Ravens Lose Coin Flip, Will Pick No. 17

The Ravens' draft order is officially set.

The Ravens will have the No. 17 overall pick after losing a coin flip to the Dallas Cowboys at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis Wednesday morning. The two teams had to flip a coin to determine their draft order because they finished with 8-8 records, and  had identical opponents' winning percentage of .484.

"We'll just be picking one pick later, but I think it alternates in the other rounds, so we'll be picking ahead of them in the second and third round. We'll find a player there at 17," General Manager Ozzie Newsome said.

"This is probably our third time having a coin flip, and I think we're 2-1. The other two times I wasn't at the flip, so maybe I'm the problem."

Picking at No. 17 will be the highest selection during Head Coach John Harbaugh's tenure, and the Ravens' earliest pick since they took All-Pro defensive tackle Haloti Ngata at No. 12 in 2006. The Ravens drafted quarterback Joe Flacco with the No. 18 pick in the 2008 draft.

In the franchise's history, the Ravens have capitalized on middle and early first-round draft picks.

The Ravens have drafted higher than the No. 17 pick seven times in their 18-year history, and with those selections they nabbed Hall of Fame left tackle Jonathan Ogden (No. 4 pick, 1996), outside linebacker Peter Boulware (No. 4, 1997), cornerback Duane Starks (No. 10, 1998), cornerback Chris McAlister (No. 10, 1999), running back Jamal Lewis (No. 5, 2000), outside linebacker Terrell Suggs (No. 10, 2003) and Ngata.

This is also a good year to have a draft pick in the middle of the first round, as draft experts consider it a deep class.

"This is the deepest and best draft I've seen in the last 10 years, and that's been reinforced by most of the general managers and scouts I've talked to throughout the league," NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said on a national conference call.  "I had one GM tell me the other day that having a top 20 pick this year is very similar to having a top 10 pick last year."

Recent history shows that teams have been able to get quality players with pick No. 17. Here are the last three selections with that pick:

2013: OLB Jarvis Jones, Pittsburgh Steelers
2012: CB Dre Kirkpatrick, Cincinnati Bengals
2011: OT Nate Solder, New England Patriots

The Ravens currently have just four picks this year: first, second, third and sixth rounders. They traded their fourth- and fifth-round picks to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for left tackle Eugene Monroe. They also dealt a seventh-round pick to the Colts for guard A.Q. Shipley.

But they will likely get four additional compensatory picks through the loss of unrestricted free agents like outside linebacker Paul Kruger, inside linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, cornerback Cary Williams and safety Ed Reed. Compensatory picks get announced at the annual NFL owners meetings next month.

Here is the order for all 32 picks in the first round of the draft beginning May 8:

1. Houston Texans

2. St. Louis Rams (via Washington Redskins)

3. Jacksonville Jaguars

4. Cleveland Browns

5. Oakland Raiders

6. Atlanta Falcons

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

8. Minnesota Vikings

9. Buffalo Bills

10. Detroit Lions

11. Tennessee Titans

12. New York Giants

13. St. Louis Rams

14. Chicago Bears

15. Pittsburgh Steelers

16. Dallas Cowboys

17. Baltimore Ravens

18. New York Jets

19. Miami Dolphins

20. Arizona Cardinals

21. Green Bay Packers

22. Philadelphia Eagles

23. Kansas City Chiefs

24. Cincinnati Bengals

25. San Diego Chargers

26. Cleveland Browns (from Indianapolis)

27. New Orleans Saints

28. Carolina Panthers

29. New England Patriots

30. San Francisco 49ers

31. Denver Broncos

32. Seattle Seahawks