Ravens Draft Penn State P Jordan Stout, Casting Doubt On Sam Koch's Future With The Team
OWINGS MILLS, MD (WJZ) -- The Baltimore Ravens select punter Jordan Stout with their fourth pick in the fourth round of the NFL draft.
Stout is the first punter taken in this year's draft. He grew up playing soccer and played football at Virginia Tech before transferring to Penn State in 2019.
Stout will most likely take over for longtime Ravens punter Sam Koch.
The addition of Stout puts into question whether Koch will be cut from the team.
Koch is owed a base salary of $2.1 million contract with a signing bonus of $1.05 million, according to Spotrac.com.
But if the team cuts him from the roster, it would clear a $2.1 million cap space, according to Spotrac.com.
Right now, the team is working with a cap space of $7,083,329, according to Spotrac.com.
Koch has the record for most games played as a Raven—despite a brief setback during the pandemic. He has been the Raven's punter for 15 seasons.
He is a hard worker who is considered to be one of the best punters in the league and a precision passer when called upon.
Stout joins Kyle Hamilton of Notre Dame, Tyler Linderbaum, David Ojabo, Travis Jones, Daniel Faalele, Jalyn Armour-Davis, Charlie Kolar, Jordan Stout, Isaiah Likely, Damarion Williams, and Tyler Badie.
During a press conference on Saturday, Eric DeCosta noted that the team had added "some very, very good football players" to meet a lot of big needs "across the board."
"I think we're a better football team today than we were last week," he said.
DeCosta said he talked to Koch before the draft started on Saturday just to let him know that the team was thinking about drafting a punter.
"Sam—and it sounds funny to say it—as a punter is kind of iconic," he said. "But Sam is a part of this team he's a part of the fabric of this team. He's been here since 2006."
DeCosta said he didn't know what the future would look like for Koch or the Ravens.
"I really just want to celebrate the guy we drafted. Stout. He's got a big leg," he said.
Team members spent a lot of time thinking about the draft and the opportunities that it presented, DeCosta said.
"We had a good plan. I think we were patient—strategic—as best as possible," he said. "You think about every possible situation along the way. Obviously, the trade was something that created another level of anxiety that I was spending time on and have been spending time on for quite some time. But in the end, you trust the process. You do your homework. You grade the players. You rank the board and you talk about it."
Ravens coach John Harbaugh said that Stout reminded him a lot of Koch.
"With Sam, to kind of underline what Eric said, Sam is probably—I've never been around a better pro than Sam," Harbaugh said. "You know, he's more partner than player. He's more coach, you know, player-coach kind of in a way. He's kind of our contemporary almost . . . Sam is just one of the all-time greats. So Jordan will come in here and learn from him and we'll see where it goes."
