9. LB Peter Boulware (first round, 1997)
The Ravens may have selected Ray Lewis a year earlier, but it was the 1997 draft that marked the real beginning of Newsome’s famed commitment to defense as his first three choices that year produced starters on the Super Bowl XXXV team with Boulware being the headliner as the fourth overall pick. The Florida State star was undersized to play defensive end at the next level but made himself into a force as a weakside outside linebacker in his years with the Ravens.
Despite battling a number of ailments including shoulder and knee injuries throughout his career, Boulware ranks second on the franchise’s all-time sacks list with 70 and was named to four Pro Bowls. You only wonder how much better he might have been had he remained healthier, but Boulware was the kind of threat who regularly had the attention of opposing quarterbacks.
Continue to next page for No. 8
