The Baltimore Ravens mostly have a great track record when selecting players, and the first player they picked in the 2018 NFL Draft was tight end Hayden Hurst from South Carolina.
The buzz with the Baltimore Ravens in the first round last night was this was the last draft for the Ravens with General Manager Ozzie Newsome. The Ravens ended up making two picks to help their offense, and with the 25th overall selection, tight end Hayden Hurst joined Baltimore to help make their offense better than it was a season ago.
Hurst is a former minor league baseball player with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and there is the glaring fact he’s already 25 years old, which isn’t a young age when being selected in the first round. There is also the fact Hurst can catch the football, which made him a known name at South Carolina.
Being 6-5 and weighing in at 250 pounds, he was tough to contain while playing for the Gamecocks as shown in his three seasons with the program, especially his final two seasons. From 2015-17, Hurst caught 100 passes for 1,281 yards and three touchdowns. In his final two seasons at SC, Hurst caught no less than 44 passes a season and had over 500 yards receiving in each of those seasons as well.
In 2017, Hurst played in 13 games, where he caught 44 passes for 559 yards and two touchdowns. Hurst will provide a big target to current Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco this upcoming season and will possibly be the go-to guy for the 32nd overall selection Lamar Jackson, whom the Ravens traded up with the Philadelphia Eagles to select with the final pick of the first round Thursday night.
Adding the tight end in Hurst to their roster was big for Baltimore as not only was he the first tight end selection this year, but he’ll make things a battle for position on the depth chart with the Ravens currently having Nick Boyle, Maxx Williams, James Hurst and Vince Mayle listed on their roster at tight end.
At the NFL Combine, Hurst ran a 4.67 40-yard dash and had a vertical jump of 31.5, and not only that, he’s received praise from the likes of NFL.com Draft Analyst Lance Zierlein, who compares him to former Indianapolis Colts tight end Dallas Clark. Hurst has also been described by Zierlein as a player who has a combination of size and quickness.
In selecting Hurst, the Ravens passed on another top-rated tight end in the draft, Mike Gesicki of Penn State, who had a 5.92 draft grade compared to Hurst’s 5.90, so time will tell if the Ravens’ passing on the very athletic Gesicki will eventually haunt them.
Being that Hurst is 25 years old when the season starts and the fact he does need to work on some of the blocking aspects of his game, Hurst is still a safe and solid first-round selection by the Ravens.
Next: NFL Draft 2018: Instant grades, reactions
Hurst is a player the Ravens can use right now to help bring more life into their offense as they battle to be the leaders of the AFC North once again, and being competitive with the reigning division champion Pittsburgh Steelers is also a goal of the Ravens.
Grade: C+