Ravens Assistant GM Eric DeCosta joined the Vinny & Rob show to take us inside the Ravens’ war room. Eric Talks about the Ravens draft strategy, why they took certain players over others & how they will fit into the Ravens’ roster in the upcoming season.

Why Elam over Cyprien at Safety?

“We had both guys close; the biggest thing for us was level of competes obviously & then the speed factor…Elam was a guy who ran a low 4.4 at the combine, Cyprien was a little bit higher than that. We thought both guys were aggressive, Cyprien was a little bit bigger but for us we had a comfort level with Matt…we knew the kid real well & it made a lot of sense for us.”

Were you concerned about another team taking Elam ahead of you?

“We started to sweat a little bit, we were worried about Dallas. …Dallas was the team we weren’t sure what they were going to do, we knew they had brought Elam in, we knew they liked Cyprien. We did make a few phone calls to investigate the possibility of going up to make a move; it didn’t materialize so we just kinda sat on our hands & we lucked out.”

On drafting LB Arthur Brown:

“We were a little bit surprised he fell [to the bottom of the 2nd round], but also very happy. I think he’s a guy who’s very quick in the box. I think he plays with good eyes. I think he’s very fast, he’s got lateral speed. I think he’s a guy who can cover. …He’s not the biggest, stoutest guy in the world but he attacks the line of scrimmage, he’s aggressive, he’s a play maker.”

On 4th round Pick FB Kyle Juszczyk & how he’ll be used:

“We have to see what he can do, you know the thing we haven’t really been able to see him truly do is lead up on guys inside the tackles, he did it a little bit at the Senior Bowl he’s not really used that way at Harvard…He’s got unbelievable hands, pretty good route running ability for a small school guy. He’s a pretty savvy guy who catches a lot of passes. …We think he’s a guy who can help us in a lot of different ways, we had him very highly rated as a special teams guy as well.”

Will Juszczyk replace Vontae Leach?

“Obviously Vontae Leach is a warrior for us. One of our, probably our most, physical players who also brings a lot of leadership. We have no plans at this time to make any moves with “Juice” & Vontae from that standpoint. We just want to see what “Juice” can do and evaluate it moving forward.”

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW:

