The Baltimore Ravens are inching closer to putting together their new offensive line, but John Harbaugh isn’t quite there yet. After parting with three starters from last season, the unit could include two players with zero NFL experience. They are the frontrunners right now, but the head coach is waiting to make the call official.
The Ravens used a second-round pick on Roger Rosengarten this year, a college teammate of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Troy Fautanu. They drafted Andrew Vorhees late in last year’s draft, a high prospect whose draft value sank due to injury. Vorhees is now healthy and on the verge of being a starter—but not just yet.
“I’m comfortable that they took the steps that they showed us that they have a shot to do it”, Harbaugh said of the Ravens’ young linemen, Vorhees and Rosengarten, via the team’s website. “They’re not there yet, but we still have three weeks of work to do, so I think they’re very much in the mix. How close are we to naming it? Probably another game, maybe two games, honestly”.
Andrew Vorhees logged 30 snaps in the Ravens’ preseason debut, while Roger Rosengarten played 18. Neither looked like seasoned veterans but showed the talent evident in their pre-draft evaluations. They are competing against the likes of Daniel Faalele and Josh Jones for their jobs, with Ben Cleveland in the mix as the third new starter.
While Harbaugh wasn’t ready to name Rosengarten or Vorhees starters, he acknowledged that they could play well if the Ravens put them out there to start the season. “Vorhees was very consistent, and Rosengarten was very consistent”, he said.
For Roger, let’s get him some more plays next week”, the Ravens head coach said. ”Pat [Mekari] played well, and Josh [Jones] played well at left tackle, so Roger’s reps were a little less. We’ll get Roger some more reps next week [against Atlanta] and in practice this week. I would say the whole offensive line passed the test. There’s nobody, really, in that group of guys you’re talking about that didn’t look like they could play”.
The Ravens allowed both starting guards from last season, Kevin Zeitler and John Simpson, to walk in free agency. They traded RT Morgan Moses to the New York Jets, so if they don’t have the answer there, that’s their fault.
But they like what they are seeing from Rosengarten there, and from Vorhees at guard. The Ravens do have a history of turning over their offensive line room with relative success even with unheralded names. But can they deliver consistent championship-caliber blocking while building cohesion? Having two blue-chip starters in Ronnie Stanley and Tyler Linderbaum is a good nucleus to start with.
