“With the 28th overall selection, the Baltimore Ravens select Patrick Queen, linebacker, Louisiana State University,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said, live from his basement.

Around 11:45 p.m. Thursday, with the pick finally in, Ravens coach John Harbaugh air high-fived in the direction of the computer screen on his home office desk.

It was late. “A long, long day,” said Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta, who was on the receiving end of Harbaugh’s video congratulations. And the nearly five previous hours were different from all of the other communal draft nights the Ravens’ braintrust has known. “We were together, sort of,” DeCosta said.

The Ravens and all NFL teams, popular as they are, are not immune pandemic-generated social-distancing rules, either. And so for the first-time ever, the league’s college draft—normally an in-person primetime spectacle held at some place like Radio City Music Hall and attended by thousands of passionate fans—went entirely virtual.

In essence, the traditional conference-style War Room at Ravens’ headquarters in Owings Mills was replaced by a home-office-themed internet-based Zoom Room. We saw Harbaugh sitting at his desk amid bright book-lined shelves, and DeCosta celebrating with his three children in his pink-ish wall-colored workspace.

It felt and looked like a fantasy football draft—where John Doe’s around the country analyze and choose players from their couches for fake teams and a little money—except this remote draft was real and the lifeblood of a billion-dollar pro football business.

Young twenty-somethings hearing their names called, like Charm City’s new (Patrick) Queen, have the potential to become household names and new millionaires. All the while, front-office guys such as DeCosta wore collared shirts and jackets, and ate good food (Jimmy’s Seafood, in his case) rather than gorging on cheap pizza and beer, while trusting encrypted league-mandated Microsoft Teams channels and their own custom team IT setups.

Thankfully, it all went off without a visible glitch—from the technology setup to the Ravens’ draft choice itself. DeCosta manned the Ravens’ battlestation from his cozy office, where a half dozen computer monitors displayed information, like the team’s draft board of names, arranged as if they were meetings on a Google calendar.

One by one, the blocks disappeared as the 27 other picks were made. But by the time it was the Ravens’ turn, they still nabbed one of their preferred targets. Queen, a 20-year-old, 6-foot, 230-pound quick and versatile linebacker—who’s a good tackler, blitzer, and pass coverage option—was defensive MVP of LSU’s national championship-winning team in January.

“He plays like a Raven,” DeCosta said. “When you watch the tape, you notice him. He’s a great fit for our defense and a great fit for Baltimore. He was a need, but also the very best player on the board for us. When that happens it’s a great win for the organization.”

Quarterback Lamar Jackson commented from his place on Instagram shortly after the selection and took the analysis further, saying simply, “Ray Lewis, Jr.” Harbaugh noted Queen’s potential after starting just one year at LSU: “His best football is in front of him.”

It was even later, close to 1 a.m., when Queen joined reporters live in a video chat from his family’s living room in the small town of Ventress, Louisiana, where his family was celebrating (his dad, Dwayne, is a former college football player) and a dog barked.

“It was a long, long, long, long night,” Queen said to start, one upping DeCosta’s claim by a few “longs.” And as a few people offered congratulations to the new Raven before asking a question, he responded with a sincere “Thank you,” before answering each query.

On the inevitable comparison to Ray Lewis, a linebacker who the Ravens also selected at the end of the first round back in the day, Queen smiled. “The bar is set high,” he said.

On critics who might say he’s undersized for the rough world of the NFL, he said, “I’m so tired of hearing that,” and added that he’s proven people wrong everywhere from his small Louisiana high school to the big-time world of college football at LSU. “The tape shows.”

On what fans can expect from him, he said, “Ya’ll going to get the most energetic player from this draft, the most passionate, the most dominant, the most studious person that you can get. I bring a lot to the table.”

Those are more than enough reasons for an air high-five.

For instance, Queen is the first player from LSU the Ravens have ever drafted, perhaps because longtime Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome—who was also part of the Zoom Room—played at the University of Alabama, one of LSU’s rivals.

“He kept saying something, but we muted him,” DeCosta said sarcastically of Newsome before the pick was made. “He kept waving his hands then his video went out. That’s the thing with technology sometimes, it can be manipulated. Maybe it was the Russians, I don’t really know.”

To that point, the GM indicated he would have preferred that ESPN didn’t have a camera in his office recording everything he did, one of more than 100 live video feeds coordinated for the broadcast. “It’s a bit unsettling,” DeCosta said.

But, for one night, the whole mere occurrence—from Queen’s authentic answers and apparent skills, to the awkward musings of Goodell from his basement as he announced picks, to the office backgrounds of Harbaugh and DeCosta, and light-hearted jokes—was a welcome respite for pandemic life.

Yet hopefully it’s not needed in the long run. “I don’t think I’ll ever experience another draft like this,” DeCosta said, noting he had tell his kids to be quiet at times. “But I’ll never forget it.”

There are still two days, six rounds, and 222 more picks to be made in this year’s NFL Draft—and you can’t fairly grade how any team does until years from now, after the college kids selected pan out like Jonathan Ogden, Ray Lewis, and Ed Reed or flop, so to speak in pro football terms, like Kyle Boller.

But through the first night of what’s really an annual nationally televised administrative spectacle, it’s hard to say that the Ravens haven’t already won.

And not just because of the promise and skills that new general manager Eric DeCosta’s first ever pick—speedy 5-foot-10, 170-pound Oklahoma wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, selected 25th overall in last night’s first round—brings to the roster.

Brown feels like a valuable addition, and at least Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson agrees, given the child-like joy in his live reaction on social media last night, close to 11 p.m. (In the video, “Hollywood,” refers to the rookie’s nickname, and where he grew up, 40 miles from where Jackson did in Boynton Beach, Florida. You’ll also hear a mention of Brown’s diamond neck chain, which actually features a likeness of himself.)

That’s all charming and makes us want to be 21 years old again—and have a few million dollars headed our way—but just wait for the real heart-warming stuff to come when it’s the Ravens turn to make headlines again the next two days.

Some time tonight, when they’re ready to make their third-round pick, Westminster native Miles Taylor will step onto the stage in Nashville and announce the team’s selection. Taylor was born with cerebral palsy and went viral a few months ago for a video of him deadlifting 200 pounds. Among other reactions, Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed Taylor his “new hero.”

Taylor, 24, recently visited the Ravens headquarters in Owings Mills with his personal trainer, a high school friend who got him into lifting. He impressed coaches and players in the workout room, learned he’d be part of the draft festivities, and shared his story with the team’s public relations group. It’s worth a watch.

“Cerebral palsy doesn’t define who I am,” Taylor said. “I just want to be a better version of myself. It’s so cool to be able to inspire people.”

If that’s not enough motivation to catch some of the draft broadcast, maybe this is. On Saturday afternoon at the Ravens’ Draft Fest at the Inner Harbor, with players like Jackson and Ravens second-year tight end Hayden Hurst on hand, superfan Mo Gaba, who was born blind and at age 13 is fighting cancer for the fourth time, will become the first person to read off an NFL Draft selection from a Braille card.

Gaba is from Glen Burnie and has attended Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital for multiple rounds of chemo and surgeries. He’s been a fixture on local sports-talk radio in recent years, and struck up a unique relationship with an Anne Arundel County police officer that works in his school. It’s easy to love him.

This interview of the Orioles’ Trey Mancini interviewing him last year is precious. “Every day when I wake up in the morning, I always feel like I’m going to achieve something that’s pretty cool,” Gaba said then, sitting in his wheelchair on the field at Camden Yards. “I just think positive.”

Coach John Harbaugh surprised the kid live on the radio earlier this week to say he’d be reading the Ravens fourth-round pick, No. 123 overall, to the nation . . .

After all that, there’s not much left to say. Except for a few more names to be announced, along with Ravens hats to be put on draftees, and future contracts to be signed. Because, for now, the Ravens certainly have inspiration covered for us all.

Draft day in the NFL is just as big an event as the Super Bowl. It’s where college athletes’ dreams come true and fans of all 32 teams wait anxiously—and oftentimes impatiently—to see how the team’s roster will shift for the upcoming season.

Last night, the Baltimore Ravens made two grade-A picks in the first round—according to sports analysts—after trading down twice for the first time in the first round since 2012. With the 25th overall pick, Baltimore selected South Carolina tight end Hayden Hurst and Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson with the 32nd overall pick.

Like many die-hard Ravens fans, we immediately started our Google searches to find out about our newest recruits and we’ve compiled some facts for you here.

Lamar Jackson is the anti-Joe Flacco.
The 2016 Heisman Trophy-winner is known for his athleticism and ability to move in the pocket unlike Flacco, who is a traditional pocket passer with an insanely strong arm. Jackson has been compared to QB Michael Vick in his prime, but even the man himself thinks Jackson is “five times better” than he was in college.

John Harbaugh says that Flacco isn’t going anywhere.
Speculations have begun that this may be Flacco’s last year in Baltimore due to the recent signing of RGIII and now Lamar Jackson. The Ravens head coach wants to make it very clear that Joe isn’t going anywhere just yet.

“[Jackson’s] a great quarterback. But Joe Flacco is our quarterback,” he said in an interview. “That’s the thing we got to remember. Lamar is going to have a great chance to develop. When you get to this stage in a quarterback’s career, you’ve seen done in New England and you’ve seen done in a lot of places. This doesn’t really change things in a sense that we’re going to go with Joe and he’s going to roll.”

Hayden Hurst was the top tight end in the 2018 draft class.
At 6-foot-5, 250 pounds he has the athleticism to put up big stats in the NFL, Hurst is just the tight end the Ravens need. He’s a force on the field with his blocking and catching. In his last two seasons at South Carolina, he caught 92 passes for 1,175 yards and three touchdowns. Hurst will be able to fill the void the Ravens have with Nick Boyle and Maxx Williams, who are both better at blocking.

Hurst has a history in major league drafts.
He was selected in the 2012 MLB draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates and spent two years as a pitcher and one year as a first baseman in the Gulf Coast League. Hurst went back to football in the summer of 2015 and was an immediate starter. He credits his background in baseball for his exceptional hand-eye coordination and maturity playing professional sports.

“I feel like tracking a baseball is a little bit harder than tracking a football,” Hurst said. “I think that’s the biggest thing that I carry over from baseball is just the maturity. I’ve experienced some things that some guys haven’t with failure.”

Ozzie Newsome was able to work magic with those two trades.
First the Ravens traded out of the No. 16 pick, giving the Buffalo Bills its first- and fifth-round picks (No. 154). In return, the Ravens are getting the Bills’ first-rounder (No. 22) and third-rounder (No. 65).

Then, Baltimore traded back for the second time with Tennessee getting the Titans’ first-round (No. 25) and fourth-round picks (No. 125). Ravens gave Tennessee the No. 22 spot they just got from Buffalo and a sixth-rounder (No. 215).

Newsome called is “masterful” how he was able to trade down twice and still manage to get two great picks in the first round.

The NFL draft is May 8-10 and, at some point during those three days, Baltimore native and Towson University alum Terrance West will almost certainly hear his name called, and his boyhood dream will be a reality.

West will be one of 200-plus players drafted, but no one has had quite his path to the NFL.

Growing up fatherless in a tough West Baltimore neighborhood, Terrance West, nonetheless, became a star running back at Northwestern High School. He knew he had the talent to play after he graduated, but he needed to get his SAT scores up, so he attended prep school. But after a year without scholarship offers, West started working at Jimmy Jazz clothing store selling shoes and continued to dream of playing collegiate football.

After failed attempts to be a walk-on at Morgan State and University of Maryland, West decided to try Towson, which was seeking a fresh start for its football program. (The Tigers had only had one win the entire 2010 football season.)

“I came into the office at 4 a.m. for 5:45 practice and Terrance was already there, after taking two buses from Baltimore City,” says Towson coach Rob Ambrose. “It was that day I knew there was drive in him that you don’t see in most people these days.”

After three years, West became Towson’s all-time leading rusher with 4,854 yards and 84 touchdowns (he rushed for 2,509 yards and 41 touchdowns this past season), and he helped lead Towson to the FCS Championship game. “Where you went to school won’t save you,” says West. “If you want to play in the NFL, you have to earn it.”

The list of Towson University students who have played in the NFL can be counted on one hand, so it’s quite an accomplishment for West to be one of them.

Not bad for a guy who was selling shoes four years ago.