DeCosta: It’s kind of a job that we’re sort of building on the fly, all the different things that it entails. I did some stuff for free agency up until the draft, looked at some players, did some evaluations, shared some input. But because of the timing of when I was named, the biggest thing was really the draft. So I’ve been really working on finishing this project, which is a nine-month project. The logical thing was to finish it out. So I’ve been running the meetings and doing a lot of the things that I’ve always done.

Question: What is this stretch like, the last several days before the draft? Is all the homework done and you’re sitting and waiting, or are you researching players until the last minute?

DeCosta: We got some players in here [last week] to help us make some last-minute decisions. Some of our best picks were players we looked at the eve of the draft. So there’s so much work to do. You can’t look at everybody, which is why you work right up until the end, until late Friday night. At this point, you’re trolling the deep waters, looking at guys who maybe didn’t get much recognition and who are near the bottom of your list. Maybe one of us had a feeling about him and you need to know more. Antwan Barnes was literally the last player I looked at Friday night before the draft. I remember pulling some tapes. There was one game where I liked what I saw, so I brought the tapes to Ozzie at 7 o’clock Friday night and said, ‘Look at this guy and tell me what you think.’ The next morning, Ozzie said, ‘Hey, I liked this guy, good pass rusher, could help us on special teams.’

Last year, during the draft, for our last couple of picks, we actually pulled out some tape right there and looked at some guys, compared them to each other, trying to make the decision easier. Your work really isn’t done until the draft is over.

Question: What’s your draft routine – either the night before or the day of the draft?

DeCosta: On Friday, we have a party for everyone who’s contributed to the draft process. It’s a nice chance for everyone to get together on Friday night. I’ll typically show up, stay there for a little while. Then my wife and I have tradition where we always get sushi. Then she goes to bed, I’ll stay up and make some phone calls. I remember last year talking to my man Mel well into the night, about all the things that could happen. We picked each other’s brain a little bit last year. Then you get up early and come over here.

I’ve always had a tradition of going on a jog with Phil Savage and Pat Moriarty. Then it was just Pat and I. Last year I came back and George Kokinis and I played racquetball. Then we have gameplan meeting, Ozzie, myself, Coach Harbaugh, a couple of other people. We had 10 different scenarios last year that we went through. And then we just eat and man the phones.

Question: Is it more fun for you to draft high in the first round or draft low?

DeCosta: The fun for me is not so much the first round, but getting a really good player in some other round -- a guy you didn’t expect to be there, that you’re really excited about. It’s really exciting for me. Like last year, we loved Ray Rice. We had a pick and we gambled, trading back to second and we still got Ray Rice. To me, that’s exciting, maneuvering up and down the board and still getting the guys you want. To me, that’s where the beauty of draft lies, knowing the value of the players and knowing where you need to be to get them.

Question: We hear every year that the Ravens don’t draft strictly based on need. But we hear that from a lot of teams, too. Has there been a shift in thinking? Or does everyone just lie about this?

DeCosta: We rank all the players and we end up just drafting them based on their ranking on our board. We stay pretty true to that. There are ways to play the game. Obviously we didn’t have to draft Joe Flacco last year with the eighth pick. We knew we could get him later. You don’t punt on first down, so we knew we had to play the game the right way, where we could move some picks and still get Joe Flacco. … There’s a way to play the game, you have to understand the league value of different players.

Obviously, if you have two players graded identically and one player’s a need and one isn’t, you’ll draft the need. So you do technically draft need, but only when the decision is between two players graded very close together. If it’s close, you address the need. As you get later into the draft, your philosophy might also change a bit, and then you do try to fill holes. You draft for depth. But in the first and second rounds, you want to stay true to your board.

Question: What is the easiest position to gauge?

DeCosta: I would say offensive line and safeties. Running backs, too. Those are kind of easier positions to evaluate. The tougher ones are quarterbacks and wide receivers and probably cornerbacks.

Question: The Ravens have made a run at a few receivers in the early rounds of the draft the past several seasons. Do you consider wide receiver an unusually risky position to draft in the first round and if so, why?

DeCosta: Historically it has been. An interesting thing when looking at all wide receiver busts is how many of those busts had good quarterbacks around them? The thing about wide receivers that makes it unusually difficult is there’s a relationship between quarterback and a wide receiver. They work hand in hand. Rarely do you have a great receiver without a good quarterback throwing him the football. You could be a left tackle on a horrible offense but you could still be a great player; you could dominate one on one. Same with cornerback. But it’s hard to be a really great receiver if you don’t have the quarterback throwing you the ball. Because of that dynamic, it’s more complicated in terms of evaluating those players.

Question: You guys used Joe Flacco in some of your workouts with potential receiver picks this spring. I’m not sure I’ve heard of other teams ever doing this. Why’d you go this route, and how unique of an idea is it?

DeCosta: Any time you can involve more people, more resources, think outside the box, I think you’ll get closer to the truth of the matter. Joe is a guy who is very selfless and is happy to help out in any way. I think we have a lot of guys like that on our team …

I haven’t heard about it very often. It’s not something that I’ve seen much of. I remember growing up in Boston, and I think Larry Bird used to work out with college players and was involved in the process. I always thought that was interesting.

Question: Last year was John Harbaugh’s first draft as head coach. Anything different as you guys approach this year’s? Does he seem more or less involved?

DeCosta: Equally, I’d say. I think he’s more comfortable with the process. Having been through it, he understands our terminology, the process, the grading system, the language that we use. His involvement is huge for me. He’s a great resource, someone I can go to and bounce ideas off. His message is consistent about players. I think our scouts appreciate his involvement, and I think they’ve learned a lot from him.

Question: There was a story by Yahoo recently that reported some NFL teams are creating fake Facebook accounts, featuring profile pictures of attractive women, to befriend potential draft picks. How important is it that you guys research everything you can about potential draft picks?

DeCosta: Well, you never really know a guy until you have him. Our scouts do an awesome job. We’ve been together as a staff, most of us nine, 10, 11 years. We speak the same language. We train our guys to read people, to build a profile. We have a lot of resources made available to us from NFL in regards to security, in regards to testing. We spend a lot of money giving these guys medical physicals and everything else, so you do get to know everything about these guys pretty well.

Question: With all the resources available to you, I also wonder what you can glean from college coaches. I remember K.C. Keeler telling me he sold the hell out of Flacco to you guys. But I imagine all coaches do that.

DeCosta: For the most part, I think college coaches are positive about their players, as you’d expect. It helps to have a good source at the school, someone you can trust to get the positive and the negatives. It’s very valuable. You hear about competitiveness, football intelligence, personality of the kid, family background, where he grew up, how he was recruited. That’s all important stuff. It’s almost like being a reporter or journalist or investigator -- you just keep adding stuff and adding stuff and over time, a clearer picture is going to emerge of the player. If you like that stuff and you like the tape and what you’ve seen of the kid, it’s a good match and you should try to get that guy,

Question: Do you go home after every draft with a sense of accomplishment, or do you tend to replay the day’s events and nitpick everything that went right or wrong?

DeCosta: [After the first day,] I have a tough time sleeping on Saturday night. It’s late, you’re really amped up, you have a lot of emotions and trying to figure out how the next day is going to go. We try to restack the board, essentially the third round becomes the first round. You’re on the clock, and you want to have the players who are still available re-ranked. There’s work to be done. You can’t get the game plan for the second day until the first day is over. So Saturday night, you get together, summarize everything, find out who you still covet and make some phone calls.

Question: And how do you feel after the second day? Are there ever regrets?

DeCosta: Some years it may not go exactly as you want it to. A couple years, there were guys we really wanted, but you just couldn’t get them. 2004 was a frustrating draft because there were players we really coveted and they got picked right before we picked. Bob Sanders, Nathan Vasher were both picked right before us. So it can be frustrating not having everything in your control. It happens in every draft. So there is sometimes a sense of frustration.

On the other hand, there are some years that you just can’t believe your good fortune and you just can’t wait for that first minicamp. Last year was like that. We had so many picks. We were excited to get Joe, and Ray Rice was one of my favorite players. I’m really proud of that draft class last year. A lot of those guys contributed. With a new coaching staff and scouting staff, I thought they worked very well together. Hopefully we can do it again.