In Hibner’s case, the Ravens again saw an elite athlete who had one of the fastest 40-yard dash times (4.57) and vertical jumps (37 inches) in this year’s deep tight end class.
There was a run on tight ends on Day 2 of the draft, and the Ravens targeted Hibner. They also had a better feel for Hibner than other teams because the Northern Virginia native worked out for the Ravens at their local pro day. Thus, they moved up to get him, regardless of what the consensus board said.
“We don’t often trade up for players, right?” DeCosta said. “There had been a run on tight ends. There weren’t a lot of guys left that we really coveted, and he was one guy that we thought could really come in and help us this year.”
The Ravens also got some huge bargains according to the consensus board rankings, notably with fourth-round wide receiver Elijah Sarratt (+46 spots), fifth-round cornerback Chandler Rivers (+76), and seventh-round defensive lineman Rayshaun Benny (+113).
Generally speaking, DeCosta isn’t ready to toss out the consensus board. He’s just taking it with a grain of salt.
“The consensus boards are very useful, and I do see in general probably more fixation on the consensus boards, meaning if you took our list and you compared it to a consensus board, it would probably be more connected to the consensus board than it might have been 10 or 15 years ago when consensus boards really didn’t exist,” DeCosta said.
“I do suspect there’s an element of analytics playing into that. But there are still outlier players that, for whatever reason, aren’t necessarily being reflected in the consensus.”