No one made as many headlines during the NFL draft as Shedeur Sanders, but the Ravens at least gave it a shot.

On Day 1, they took the safety almost everyone expected them to take. On Day 2, they took the edge rusher almost no one expected them to take. And on Day 3 they took a kicker. Across the NFL, that counted as news, too.

“It was a long day — a long couple of days — but today was a long day,” general manager Eric DeCosta said Saturday, not long after the Ravens made their 11th and final pick of the draft. “Happy the way that it transpired.”

Not everyone in Baltimore could say the same thing. Here are the winners and losers from the Ravens’ draft.

Winners

Kyle Hamilton: One way to restore the All-Pro safety to his 2023 glory? Draft another safety who’s almost as versatile. First-round pick Malaki Starks can line up as a single-high safety, a split-field safety and in the slot, where he has experience in man-to-man coverage. That versatility should supercharge Hamilton, who saw fewer snaps near the line of scrimmage over the second half of last season after the Ravens benched Marcus Williams.

“The good news is, the offense isn’t going to know who’s going to be back there on any given play,” coach John Harbaugh said Thursday. “Not going to be able to line up and say, ‘OK, Kyle’s going to be deep’ or even, ‘Ar’Darius [Washington] is going to be deep.’ Ar’Darius [and] all three of those guys can be on the field a lot, or [cornerback] Marlon [Humphrey]. Marlon can go back and can play deep if we wanted him to, but really now, it’s those three guys as interchangeable parts playing any one of those four positions in there. That’s pretty exciting.”

Mark Andrews: The tight end has been the subject of trade speculation since February, when DeCosta left open the possibility that Andrews could be dealt. Then the start of free agency came and went without a deal. Then the draft came and went without a deal. On Friday, DeCosta said he “would expect” Andrews to be on the 2025 team.

A trade likely would’ve sent Andrews to an offense in which he could’ve racked up targets and boosted his value in the final year of his contract. But Andrews, whose drop in the Ravens’ playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills will follow him wherever he goes, cares more about winning than stats. And few teams are better set up for a potential Super Bowl run than the Ravens.

Andrew Vorhees and Daniel Faalele: The Ravens waited until the third round to draft an offensive lineman. That pick, Emery Jones Jr., could move inside, but he played just 33 snaps at guard over his LSU career, according to Pro Football Focus. The next lineman the Ravens added, Carson Vinson, is a developmental tackle. Not until the seventh round did they draft a full-time guard: the injury-prone Garrett Dellinger.

Vorhees and Faalele entered the draft as the strong favorites to start at left and right guard, respectively. If a rookie contender emerges in training camp, the Ravens could have a surprise starter in Week 1. But, without a Day 1 or Day 2 guard in the mix, Vorhees and Faalele should feel good about their job security.

Special teams: Coordinator Chris Horton didn’t have a great 2024, and it wasn’t just because of kicker Justin Tucker. None of the Ravens’ four other units — kick and punt returns and kick and punt coverage — finished in the top 10 in the NFL in adjusted efficiency, according to FTN, a stunning fall for a team long considered a model of special teams excellence.

Throughout the draft, DeCosta found potential help. Tyler Loop was senior special teams coach Randy Brown’s top kicker prospect, according to DeCosta, and could be Tucker’s successor. Wide receiver LaJohntay Wester returned a punt for a touchdown each of the past two years. And Starks, outside linebacker Mike Green, inside linebacker Teddye Buchanan, and cornerbacks Bilhal Kone and Robert Longerbeam all earned regular snaps on at least two special teams groups last season. All five have the athletic traits to contribute there in the NFL, too.

Small schools: For the first time since DeCosta took over as GM, the Ravens drafted three players from schools not competing in a so-called power conference: Green (Marshall), Vinson (Alabama A&M) and Kone (Western Michigan). Vinson is also the team’s first pick from a historically Black college since 2015.

Losers

Odafe Oweh and Kyle Van Noy: Maybe no one in Baltimore lost more leverage last week than the Ravens’ starting outside linebackers. Oweh is entering the final year of his rookie deal coming off a 10-sack season — and questions about whether he can be a playoff team’s best pass rusher. Van Noy is entering the final year of a two-year, $9 million deal after posting a career-high 12.5 sacks last season — and turning 34 a month ago.

If DeCosta had concerns about the future of the position, Green’s arrival should ease them. The second-round pick is a first-round talent who fell because of off-field concerns. The Ravens could have a cornerstone edge rusher under contract for at least four years at a huge discount. Under the NFL’s rookie wage scale, Green’s deal will be worth just $7.4 million overall.

Justin Tucker: His fate likely hinges on the findings of an NFL investigation into accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior. Still, after two straight disappointing seasons, Tucker had to expect competition for the job. He’ll get it from Loop, the first kicker drafted in franchise history.

“We’ve told you guys multiple times this spring that we would look at kickers, and so, for us, it’s like any other position this year,” DeCosta said Saturday. “We evaluated all these guys. We felt like he [Loop] was draftable. We felt like he was the best kicker. It made sense for us to take him.”

Ar’Darius Washington: Over a four-day span last week, Washington signed a team-friendly restricted-free-agent tender — the result of a surprisingly quiet market for his services — then watched the Ravens draft a safety who could cut into his playing time. Washington should see plenty of snaps when the Ravens use three safeties, but in two-safety looks late last season, Hamilton and Washington took the field. Now it could be Hamilton and Starks.

Run defense: The Ravens had one of the NFL’s best run defenses last season, finishing first in yards allowed per game (80.1) and yards allowed per carry (3.6). But they were bullied in their playoff loss to Buffalo, then lost nose tackle Michael Pierce to retirement this offseason. The Ravens looked for interior help in the draft, DeCosta said Saturday, but their only pick was lineman Aeneas Peebles, who’s expected to contribute more as a pass rusher than as a run stuffer. Analysts dinged Buchanan for his run defense, too. Linemen Nnamdi Madubuike, Travis Jones and Broderick Washington and inside linebacker Roquan Smith could have to carry a heavy load up front in 2025.