Draft News

The Ravens may need to bring in a few more seats to their running backs meeting room.

Baltimore selected Louisiana Tech running back Kenneth Dixon in the fourth round with pick No. 134.

He joins an incredibly crowded backfield competition that already includes Justin Forsett, Buck Allen, Lorenzo Taliaferro, Trent Richardson, Terrance West and Terrence Magee.

Dixon, 5-foot-10 and 215 pounds, was a highly productive player throughout his college career. Dixon put up 87 touchdowns, which is the second most in FBS history.

Later in the draft, the Ravens selected Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds, who surpassed Dixon’s touchdown record to finish with 88 in his career.

“Touchdowns are important,” Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh joked.

“That wasn’t necessarily by design,” Assistant General Manager Eric DeCosta said. “Obviously both guys are playmakers. But it’s a cool stat to see that – 175 touchdowns combined on the third day of the draft is pretty good.”

Dixon churned out 1,070 rushing yards, 467 receiving yards and 26 total touchdowns last season despite missing two games with an ankle issue. He is a dual-threat back who can catch passes out of the backfield, and was college football’s top-graded running back as a receiver by Pro Football Focus.

The dynamic running back was so productive in college that he almost had as many career points (522) as people in his hometown of Strong, Arkansas (651).

With the addition of Dixon, the running back competition has become one of the most intriguing battles on the roster going into this year’s training camp. Forsett has started the last two seasons, but he’ll have plenty of competition for that starting job from the rest of the pack.