The Ravens have a new safety, taking Malaki Starks out of Georgia with their first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Ravens kept the No. 27 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, and used it to take Malaki Starks, a safety out of Georgia. Below, you can find a scouting report with measurables and everything else you need to get a quick look at their new piece.
Stats & Accolades
- 2022: Started 14 games (68 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, seven pass breakups, two interceptions). Finalist for Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award.
- 2023: Started 14 games (52 tackles, seven pass breakups, three interceptions). First-Team Associated Press All-American. First-Team All-SEC. Finalist for Bronco Nagurski Award (nation’s top defender) and Jim Thorpe Award (nation’s top DB).
- 2024: Started 14 games (77 tackles, four tackles for loss, three pass breakups, interception). Second-Team Associated Press All-American. Second-Team All-SEC. Finalist for Jim Thorpe Award.
What the Ravens are getting:
Starks is a lead-by-example, high character, high-IQ player with three years of starting experience on one of the best defenses in college football. The former top-15 recruit in the country wasted little time in making an impact for the Bulldogs as a freshman and has since done nothing but fill up his accolades sheet. A multi-time All-American, Starks is a complete safety with fluid movement skills who played all over the Georgia secondary. He’s an excellent communicator on the field who will go the extra mile at all times to make sure his teammates are in the best position possible to make plays. While Starks does not possess elite athletic traits like most first-round safeties, he makes up for it with a shining work ethic on and off the field. Starks essentially is the rising tide that raises all the ships around him. He’s going to be an excellent addition to any NFL locker room.
Strengths
- Instinctual player with effortless movement skills to cover from sideline to sideline
- Sticky tackler who doesn’t let ball-carriers get away once he gets hands on them
- Durable with 42 consecutive starts to end his career
- Played everywhere on the secondary at one time or another
- Position coaches raved about his leadership and ability to communicate on the field
- Elite diagnosis to trigger speed
Weaknesses
- Consistent tackler but is usually the one falling backwards
- Can still work on his discipline to keep from biting on too many play-fakes
- Pursuit angles need a bit more refinement
- Not super explosive in athletic testing
- Ran the slowest short shuttle at this year’s NFL Combine
Athletic Testing
- Height: 6’1
- Weight: 197 pounds
- 40-yard dash: 4.50 seconds
- 10-yard split: 1.51 seconds
- Vertical jump: 33 inches
- Broad jump: N/A
- 3-cone drill: 7.26 seconds
- Short shuttle: 4.45 seconds
- Bench Press: N/A