Asked in late April about not drafting a center to replace three-time Pro Bowl selection Tyler Linderbaum, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta cited the offseason roster-building mantra predecessor and mentor Ozzie Newsome frequently stated.
Working together for 30 years will do that.
“As the Hall of Fame general manager once said, ‘You don’t play games until September,’ and I think we’ll have a great offensive line at that point,” DeCosta said on April 25. “We have a plan. It didn’t necessarily fall our way this weekend, but it’s still early, and I’m thrilled with what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Of course, it’s no longer early with the opener less than two months away, and any offensive line — especially on a team still seeing itself as a Super Bowl contender under new head coach Jesse Minter — needs time to gel. That’s why the Ravens agreeing to terms with former Cleveland starter Ethan Pocic last Friday felt so important. Waiting any closer to the start of the season was asking for trouble, regardless of what other options might have surfaced.
Expressing confidence in new offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford throughout the spring was one thing, but hyping 30-year-old newcomer Danny Pinter and his 10 career NFL starts or discussing the potential of Corey Bullock and Jovaughn Gwyn — who’ve combined for 24 career offensive snaps — as starting candidates was a stretch at best. That’s not to say no one can compete with a 30-year-old Pocic coming off an Achilles tear sustained last December, but 97 career starts with the Browns and Seattle make the 2017 second-round pick out of LSU the heavy favorite to be the starting center in Week 1.
Though it’s certainly debatable that an offensive line set to have three new interior starters will be “great” like DeCosta suggested after the draft, the group certainly needs to be better than it was a year ago, which is why Baltimore brought back 2023 starter John Simpson on a three-year, $30 million contract and drafted Penn State star Vega Ioane with the 14th overall pick to upgrade the guard spots that were glaring liabilities a year ago. Still, losing Linderbaum — who signed a staggering three-year, $81 million contract with Las Vegas to become the highest-paid center in league history — was a difficult blow, and adding the 6-foot-6, 320-pound Pocic only goes so far in easing the anticipated drop-off at that spot.
For what it’s worth, Pro Football Focus graded Pocic 19th out of 37 qualified centers overall, 24th in pass blocking, and 24th in run blocking over his 13 games last season. Those marks followed a 2024 campaign in which PFF graded him 23rd overall out of 40 qualified centers. In other words, the Ravens would be pleased if Pocic can offer anything close to average play to go with his veteran presence at a key position, especially coming off a major injury and entering his age-31 season.
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Can average or even slightly below-average play at center be enough for the Ravens to still field an improved offensive line from a year ago?
That’ll depend on everyone else, which includes Ledford and his ability to maximize this group’s talents.
The most significant improvement must come at the guard spots, which the Ravens hope will more than offset the downgrade at center. Still, it could be a little ambitious to assume Simpson — who was regarded as the weak link on the line three years ago — will be a dramatic upgrade from Andrew Vorhees at left guard. And while Ioane was highly regarded by virtually everyone coming out of college and doesn’t have to clear a high bar to be an improvement over former right guard Daniel Faalele, expecting the 6-foot-4, 320-pound rookie to be the next Marshal Yanda from Day 1 would also be unfair.
With so much change inside that could lead to some early growing pains, Baltimore will be counting on stability from its veteran tackles.
Entering his 11th season with the Ravens, two-time Pro Bowl selection Ronnie Stanley remains a quality left tackle and has surprisingly missed only one game over the last two campaigns, but his extensive injury history is always in the back of one’s mind and his play probably has only one direction to go at this point in his career. Given the unproven alternatives at left tackle on the current roster, Baltimore needs the 32-year-old to stay as healthy as possible for another year at least.
Roger Rosengarten enters his third season entrenched as the right tackle and will try to take the next step in becoming a Pro Bowl-caliber blocker the Ravens would like to extend eventually. Though local reporters haven’t seen any signs of the 2024 second-round pick cross-training at left tackle over the last couple years despite speculation that he might, Rosengarten continuing to ascend would be an encouraging development with Stanley on the wrong side of 30.
Make no mistake, with two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson and ageless star running back Derrick Henry lining up in the backfield, the offensive line doesn’t need to be elite for the Ravens to thrive. It just needs to be steady enough to keep Jackson healthy and upright in the pocket and give Henry enough room to find daylight.
Pocic is unlikely to make anyone forget Linderbaum, but being capable enough to go mostly unnoticed on a weekly basis would go a long way toward making this offensive line good enough in 2026.
After months of waiting for DeCosta to act, this group certainly looks much closer to being ready to play games in September.
