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The Baltimore Ravens selected six players in the 2009 draft, three on offense and three for the defense. The top selection was tackle Michael Oher (pronounced oar), who was taken in the first round (23rd overall).
Oher, a 6-4, 309-pound standout, was a team captain at Mississippi, where he won the Jacobs Blocking Trophy in 2008 as the SEC's top blocker. Oher is the third O-lineman Baltimore has ever selected in the first round: likely Hall of Famer Jonathan Ogden was picked in 1996 (fourth overall), and current starting LG **Ben Grubbs** was tabbed in 2007 (29th).
Oher is the subject of the best-selling book "The Blind Side: The Evolution of a Game," written by Michael Lewis. The book is currently being adapted into a movie about Oher's life.
Following Oher, the Ravens grabbed Utah defensive end Paul Kruger in the second round (57th overall). Kruger is 6-4 and weighs 265 pounds and led the Utes with 7.5 sacks and 16.5 tackles for loss in 2008. Kruger, who had two seasons of college eligibility remaining, earned All-Mountain West Conference first-team honors last season.
Baltimore's next two selections were also defensive players: DB Lardarius Webb, a 5-10, 180-pound All-American from Nicholls State, and ILB **Jason Phillips**, a feisty 6-1, 240-pound tackling machine from TCU. Webb was drafted in the third round (88th overall) and Phillips came to the Ravens in the fifth (137th overall). Phillips is the only player in Mountain West Conference history to earn All-League honors for four seasons.
The Ravens completed the draft by selecting two offensive standouts: TE Davon Drew from East Carolina in the fifth round (149th overall) and RB **Cedric Peerman** in the sixth (185th overall). Drew, a former QB, caught 43 passes for a team-leading 695 yards (16.2 yards per catch avg.) as a senior. Peerman rushed for 774 yards on 153 carries (5.1 avg.) and 7 TDs in 2008.
"I believe in two years we'll look back at this group of players and talk about how this draft made us better," Ravens general manager and executive vice president **Ozzie Newsome** said. "We're a good team right now, which will make it harder for these new players to give us improvement, but I do believe that will happen."
"We pride ourselves on being a physically tough team, and we've brought in players who will add to that," director of player personnel **Eric DeCosta** added. "We took players who like the physicality of the game, and they have skills to play at a high level."
