The Baltimore Ravens lost three starting offensive linemen this offseason, but one they lost by choice, trading RT Morgan Moses to the New York Jets, believing that they have an in-house candidate in Daniel Faalele who could step into that role.
A fourth-round draft pick Minnesota in 2022, Faalele is entering his third season with 356 snaps to his name. He has only one start, in Week 4 of his rookie season, but he also played significant snaps in several games. Head coach John Harbaugh explained at the annual league meetings why he is high on his young tackle.
“He can come off the ball, and that’s what we want Daniel to do, because that’s what he was born to do”, he said of Faalele, via the team’s website. “But he can make a reach block, too. He’s got great feet, and he can sustain a block. The ability to sustain a block either way, whether it’s run or pass, zone or gap, or man- or drive-block, is really the bottom line. And then where they excel a little bit more, you game plan and call plays a little more that way”.
The Ravens initially acquired the pick used to draft Faalele in a trade sending Ben Bredeson to the Giants. Since coming to Baltimore, he’s sat behind Moses at right tackle and Ronnie Stanley at left tackle. Capable of playing on either end, and even at guard, however, his best position is likely on the right.
Faalele is also quite likely the largest human being in the NFL at 6-8, 380 pounds. He’s like Zach Banner at his heaviest, except Faalele is in shape and agile at that weight. Thus far, he hasn’t made a name for himself in the NFL, however, but he has a shot this year. And if he wins the job, he’ll have a chance at getting revenge against T.J. Watt.
Many mock drafts do have the Ravens drafting a tackle in the first round, but we’re seeing about a dozen different teams mocked to take tackles in the first round at this point, and they’re not all going to do that.
Arguably, the Ravens have a bigger need at guard after losing both Kevin Zeitler and John Simpson. Patrick Mekari is not exactly someone you want to write into the starting lineup with a chisel. Drafting toward the end of the first round, a guard may actually make more sense there.
But Baltimore is a team that is constantly exploring its options. You can rest assured they are not going to hand Faalele the job, even though they trust their scouting and developing of offensive linemen. They have about as good a track record as anybody else out there.
Pittsburgh Steelers fans take a certain amount of glee in the reality of their losing three starting linemen. But don’t expect them to stay down for too long. They still have Stanley and Tyler Linderbaum and are likely to add one blue-chip component in the draft. History has proven that they can fill in the gaps as necessary.
