Ravens Legend Named Century’s Most Valuable Safety Draft Pick

The Baltimore Ravens are known for their drafting eyes, with the relatively young franchise already having staffed several of the savviest executives in the sport and some of the best draft picks in recent years lining the team's record.

Lamar Jackson, the star around whom the Ravens have built another contender in searching for their third championship, became one of the great steals in NFL history by developing from a raw quarterback prospect into one of the great signal callers in football lore. However, he's far from the first to blossom into an elite playmaker after previously being overlooked.

NFL.com writer Eric Edholm ran through some of the best value picks that NFL teams have made in the 21st century at safety, and ended up with a no-brainer at the top of the list. Just as Jackson slid to No. 32 in 2018, Ed Reed suffered a similar fall 16 years earlier.

Arguably the greatest safety in NFL history slipped to the 24th pick in 2002, and even though other great players like Adrian Wilson and Kam Chancellor sustained as some of the best to play the position, Reed still made for a no-doubt list-topper when Edholm considered how his value makes him an easy choice to top most hypothetical re-drafts, let alone the 2002 class.

He even topped a fellow Raven, Eric Weddle, who went 37th overall in 2007. He, alongside Pittsburgh Steelers legend Troy Polamalu, had to settle for podium spots under the immortal Reed.

"His selection was one of the career-defining moves by former Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome." Edholm wrote. "Julius Peppers, the second overall pick in 2002, might be the only player from that draft whose career achievements are even in the same ballpark as Reed's."

Reed was named to First Team All-Pro honors five times in his career, and was only one of five safeties to win Defensive Player of the Year to go along with his all-time record of 1,590 yards accumulated off of interceptions.

Newsome's scouting instincts can be seen in current general manager Eric DeCosta, who's put the team in about as good of a position to succeed as Reed saw during his 11 years with the franchise. He made the Hall of Fame with ease after leaving countless spook stories of how hard he was to play against, a legacy that current draft steals hope to emulate when they're finished playing.