Eric DeCosta knows what a first-round pick looks like. He’s drafted eight of them since he took over as Ravens general manager in 2019. He ran the team’s predraft meetings as predecessor Ozzie Newsome took more than a dozen others. Only twice in the past two decades have the Ravens left a draft’s first round without at least one player selected.

DeCosta also knows what a first-round talent looks like. He’s helped find Day 1 stars early (left tackle Ronnie Stanley) and late (quarterback Lamar Jackson) and in almost every spot in between. He’s bet big on both polished technicians (wide receiver Rashod Bateman) and promising athletes (outside linebacker Odafe Oweh). He’s taken players at almost every position. And he does so with fairly simple criteria.

“This is a business where talent wins, and they’ve got to be talented,” DeCosta said last week. “They’ve got to have a unique skill set. They’ve got to have the traits that would indicate that they can play at our level of football, first and foremost, and I think [it’s about] confidence, just dependability, practicing hard, [being] competitive players. … I think durability is a really big deal, too, in that regard, and then just the ability to learn the game.”

This year, that could be just about anyone. Read 20 mock drafts predicting Thursday’s first round, and you might get 20 players earmarked for Baltimore, from offensive tackles to wide receivers to outside linebackers to kickers (yes, kickers).

If the Ravens’ draft history is any guide, the pool of players under consideration for the No. 27 overall pick is actually far smaller. Certain factors might be disqualifying. Others might be limiting.

So where will DeCosta look? Here are 20 players who’ve been linked to the Ravens’ top pick throughout the predraft process — and here are some questions that might’ve mattered as team officials sorted their draft board.

• Wide receiver: Texas’ Matthew Golden, Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka, Missouri’s Luther Burden III
• Offensive tackle: Ohio State’s Josh Simmons, Oregon’s Josh Conerly Jr.
• Interior offensive line: Alabama’s Tyler Booker, North Dakota State’s Grey Zabel, Ohio State’s Donovan Jackson
• Defensive line: Michigan’s Kenneth Grant, Oregon’s Derrick Harmon, Mississippi’s Walter Nolen
• Edge rusher: Marshall’s Mike Green, Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart, Boston College’s Donovan Ezeiruaku, Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr.
• Cornerback: Mississippi’s Trey Amos, Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston, East Carolina’s Shavon Revel Jr.
• Safety: Georgia’s Malaki Starks, South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori

Was he a multisport athlete?

Safety Kyle Hamilton (14) played football and basketball in high school.

Every first-round Ravens pick since 2014 played a sport besides football in high school or as a teenager, according to publicly available information. Those sports have ranged from basketball (safety Kyle Hamilton) to wrestling (center Tyler Linderbaum) to baseball (inside linebacker Patrick Queen) to track and field (cornerback Marlon Humphrey).

“Players that have had outstanding success at another sport gives you a little bit of insight to how they’re wired, their competitiveness, ability to master a craft or a sport and their discipline,” DeCosta said after the draft last year. “It’s important.”

Of the 20 prospects linked to the Ravens, just one appeared to limit his adolescent athletic interests to football: Oregon’s Harmon.

Did he play for a “power conference” school?

Wide receiver Breshad Perriman is the only Ravens first-round pick since 2014 to not play at a "power conference" school.

Other than wide receiver Breshad Perriman (Central Florida), every first-round pick since 2014 came from a school competing at the time in a so-called power conference.

This year, 10 of the 20 prospects played in the Southeastern Conference, six played in the Big Ten Conference and one played in the Atlantic Coast Conference. None played in the Big 12 Conference.

East Carolina’s Revel (American Athletic Conference) and Marshall’s Green (Sun Belt Conference) played in “Group of Five” leagues — the level below the current “Power Four” conferences — while North Dakota State’s Zabel played in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Small-school scouting is “just different,” DeCosta said last year, in part because of the structural disadvantages inherent to that level.

“You’ve got guys that look like me, at times, playing,” said DeCosta, who was an undersized linebacker at Division III Colby College. “And yet some guys end up being the best to ever do it, right? How do you find those guys? How do you take a guy like the Yale [offensive] tackle … [Kiran] Amegadjie, and say, ‘Oh, he’s going to be every bit as good as [JC] Latham from Alabama.’ It’s really hard to do, and yet they got picked within, what, 80 spots of each other in the draft?”

Does he have any character or medical concerns?

Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, left, suffered a Lisfranc (foot) injury in his last year at Oklahoma. The Ravens still took him in the first round of the 2019 draft.

The Ravens have generally avoided spending top picks on players with medical red flags or reported character issues. And when DeCosta has gambled on banged-up prospects in the first round, he’s made smart bets: Wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown suffered a Lisfranc (foot) injury in his last year at Oklahoma that required surgery and an extensive rehabilitation. Inside linebacker C.J. Mosley entered the draft with health concerns. But both proved durable over their Ravens careers.

A couple of top prospects in this year’s class could fall on the Ravens’ board because of medical history. Ohio State’s Simmons tore the patellar tendon in his left knee in October, while Revel tore the ACL in his left knee in September.

A handful of other potential targets have had their character scrutinized during the predraft process. Green faced sexual assault allegations in high school and at Virginia, where he started his career before transferring to Marshall. Green was never charged and has denied any wrongdoing.

Pearce’s commitment to football at Tennessee has been questioned by anonymous sources. Mississippi’s Nolen has been called a “mercenary” because of his itinerant career. Burden’s practice habits at Missouri have been probed. And Simmons’ “maturity” has been flagged as a potential issue.

“My interest is going to be, ‘Does he have a good heart?’” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said in 2023. “And, obviously, that’s hard to define, but the bottom line is, ‘Does he treat people the right way? Does he respect other people? Is he fundamentally humble?’ But you still want confident. You still want competitors. We still want very tough, persistent, resilient people.

“And then what’s their football character as well? Are they tough? Do they like football? Do they like meetings? Do they want to lift weights? Do they want to practice hard? Are they into it? When they drive home at night, are they thinking about football? When they drive in in the morning, are they thinking about football? Because I am, all the time, and you want the people around you to feel the same way. So that’s kind of what we look for in players.”

Has he been recognized for his leadership?

Center Tyler Linderbaum (64) was a team captain at Iowa, while wide receiver Zay Flowers (4) received game-day captain honors at Boston College.

Nearly half of all Ravens picks since 2014 were named team captains during their college careers, either permanently or as game day captains. Three of DeCosta’s past four first-rounders — Hamilton, Linderbaum and wide receiver Zay Flowers — were captains, while last year’s top selection, cornerback Nate Wiggins, earned postseason honors at Clemson for his consistency and hustle.

Close to half of the 20 prospects linked to the Ravens were not recognized for their leadership last season: Texas’ Golden, Ohio State’s Jackson, Michigan’s Grant, Texas A&M’s Stewart, and Mississippi’s Amos and Nolen, as well as Simmons, Burden and Pearce.

Is he a younger prospect?

Cornerback Nate Wiggins was 20 years old when the Ravens took him 30th overall pick last year.

Of the Ravens’ 21 first- and second-round picks since 2014, four were only 20 when selected — Lamar Jackson, Humphrey, Queen and Wiggins — and another 10 were 21. DeCosta said after drafting Wiggins last year that the Ravens “loved” his youth and room for growth.

“He’s a young guy, but that’s opportunity, the way we look at it,” Harbaugh said. “He’s planning on being a hard worker, and if he does that, we’ve got a path for him. We’ve kind of got a plan for him, and we’ll have him ready to go.”

Only three of the Ravens’ potential prospects this year will be 22: Ohio State’s Donovan Jackson, Egbuka and Simmons. Three will be at least 23: Zabel, Amos and the 24-year-old Revel. The rest will be 21.

Would he be considered a “reach”?

Tight end Hayden Hurst was ranked 36th on the NFL Mock Draft Database’s “consensus” big board in 2018. The Ravens took him at 25th overall.

This question might matter less this year than in others, with analysts calling the level of prospect quality available from the middle of the first round to the early stages of the second round relatively flat.

Still, in recent drafts, the Ravens have almost never strayed too far from the wisdom of the crowd. According to the NFL Mock Draft Database, which collates published draft boards to form a “Consensus” Big Board each year, the Ravens have drafted just one player in the first round since 2014 who was ranked more than two spots “behind” the team’s draft slot. In 2018, tight end Hayden Hurst was ranked the No. 36 overall player on the Consensus Big Board, only to be taken 25th. (Lamar Jackson, meanwhile, was rated 15th and lasted until the 32nd pick.)

This year, seven of the 20 prospects linked to the Ravens are ranked outside the top 32 on the Consensus Big Board: Ohio State’s Jackson, Oregon’s Conerly, Kentucky’s Hairston, Egbuka, Burden, Revel and Amos.

So ... who’s the “cleanest” prospect?

Only four of the 20 prospects were multisport athletes, played for a power conference school, have no reported character issues or medical concerns, served as a team captain, will be 21 years old or younger when drafted and are a consensus first-round talent:

• Alabama’s Booker
• Boston College’s Ezeiruaku
• Georgia’s Starks
• South Carolina’s Emmanwori

Will the Ravens pick from that group? We’ll find out.