John Harbaugh describes a 'Red Star' prospect on the Ravens draft board

Posted by: Chris Vannini on Wednesday April 29, 2015




The NFL Draft begins Thursday night, and the Baltimore Ravens will be looking to draft one of their Red Star prospects.

What does that mean? John Harbaugh joined PFT Live on Wednesday and talked about how the Ravens put together their draft board, including one prospect each scout labels with a red star.

“We have something here called a ‘Red Star.’ Every scout chooses one player,” Harbaugh said. “Coaches sometimes get a chance to choose. A player they feel really strongly about, the kind of person they are, character-wise, determination, motivation, those guys generally move up a round or so.”

Harbaugh said maybe 15 percent of the Ravens’ board is set before the NFL Combine. A player won’t drop from the first round to the seventh, but the board is always fluid right up until the draft.

The Red Star comment came after Harbaugh was asked what it takes to get someone taken off the Ravens’ board. Various players can get in legal trouble or some other kind of trouble during the draft process, and have again this year.

“Specifically, it would depend,” Harbaugh said. “It’s case by case. For us, we try to take a look at who a person is in their heart. That’s obviously not a perfect science. Do they fit us in the end, and do we feel like they’re the type of people we want to be a part of what we’re trying to do going forward?

“Very few people get totally removed from the board. A lot of players get moved down or moved up.”

The Ravens have the No. 26 pick in the first round.

Chris Vannini is in his fifth year with CoachingSearch.com and serves as its managing editor. He has previously written for the Detroit Free Press, The Oakland Press, The State News, MLive.com, 247Sports and SB Nation.  A graduate of Michigan State University, Chris now lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  Be sure to follow @coachingsearch and send emails to chris@coachingsearch.com.