Eric DeCosta makes picking in the top 10 of the NFL draft sound so easy.

"We just rate the players," the Ravens' director of college scouting said. "When you're looking at the top 10 players, they're so good. Just like when you're driving down a neighborhood, you see a million-dollar home versus a $300,000 home, and you know which is the million-dollar home."

When it comes to drafting in the top 10, the Ravens have truly cornered the market.

Since relocating to Baltimore in 1996, the Ravens have drafted five Pro Bowl players in the top 10, the most of any team in that span.

They have hit on five of their seven shots in the top 10, taking the likes of Jonathan Ogden, Peter Boulware, Chris McAlister, Jamal Lewis and Terrell Suggs. Although Duane Starks and Travis Taylor were the only ones who didn't make the Pro Bowl, Starks was pivotal in the team's 2000 Super Bowl run and Taylor left as the franchise's all-time leading receiver.

The Ravens' reputation will be on the line once again Saturday, when they have the No. 8 pick in the NFL draft.

But selecting at the top of the draft is far from easy, despite the Ravens' repeated success.

From 1996 to 2003 - when the Ravens found five Pro Bowl players - only 41 of the 80 top 10 picks went on to the Pro Bowl. That's a 51 percent success rate.

So why have the Ravens constantly found that million-dollar home while others still take the $300,000 ones?

"What teams do is try to fill needs, and they take a player that is not worthy of being taken in that spot," DeCosta said. "That's why people just can't grasp the 'best player available' philosophy. Ultimately, if you take a player too high, you have a set of expectations, and that player is not going to meet those expectations."

In analyzing the Ravens' draft expertise, their success comes from thinking outside the box, taking players from established programs and getting lucky at times.

Outside the box
The Ravens really shouldn't have taken Ogden, Boulware and Suggs.

In 1996, they needed a running back more than an offensive tackle, which is why it made more sense to draft Lawrence Phillips than Ogden. But the Ravens picked Ogden and started him at guard as a rookie before making room for him at tackle the next year.

It was the same way with Boulware and Suggs. The Ravens needed pass rushers, but they gambled twice on their ability to convert a college defensive end to an NFL linebacker.

The Ravens' philosophy has been to take the best player even if it means going an unconventional route.

Going big
Another school of thought for the Ravens is that there is a smaller risk with players from big schools.

The Ravens have stayed away from players that come from non-Bowl Championship Series schools like Troy, Tennessee State and Boise State. Their focus has been on established programs like Florida State, Miami, Tennessee and Florida.

This isn't coincidence.

"When you go to a school that has traditionally won - a Miami, a Michigan, a USC - the players have been there on a big stage," DeCosta said. "They're used to playing in front of 85,000 fans, a hostile environment, under pressure. They're used to running the program a certain way, and there's an expectation level there.

"What we're trying to do here is create that expectation level of winning every game. So, bringing those types of players in, they've already done that, and I think it rubs off on our players when they come in."

Getting lucky
The Ravens' scouting department endures a grueling yearlong process from traveling to games all over the country to watching tape late at night.

Still, after all these countless months of work, it sometimes comes down to luck on draft day.

The last time the Ravens drafted in the top 10 was 2003, when they tried to trade up from No. 10 to No. 7 to take quarterback Byron Leftwich. But the talks with the Minnesota Vikings went past the allotted time, which allowed the Jacksonville Jaguars to select Leftwich.

In the end, the Ravens had Suggs fall to them. So instead of having Leftwich - who is currently without a team - the Ravens landed one of the best young pass rushers in the league.

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome acknowledges that the Ravens have been lucky over the years.

"When I first went to Cleveland, [coach] Sam Rutigliano said: 'When preparation meets opportunity, that equals luck,'" Newsome said. "So all the work we do allows us to have the luck."

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