Who is Malaki Starks, the Baltimore Ravens' 2025 first-round draft pick?

The Baltimore Ravens selected safety Malaki Starks from the University of Georgia with the 27th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Starks will join Baltimore's secondary opposite All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton. The Ravens drafted cornerback Nate Wiggins of Clemson in the first round in 2024.

Who is Malaki Starks?

Malaki Starks was a safety at the University of Georgia.

He is listed at 6 feet, 1 inch tall, and weighs 197 pounds. He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds and has a 33-inch vertical.

Starks played three years at Georgia. He was a Finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation's top defensive back. Last season, he led Georgia with 77 tackles.

Stakes started all 14 games in 2024 and had an interception and three pass breakups.

According to the NFL website, Starks has the football IQ and athleticism to play multiple positions. He also challenges pass catchers "with good force" and locates the deep ball well.

Success in the first round

More often than not, the Baltimore Ravens have been successful with their first-round draft picks.

It's still too early to tell on 2024 first-round draft pick Nate Wiggins, who showed glimpses of being a stronghold on Baltimore's defense. He had 33 tackles and a pick-6, but he missed two games because of injury.

Before that, former first round draft picks Zay Flowers (2023), Kyle Hamilton (2022), Tyler Linderbaum (2022), Rashod Bateman (2021), Odafe Oweh (2021), two-time MVP Lamar Jackson (2018), Marlon Humphrey (2017) and Ronnie Stanley (2016) remain key contributors for the Ravens.

Former first-round picks Patrick Queen (2020) and Marquise Brown (2019) had strong moments in the purple and black.

In the past, the Ravens selected Joe Flacco (2008), Haloti Ngata (2006), Terrell Suggs (2003), Ed Reed  (2002), Jonathan Ogden (1996), and Ray Lewis (1996) in the first round.

Ravens General Manager Eric DeCosta says they stick by their plan each year and select the best player available.

"We've been a best-available-player team, and we spent eight months really building the board based on the rankings of the players and how they stack against each other," DeCosta said. "I think we definitely look at the different needs of our team. We spent a lot of time talking about the roster and the players that we have and things like contract status and all those other things that go into it."