The Ravens are on the verge of officially losing a third member of their 2023 starting offensive line with Pro Bowl right guard Kevin Zeitler set to join Detroit.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Zeitler plans to take a physical and sign a one-year deal with the Lions, which would close the door on a successful three-year stint in Baltimore that included the first Pro Bowl selection of his career last season. The 34-year-old was regarded as unlikely to re-sign with the Ravens after the sides failed to work out an extension to prevent his contract from voiding last month, which led to $4.268 million in dead money hitting this year’s salary cap. Zeitler expressed a strong desire to remain with Baltimore the day after the AFC championship game loss to Kansas City, but it’s worth noting that a knee injury sidelined him for the final two games of the regular season and may have factored into a quieter market for his services than some anticipated.
“I want to be back as a Baltimore Raven. There’s no doubt about that,” Zeitler said in late January. “I loved my time here. I love the people here. I love my teammates here. I want to keep playing with them. Hopefully, that business side of football can get figured out nice and quick, and we can get that taken care of.”
Pro Football Focus graded Zeitler 15th out of 79 qualified guards overall and second in pass blocking last season. The 6-foot-4, 340-pound veteran now joins right tackle Morgan Moses and left guard John Simpson as starters to depart from an offensive line that was highly regarded. In addition to PFF ranking the Ravens fifth overall in offensive line play and crediting the group with surrendering the fifth-fewest pressures in the NFL last season, ESPN ranked Baltimore ninth in pass block win rate and fifth in its run block win rate metric in 2023.
Of the three vacancies on the offensive line, right guard appears most likely to have an in-house replacement ready to go in 2021 third-round pick Ben Cleveland, who fared well filling in for Zeitler in three starts over the last two seasons. Simpson signed a two-year, $12 million deal with the New York Jets last week while Moses was traded to the Jets for a swap of 2024 fourth-round draft picks and a sixth-round selection.
The Ravens retained left tackle Ronnie Stanley for 2024 after getting the former All-Pro selection to agree to a pay cut that reduced his salary cap number by more than $9 million for the upcoming season.
