NFL Draft Rumors: Baltimore Ravens likely to draft quarterback

There are teams in the NFL that need not worry about drafting a franchise guy because they already have one. But not every team is going to ignore the quarterback class simply because they have a starter, as the Bears and packers showed us contrasting reasons why you need a solid backup in the league nowadays.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome is more than serious about looking at the incoming quarterback class and drafting someone in the later rounds in order to groom them for the future. Newsome is careful to point out though that said grooming will be done for the role of backup and not as Joe Flacco’s replacement.

"“[We] need to be looking at bringing in another quarterback so we can have someone that is capable of going into the game as we move forward in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, in case we can’t keep Tyrod [Taylor], that we have someone who can go and win games for us if Joe [Flacco] gets hurt.”"

Flacco is the man in Baltimore and no one will be challenging his rule. But adding someone like A.J. MacCarron, Tajh Boyd or Jimmy Garoppolo in the later rounds makes sense for the Ravens and gets John Harbaugh in on the quarterback hoarding game his brother likes to play out in San Francisco — one that produced Colin Kaepernick and netted the Niners a second round pick as a result.