The Baltimore Ravens will look very different on offense last season after scoring 28.4 points per game in 2023. At least, their trenches will look quite different, even if the rest largely stays the same. The running back room is very different with Derrick Henry in and Gus Edwards out, but the o-line is…different.
Indeed, they are losing three starters from last year’s line, though they traded one away. The Ravens parted with RT Morgan Moses, sending him to the New York Jets for a sixth-round pick and swapping fourths. But they lost both guards, John Simpson and Kevin Zeitler, in free agency.
Moses played more than 1,800 snaps over the past two seasons, Zeitler 1,900. Simpson had just come over from the Las Vegas Raiders and logged 1,119 snaps at left tackle. He joins Moses in New York after signing with the Jets as an unrestricted free agent. So how do the Ravens keep the train moving while replacing 60 percent of their offensive line?
Well, they have in-house options, even if retreads. Ben Cleveland and Patrick Mekari both have experience, though Cleveland has never been a starter. Mekari started most of the 2021 season at right tackle, though that was due to injury.
He can play all five positions, however, and in terms of internal solutions, he makes the most sense at guard. That’s the theory, anyway, because they have the intriguing Andrew Vorhees burning a hole in their back pocket.
A 2023 seventh-round pick, scouts expected Vorhees to go much sooner, no later than the end of the third round. Only a torn ACL suffered at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine ruined his draft stock, but the Ravens took a shot on his talent and future. If they get a starting right tackle out of him, then they won big.
But that’s unquestionably still an if. They’ve taken similar chances on injured players before without enjoying the fruit of the seeds that they planted. David Ojabo has played just three games since they drafted him in the second round in 2022. He’s spent most of his career on reserve lists due to multiple serious injuries.
Thus far, the Ravens’ only outside move in free agency was to bring in Henry at running back. They’ve lost close to a dozen of their own in free agency, however, including ILB Patrick Queen to the Steelers. But they managed to retain DL Justin Madubuike, and they reworked LT Ronnie Stanley’s contract to keep him around.
Still, you can’t simply lose three starters along the offensive line and not miss a beat. They still have Stanley and C Tyler Linderbaum, both plus players, surely, but every other spot may see a downgrade. How do they replenish this group satisfactorily?
The Ravens have nine picks in the coming draft, with one extra fourth and one extra seventh. They are certainly familiar with going into the draft with even greater firepower than that as general manager Eric DeCosta loves to wheel and deal. And they’re not above drafting three linemen, which they did in 2019, including Orlando Brown Jr. and Bradley Bozeman.
