Four DB Prospects Ravens Could Target in First Round

The former SEC standout is the top consensus prospect at the position this year and would be a perfect fit in the Ravens' defense with everything he brings to the table despite not being the most athletic. He possesses the range and instincts to play faster than his 4.50 mark in the 40-yard dash suggests, and his ball skills are superb even though he recorded career lows with one interception and three pass breakups in his final season at Georgia.

Starks has the positional flexibility to play in the box as well as the slot, but with the Ravens, he'd be best suited playing a traditional free safety role as an ideal replacement for Marcus Williams that would allow two-time Pro Bowler Kyle Hamilton to showcase his elite versatility . He has been the most commonly projected player to land in Baltimore since it re-signed franchise left tackle Ronnie Stanley and would be a steal if he does indeed fall into its laps on Thursday night.

S Nick Emmanwori, South Carolina

If the Ravens miss out on landing Starks, there's still a strong chance that they land the most athletic prospect at the safety position in this year's class in the former Gamecock. Emmanwori's unique blend of size, physicality and athleticism at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds jumps off the tape with how much ground he can cover and the way he flies both downhill and sideline-to-sideline. Over the past two seasons, the former SEC standout showcased his ball skills with six interceptions and 11 pass breakups.

Emmanwori blew up the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine with exceptional testing, recording the best broad jump (11-feet-6-inches) and vertical leap (43 inches) of any position at the event. He ran the second-fastest time in the 40-yard dash among safeties with a 4.38, had the fastest 10-yard split (1.49) and put up the most reps on the bench press at his position with 20.

His relative athletic score was a perfect 10.00 out of 10.00, which ranks first out of 1,079 strong safeties dating back to 1987, and he would've had elite marks at other positions as well. He'd be a great addition to the Ravens' safety group as an interchangeable versatile chess piece with Hamilton.

CB Trey Amos, Ole Miss

After playing his first three seasons in college with the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns of the Sun Belt Conference, he proved he could handle and shine against future NFL competition in the SEC the past two years, first with Alabama in 2023 before breaking out as a full-time starter with the Rebels in his final season.

In 2024, he earned First Team All SEC honors after leading the team with career highs in pass breakups (13) and interceptions (three) to go along with 50 total tackles, including 3.5 for a loss and a forced fumble.

In coverage, Amos excels in both press and zone, competes to come down with the ball at the catch point and not just force an incompletion and is at his best lined up on the boundary, which is just what the Ravens need more of with several players already on the roster who can play in the slot.

Some analysts would view him as a bit of a reach at No. 27, but they'd have almost no chance of landing him in the second round at No. 59, so it's either take him in the first, trade back to the early second round with a quarterback-needy team or hope he falls.

CB Maxwell Hairston, Kentucky

The Ravens struck gold in the first round last year when they selected a slender cornerback with elite speed in Nate Wiggins, who emerged as a full-time starter as the season went on and will be on many Pro Bowl watchlists heading into his second season. Wiggins ran the fastest 40-yard dash time at the Combine among cornerbacks last year with a mark of 4.28, which is the exact time Hairston ran this year to top not just all cornerbacks, but all positions at this year's event. The former SEC standout went on to have a strong overall workout while many of the top corner prospects only elected to run the 40 or not workout at all.

Hairston can do it all in coverage when it comes to playing inside the slot and on the boundary at a high level in both man and zone coverage with a nose for not only taking the ball away. He recorded six interceptions over the last two seasons and knows how to turn those takeaways into points, returning half of them for touchdowns.

Even though four-time Pro Bowl veteran Marlon Humphrey is coming off arguably the best season of his career, he's getting up there in age at a position where athleticism is crucial. Hairston is an elite athlete who can provide immediate depth at nickel and on the outside.