The Baltimore Ravens have had more than their fair share of injury issues so far in 2021 and it sounds like the injury bug remains in the Charm City, according to a Thursday report from Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports.
Per La Canfora, the Ravens are preparing to be without All-Pro left tackle Ronnie Stanley in Week 2 and possibly far longer as he needs to undergo more medical testing. The report goes on to say that Alejandro Villanueva will likely need to slide back to left tackle, his more natural spot, with Patrick Makari being the next man up to right tackle.
If you watched the Ravens’ Monday night loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, you know that both Stanley and Villanueva didn’t have great games at all, especially in the pass blocking department. Villanueva looked like a fish out of water at right tackle after spending most of the last six seasons as the starting left tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Stanley suffered a major ankle injury last season in the Ravens first of two 2020 games against the Steelers. Baltimore losing him for an extended amount time would be brutal.
It will be interesting to see if the Ravens wind up attempting to sign a free agent tackle such as Russell Okung or Mitchell Schwartz if Stanley winds up being sidelined a while. Former Ravens tackle Rick Wagner is also still a free agent as well.
The 0-1 Ravens will play the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night and in Baltimore. A loss by the Ravens could put them in too big of a hole in the AFC North to climb out of. That hole will be even bigger if Stanley is out a while and if Villanueva doesn’t improve his play after flipping over to left tackle.
