Meanwhile, there are several highly-regarded pass rusher candidates that could play defensive end or outside linebacker, including: Northern Illinois' Larry English, Cincinnati's Connor Barwin, Tennessee's Robert Ayers, Georgia Tech's Michael Johnson, Florida State's Everette Brown and Virginia's Clint Sintim.

Other linebackers that could be on the Ravens' radar: USC's Clay Matthews III and Rey Maualuga.

Among the cornerbacks that might be of interest to the Ravens: Ohio State's Malcolm Jenkins, Utah's Sean Smith, Illinois' Vontae Davis, Connecticut's Darius Butler, Wake Forest's Alphonso Smith and Maryland's Kevin Barnes. The Ravens had a private workout for St. Paul's cornerback Greg Toler, a Division II standout.

Of course, this is a month filled with deception and subterfuge where normally honest men tell tall tales to confuse other NFL teams and reporters about their true intentions.

"From my perspective, I'm just really glad that this is April Fool's Day," DeCosta said. "I can lie and not feel guilty about it."

The Ravens' best-player available philosophy could also match up with an offensive tackle like Ole Miss' Michael Oher, Arizona's Eben Britton or Alabama's Andre Smith along with Cal center Alex Mack or Ohio State running back Chris "Beanie" Wells.

"We like a lot of tackles in this year's draft," DeCosta said. "Tackle is one of those positions that gets picked quick."

With just six draft picks after not receiving any compensatory selections this year, the Ravens could also opt to trade back to stockpile selections. The Ravens have a pick in every round except the seventh after a trade last year for defensive end Marques Douglas.

"We will be prepared to draft at 26, there's no doubt in my mind," Newsome said. "If the opportunity presents itself, we can move back and acquire more picks, the way the board is stacking up right now, that would be something that we could really consider because the way our football team is to be able to add an influx of good, young talent is just going to make us stronger."

Unlike a year ago following a 5-11 disaster, the Ravens don't feel the time crunch of spending the majority of January concentrating on running a coaching search to hire John Harbaugh after dismissing Brian Billick.

After making it to the AFC championship last season, the Ravens can concentrate on the draft.

"I'm not as stressed this year as I was last year,” DeCosta said. “Last year was probably the most critical draft we've had.  I just felt really overburdened and behind. This year, I feel ahead of the game. This year, sanity rules. We're not going to do anything crazy.