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 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.
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.
Ballhawk.
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.
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.
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 a player, durability, ability, everything. Really, it just made a lot of sense for us to take him.
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.
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.
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 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.
Do your phone ring?
Do you consider being back it all up? Was starting to target all along, and how busy was.
That at the time we were going a far.
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, 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
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.
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?
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 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 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.
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.
That's a sort of.
Position good John.
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 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 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.
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.
Up Hamilton to be as versatile as he can be. I mean, how important is that for you?
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,
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.
I'm sure you had, you know, a bunch of guys obviously help would defense in that in that attention and getting a guy.
Back.
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, 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.
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.
I think so.
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 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.
That's important. You guys keep your draft playing so close to the best.
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?
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. 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.
For us because of you know, you sound like he did, like Starks was already thought about possibly trading up at all.
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 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 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.
You said it was one of the best combined interviews you've ever done or.
Having a player.
What does that look like and what.
Is it that impresses you so much? In that second?
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, 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.
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?
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 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, 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.
Interview processes that set out if you're out in the mail or in addition to just foll like print.
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.
So, yeah, they don't always clap upstairs. They clapped this year, So you know that's how oide the scouts.
Well, sometimes they're always a clap, but sometimes.
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.
For you it's tomorrow.
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, 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.
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.
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 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.
Played a little bit in the retirement.
We need to see the tape.
Just out of curiosity. There was a giraffe in the background and those draft room was the plan.
Who's I do with that?
Is that?
I'm sure he's been in there.
I'm story behind that.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Brian, there we go, can you hear me?
Kai?
Yes, sir?
Well, first, congrats, Just how familiar argue with with the Ravens defense playing alongside obviously now Kyle Hamilton and some of their other players.
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.
And just what was your reaction when you got the news and found out.
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.
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.
Yeah, I'm ready. I think coming from a.
Malachi, your zoom has been muted.
You know, hear me?
Yeah, we got you now ahead.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.