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