Round One: Who Did The Ravens Pick In 2017 NFL Draft?

BALTIMORE, MD — It's the height of the playoffs in the NHL and NBA, and the Major League Baseball season has just started, yet sports fans are still excited for the NFL draft. The 82nd annual draft begins Thursday, April 27, and runs through Saturday, April 29.

The Baltimore Ravens, the two-time Super Bowl champions who have missed the playoffs three of the last four years, had the 16th pick in the first round of the draft. Die-hard fans, sports bloggers and others seemed to agree the team's running game needs a play-making wide receiver, and expected the Ravens to nab Corey Davis of Western Michigan with the first round selection.

Well, the experts were wrong. Instead the team went with Alabama cornerback Marlon Humphrey as the 16th pick overall. Since the Ravens finished 8-8 last season, missing the playoffs for a second straight year, improving the pass defense became a priority, says WJZ.

Once the event starts, a live stream of the proceedings can be watched here on the ESPN App.

SEE ALSO: Baltimore Ravens Release 2017 NFL Schedule

The Draft

The league's 32 teams will draft for seven rounds, beginning Thursday at 8 p.m. Round 1 will take place Thursday night, Rounds 2-3 will be held on Friday and Rounds 4-7 will wrap things up on Saturday.

NFL.com draft analyst Chad Reuter has predicted the following top 5 picks:

1. Mitchel Trubisky, QB, University of North Carolina
2. Myles Garrett, DE, Texas A&M
3. Solomon Thomas, DE, Stanford
4. Leonard Fournette, RB, Louisiana State University
5. O.J. Howard, TE, University of Alabama

The projected first overall pick, University of North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, would go to the Cleveland Browns. The Browns also drafted a quarterback with the 22nd overall pick of the 2014 draft in Johnny Manziel, who, after a variety of struggles on and off the field, was cut by the Browns.

Reuter has defensive end Myles Garrett, out of Texas A&M, falling to number two overall, but this is a hotly contested prediction. Many believe the Browns will scoop up Garrett first and then fill their quarterback needs later with a trade of some kind. Like any year, trade rumors will abound throughout the entire draft process, much like when many became convinced that former Eagles coach Chip Kelly would manage to trade up for his former protege, Marcus Mariota, in 2015.

After Trubisky and Garrett, who are the consensus top two talents in the draft, things become murkier for the Chicago Bears at number three. Reuter sees them taking Stanford defensive end Solomon Thomas.

What Will The Ravens Do?

Here's who some of the draft experts are slotting to Baltimore:

• Baltimore Beatdown — Corey Davis, WR, Western Michigan
• Ryan Mink, BaltimoreRavens.com — DE Derek Barnett, Tennessee
• Garrett Downing, BaltimoreRavens.com — WR Corey Davis, Western Michigan
• Chris Schisler — Corey Davis, Western Michigan
• Todd McShay — John Ross, WR, Washington

Patch's Justin Heinze and Doug Gross contributed to this report.
Photo via Baltimore Ravens