division about
the toughness and the physicality in these games. How excited
are you to bring your your physical game to a
lot of these rivalries in the division.
Speaker 13 (18:25):
Yeah, I'm ready. I think coming from a.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
Malachi, your zoom has been muted.
Speaker 13 (18:40):
You know, hear me?
Speaker 7 (18:43):
Yeah, we got you now ahead.
Speaker 13 (18:46):
I was just saying, you know, coming from a place
at University of Georgia, with that physicality that we play
in sec you know, it gets you prepared to go
in the league and you know, keep that physicality but
also learn how to be more physical. So I'm excited
to get there and learn.
Speaker 14 (19:01):
Ryan Mink Okay, I know your versatility is one of
your great strengths. Just where do you feel most comfortable
on the football field and how much do you feel
like you can bring that to Baltimore.
Speaker 13 (19:13):
Yeah, when you look at the defense, I mean a
lot of the guys are are versual. I think that's
that's a huge strength that they have. I think that's
why they That's why they do someone of the different
start of the ball. They have a lot of guys
that can move around and be in different spots have
produced at a high level. And I feel like I
bring that as well. I think I think I'm a
safety that can move around, So I feel comfortable at
the safety spot, but I feel comfortable playing anywhere.
Speaker 7 (19:42):
The Clifton Brown please Yeah, congratulations man, Like I know
the Ravens have talked about wanting to create more turnovers
on defense. Can you talk about your ball skills and
what you think you might be able to bring to
the table as far as making that happen.
Speaker 13 (19:58):
Yeah, I think I'm from you to Georgia. That was
a big h That was a big thing that we
harped on was taking the ball away. You know, the
game of football is all about the ball. So just
being able to have my strengths and being able to
have point and then understanding how to take the ball
away in scenarios. I think I think that's huge and
I think I'll create value for myself and a team
as well.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
If you're listening to the Ravens Press Past podcast, make
sure you're subscribed here. Also head over to the Lounge
podcast feed for a full breakdown of this pick and
the first round of the draft. We'll be back with
you tomorrow night as the Ravens continue the twenty twenty
five Draft.
Welcome to the Ravens Press Pass Podcast. The Ravens have
made their first round draft pick in the twenty twenty
five NFL Drafts, selecting safety Malachi Starks out of Georgia.
He's clearly fired up to be a Raven and he's
going to bring some real versatility to the back end
of this defense. He was a highly productive player at Georgia,
had six interceptions in his college career, and he was
(00:24):
the guy who had been linked to the Ravens throughout
this process, and the Ravens certainly were excited about the
potential of getting him with their first round pick. Eric
Tacosta and John harball I met with the media after
the pick and here's what they had to say about
drafting Malachi Starks.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well, everybody, we are happy to take Malachi Starks. He's
a player that we've seen over the last couple of years,
a great football player at a great football program, wired
like a Raven, great mental, probably one of the most
impressive interviews we've ever had at the combine.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Ballhawk.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
He's a physical guy. He's a very very good tackler,
and I was reminded that the last time we took
a starts in the first round. He ended up intercepting
a pass in the Super Bowl, so hopefully that ends
up happening again. Questions you can chair with.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Malachi and you kind of touched upon the interview with
the kind of back Was there anything else that kind
of stood out throughout the draft process? That kind of
means you and kind of stooted out.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Together, you know. I just think that as we go
back and look at our very best players, they've just
wired a certain way, they play a certain way consistently
and throughout the process. Malachi was a guy that just
really passed every single test he we have, you know,
as far as football GPA, very very high production as
(01:55):
a player, durability, ability, everything. Really, it just made a
lot of sense for us to take him.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
John, do you already are to kind of visualize what
your defense looks like, especially now teaming him up with
Hamilton who walls and does.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
A variety of league we have we have I think
when you when you look at Malachi on tape and
you guys have seen him, I'm sure all different positions
he plays. He plays both safety, he plays nicol he
plays the dime linebacker spot, which is what Kyle does.
Which is what Adarius does. And then Marlon plays inside
and outside. So the ability to move all those pieces
around and get him in different positions is pretty pretty exciting.
(02:34):
The other thing is, you know, Eric kind of just
mentioned this, but when we first came out of the season,
we had a conversation about just the type of mindset
that we were looking for and the guys who are
going to bring in, and to me, Malachi he fits
that perfectly. You know, he's smart, he's tough, he loves football,
he loves everything about football. And you saw it when
he walked up to see I saw it when he
(02:55):
walked you can see it when he walked down the
hallway there and out to the stage. It looked like
he was coming through the tunnel game day. He's ready
to go, you know, and we're just I think he's
just excited to be a raven, as we are excited
to have him be a raven.
Speaker 6 (03:10):
Do your phone ring?
Speaker 7 (03:10):
Do you consider being back it all up? Was starting
to target all along, and how busy was.
Speaker 8 (03:15):
That at the time we were going a far.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, you know, I think that as we looked at
this draft, you know, the first round, we kind of
got a sense for most of the players that were
going to get picked in front of us, and we
had maybe three or four players that we thought might
have a realistic chance of being in when we picked
the phone started ringing. We had some opportunities to trade back.
In the end, you have to look at you know,
(03:39):
the you know, the excitement of actually getting some additional picks,
which we do love, versus you know, what kind of
player are you're going to get potentially, And you know,
for me, maybe I'm getting older and just you know,
a little bit more conservative than I used to be.
But you know, I think looking at the quality of
player that we had with Starks versus what we might
have to get, it just it didn't make enough sense
(04:02):
for me. This was a guy that really checked every
single box for us in a lot of different ways.
There were some other players that we covered it as well,
but in the end, he was by far the best
guy available for us when we made the pick.
Speaker 8 (04:15):
Were you surprised to how things kind of happened with
so many guys that world into you or you thought
of you that fits near Multimore?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You know, I really wasn't surprised by the way this
this draft kind of unfolded. You know. In fact, I
think that in a lot of cases I kind of
knew which players were going to get picked, generally speaking,
and that was one of the reasons why for me
that I was nervous this year in the first round,
I was kind of nervous that we weren't going to
get a chance to get the player like Malachi, just
(04:45):
because this is what I would refer to as a
flat draft, and so you have, you know, probably ten
players that everybody puts up there, and then it really
flattens out and it stays that way. It's gonna stay
that way in a second and third and fourth round.
So from that standpoint, it's a really good draft if
you have a lot of picks because it's flat in
the middle. But that being the case, you know, there
(05:05):
were really just a few players that we thought we
might have a chance to get, and fortunately we got
one of those guys, Aaron or John.
Speaker 9 (05:13):
I think GM's and coaches some don't talk about how
hard it is to evaluate safeties just in general. Is
there any that you guys, did you wait more or
less and more doing that evaluation.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
That's a sort of.
Speaker 10 (05:25):
Position good John.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
I don't think it's that hard to evaluate safeties. I mean,
he's running the guys, running around, making plays all over
the field. You know, we've done pretty well with those guys,
and we missed on guys just like everybody else. But
I mean he's a very versatile player. You know, he
covers people man the man, he comes up and tackles people.
He he's in zone. He plays nickel zone responsibility, which
(05:49):
is really kind of tricky. You know, he's got a
good feel for that in the deep middle. You know,
he's got range. So he showed ball skills, he showed
all the things, and then you you kind of put
on top of that the mentality that we talked about,
the mindset, kind of the football character. I guess you
could call it. The guy just loves to be out
there and he wants to He loves to play. He
(06:10):
can't wait to hit the grass. And to me, that's
a that's been a good recipe for success. It really
kind of no matter what the position is. But he
looks like a safety to me. We'll see, but I
bet I bet he'll prove us right here.
Speaker 10 (06:23):
John's utul This is a little bit but last year
with Kyle label something you had to play a little
more split safety second half of the year, or not
just getting a player that starts as talent as he is,
but being able to maybe free.
Speaker 8 (06:35):
Up Hamilton to be as versatile as he can be.
I mean, how important is that for you?
Speaker 5 (06:40):
Definitely gives us that option, you know. And uh, and
it's not to say that Kyle won't be back there,
because he will be. But but the good news is,
like the offense isn't gonna know who's going to be
back there on any given play, not gonna be able
line up and say, Okay, Kyle's gonna be deep, you know,
or even our Darius is going to be deep, or
Darius all three of those guys could be on the
field a lot, or Marlon Marlin can go back and play,
can play deep if we wanted them to. But really,
(07:01):
now it's it's those three guys. You know, it's interchangeable
parts playing any one of those four positions in there.
That's pretty pretty exciting.
Speaker 8 (07:11):
I'm sure you had, you know, a bunch of guys
obviously help would defense in that in that attention and
getting a guy.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Back.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, so, I you know, I didn't, we didn't go
into it. You know, thinking that we'd take a defensive player.
You know, we were going into it thinking we're gonna
take the best football player we can take. And uh,
you know, there were some guys on the offensive side
of the ball too that got picked, and there were
a few really good players that were still there when
we picked Malachi. But you know, I think generally speaking,
we want to be a balanced drafting team. You know,
(07:47):
we want both sides of the ball to be really
strong and so, uh, you know, we're fortunate this draft,
as I said, we have a lot of opportunities the
next coming in a couple of days to get some
good players. And uh, I think you'll see us uh
fill some needs, take some really good football players, and
hopefully hit on a bunch of guys.
Speaker 11 (08:03):
Eric, here's a high level starter at one of the
best burms in the country for three years. I mean,
does that Does that always give you more confidence than
a guy will step right on the field and help.
Speaker 7 (08:12):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I mean, you know one thing that I've I've learned
from Assie. I mean, over the years, you look at
some of our best picks in their big school guys
sec you know, big ten, you know, pack ten back
in the day, guys like that, experienced guys from winning programs.
That's a big deal. That's important, and that's something that
we we definitely look for. I mean, let's face it,
you know, the SEC is if not one, I mean
(08:36):
probably one, but one or two in terms of the
best football conferences in the country. And this is a
guy that's won national championships and played at a very
high level.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
That's important. You guys keep your draft playing so close
to the best.
Speaker 12 (08:52):
Were you I don't know, concern is the right word,
but were you aware of which is I mean there's
so much talk that you love stars. You know, he
said that he was your ideal pay That makes you
at all comfortable during this week?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
You know, it did again, like I I sort of
like handicap it and model this thing out, and I
figured like, okay, well, you know, if Starks gets picked,
you know, and this is going to be another player there.
We had a few players that we really liked, and uh,
but yeah, you know, it was kind of weird to
just always consistently seeing us you know, tied to him.
(09:28):
I mean there were a few other players too. In
the end, I think it's just it it fell for us,
and we're lucky that it did. But I can promise
you that if if somebody else has been there, the
right player, that we would have taken him. And I
believe he'd be a really good player.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
For us because of you know, you sound like he did,
like Starks was already thought about possibly trading up at all.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Uh, you know, I'm not. I'm not really, you know,
I feel like you guys ask me this question every year.
I'm not. I'm not a big, big bl in trading up.
I just I just don't think that the data supports
that generally speaking. But you know, we always look at
it potentially, and again, I think it's assessing what other
teams are going to do. It's kind of the flow
(10:14):
of the draft. As you get to you know, we're
picking twenty seven. As you get to say, eighteen or nineteen,
that's when you might consider trading up, probably, But then
you look at the players that are still there, and
you start looking at each pick, and every time a
player gets taken outside your range or out of your sequence,
you're like okay, And you finally get to the point
where we're like, okay, this three or four guys, we
(10:36):
don't have to trade up. We're gonna get one of
three or four of these guys. We feel happy with
all these guys and we're good to go. So when
that happens, you know you're at peace. It's a good
place to be.
Speaker 11 (10:45):
You said it was one of the best combined interviews
you've ever done or.
Speaker 9 (10:49):
Having a player.
Speaker 13 (10:51):
What does that look like and what.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Is it that impresses you so much? In that second?
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I just think it was remarkable, you know, the way
that he could discuss football, his awareness, his ability to
call out the plays from their defense before we even
showed the play. It's just based on formation. His ability
to dissect and talk about what happened at any given play
and to know what his teammates were doing in any
given play. I mean, it was like he was a coach,
(11:16):
and you know, we just when he got up, we
just were all kind of like looking at each other
and we you know, we use a grading scale. We
gread every interview and seven is the best, and across
the board he got straight sevens. So it was just
super impressive. I haven't seen that type of detail in
a long time.
Speaker 11 (11:34):
You said you had a really good feel for how
this first round was going to break. Do you feel
that for the second and third rounds as well? Or
is that a little bit more weed?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
And see, yeah, you know, it really drops off. I mean,
my prognostication ability falls off a cliff when you get
into the second and third round, I think, because you know,
I mean, you guys cover the first round, right, everybody
covers the first round, the media and it's so much
mocking now and all these different things in social media
and just you know, generally speaking, I've said, as I
said before, like the first rounds nowadays were a lot
less unpredictable than they used to be. Now you might
(12:05):
get one or two picks that kind of go rogue,
but you know, now everything's fairly predictable. Like our list
of top thirty two players, you're gonna see thirty players
drafted off that list right now. So but when you
get to the second round, that's where you start to
see the deviation and you start to see random players,
and you start to see slippers and you seequen from players.
Random players get picked. So now you might see, you know,
(12:26):
a player that we have rated at like one ten
get picked at forty two. And then we start high
five and then we're laughing, like we can't believe he
took that guy, and that guy might end up in
the Pro Bowl, you know, but that's just the nature.
That's just the nature of the draft. As you get
into these rounds now and you see a lot of
really differences in your sequences, you can edit that.
Speaker 8 (12:46):
Interview processes that set out if you're out in the
mail or in addition to just foll like print.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
I mean, it's a fifteen minute interview. But he's smart.
He knows that he knew the defense. But just the
fact that he was a red star guy, I think
kind of was the story. You guys have heard that
here and you look at the bording areas with the
red stars sitting next to his name, and then the room.
You know, the way the scouts felt about him once
we once we picked him, you know, they were like jacked.
You know, they know this guy better than anybody.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
So, yeah, they don't always clap upstairs. They clapped this year,
So you know that's how oide the scouts.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Well, sometimes they're always a clap, but sometimes.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
It's it's like a little bit of like one of
these kind of class There are how much changes now
when you get your guy, your red star guy quickly.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
For you it's tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Do you change a lot more when you kind of
get maybe you're slammed dunk on day one. I mean,
I think we just have to now what I have
to do tomorrow morning has come in and be stack
and and that's a process where you know, it's painful
because there may be some other really good safeties, right
and we could still take one. But the reality of
it is there's like some really good safeties in this draft,
(13:51):
and so you know you have to now kind of
look at it and be like, well, we're not going
to take six safeties, you know, so there's gonna be
some really good safeties somebody else. We got the best one,
somebody else is gonna get probably get the second best one,
is what it amounts to. And we'll find other guys
that are in those same clumps very close and find
the best guys in those clumps that we can use.
We can use in different ways.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
I think it's like that. I think it's like the
ninth time they it's select the defensive back and the
first down. As you know in the industry, do you
think it's just the way that sometimes the board has
fallen over the years, or do you feel like there
there is an investment, there is a priority placed. Uh,
kind of in the in the in the secondary.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Fast well, I mean, you know, usually four or five
guys are playing in the secondary and any in any
given place, so you got more guys. But secondly, you know,
in my experience, like if you're gonna lose a game,
an easy way to lose it is by having a
bad secondary. So you know, we never want to be
in that position. That's a bad place to be. So
you know we're gonna have a strong secondary. And John
(14:52):
was a was a secondary coach in Philly for a
while too. He understands the importance of it as well.
And uh and so, and I really appreciate that because
you know, I think it's a really important critical part
of your defense.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Played a little bit in the retirement.
Speaker 13 (15:06):
We need to see the tape.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Just out of curiosity. There was a giraffe in the
background and those draft room was the plan.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
Who's I do with that?
Speaker 13 (15:16):
Is that?
Speaker 14 (15:17):
I'm sure he's been in there.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
I'm story behind that.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, But you know, I mean there's certain things we
can discuss and there's certain things we can't, but that
giraffe has been in there for a long long time.
That was my son, Michael, who's now seventeen. That was
a gift to him when he was born. And I
got the idea years ago because we we were talking
to the scouts and I'm saying, guys, you know, the
(15:41):
best scouts stand on the table, they stick their next out,
and I just it just popped into my brain. I
had this old giraffe back at home, and so one
day brought it in and we put it in the
draft room as reminded for these guys too, if they
really like somebody to stand up on the table and
stick the next out, Hi, guys off.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
We also heard from Alchai soon after the pick as
he met with the media on a virtual press conference,
and here's what he had to say. Hey, Malchai, congratulations.
I know the Ravens have been linked to you throughout
this process. Did you feel like this was the place
that you could land and get a good feel for
the team in the organization throughout this process.
Speaker 13 (16:27):
Yeah, I feel like it was a really good place
for me to be just with the type of organization
that they've running. You know, the history they have there
as well, just to think that they've been doing the
last few years. I think it's a great fit for
me just to come in and learn from a guy
like call Himlton and a lot of events in the
world like Wild Huntfrey. I think I think it's a
I think I fit the culture very well, and.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
I should mention for the media members joining us, if
you can use the raise hand function please, I will
call on you accordingly. Why don't we jump to Brian
Wacker the Baltimore Sun for the time being.
Speaker 15 (17:06):
Brian, there we go, can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Kai?
Speaker 13 (17:12):
Yes, sir?
Speaker 15 (17:13):
Well, first, congrats, Just how familiar argue with with the
Ravens defense playing alongside obviously now Kyle Hamilton and some
of their other players.
Speaker 13 (17:25):
Yeah, I think I got a good feel for it
through through the whole process. I met with him when
I went to come on, and I had some zooms
as well, So I got a good feel for it
and I'm ready to go learn. There's a lot more
I have to learn, but I'm ready to get in
and like I said, just learn from the Vets and
you know, really to dive into the whole process of
being a Raven.
Speaker 15 (17:42):
And just what was your reaction when you got the
news and found out.
Speaker 13 (17:46):
Yeah, I was, uh, I was. I was sitting on
the couch about to play. Who know, it's been a
long night, so I was just trying to stay stay
calm through the whole thing. And then I heard the
phone ring and I knew I was at even So
I'm excited, you know, I don't want to waste opportunity.
I'm ready to get to work.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Cordell Woodland and then Ryan Mink, Hey, Malaca, congratulations. So
much made in this a f C North Division about
the toughness and the physicality in these games. How excited
are you to bring your your physical game to a
lot of these rivalries in the division.
Speaker 13 (18:25):
Yeah, I'm ready. I think coming from a.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
Malachi, your zoom has been muted.
Speaker 13 (18:40):
You know, hear me?
Speaker 7 (18:43):
Yeah, we got you now ahead.
Speaker 13 (18:46):
I was just saying, you know, coming from a place
at University of Georgia, with that physicality that we play
in sec you know, it gets you prepared to go
in the league and you know, keep that physicality but
also learn how to be more physical. So I'm excited
to get there and learn.
Speaker 14 (19:01):
Ryan Mink Okay, I know your versatility is one of
your great strengths. Just where do you feel most comfortable
on the football field and how much do you feel
like you can bring that to Baltimore.
Speaker 13 (19:13):
Yeah, when you look at the defense, I mean a
lot of the guys are are versual. I think that's
that's a huge strength that they have. I think that's
why they That's why they do someone of the different
start of the ball. They have a lot of guys
that can move around and be in different spots have
produced at a high level. And I feel like I
bring that as well. I think I think I'm a
safety that can move around, So I feel comfortable at
the safety spot, but I feel comfortable playing anywhere.
Speaker 7 (19:42):
The Clifton Brown please Yeah, congratulations man, Like I know
the Ravens have talked about wanting to create more turnovers
on defense. Can you talk about your ball skills and
what you think you might be able to bring to
the table as far as making that happen.
Speaker 13 (19:58):
Yeah, I think I'm from you to Georgia. That was
a big h That was a big thing that we
harped on was taking the ball away. You know, the
game of football is all about the ball. So just
being able to have my strengths and being able to
have point and then understanding how to take the ball
away in scenarios. I think I think that's huge and
I think I'll create value for myself and a team
as well.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
If you're listening to the Ravens Press Past podcast, make
sure you're subscribed here. Also head over to the Lounge
podcast feed for a full breakdown of this pick and
the first round of the draft. We'll be back with
you tomorrow night as the Ravens continue the twenty twenty
five Draft.
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