OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens really didn’t have much of a choice.
Not after the way last season went with two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson dealing with multiple injuries and being sacked more than twice as often as the 2024 campaign. Both Jackson — who’s yet to sign a contract extension this offseason — and general manager Eric DeCosta could rest easier Thursday night after the first-round selection of Penn State guard Vega Ioane, who’s regarded as one of this year’s cleanest and safest draft prospects in addition to being the best guard in the class. The 6-foot-4, 326-pound lineman is not only an instant starter, but the hope is he’ll anchor the offensive line for the next decade in a way similar to how future Hall of Famer Marshal Yanda once did.
Last week, DeCosta described the 14th overall pick as “a sweet spot” to address one of Baltimore’s biggest roster needs, and that proved to be true with more than one appealing prospect still on the board when the Ravens were on the clock. But there was a reason the draft pundits had mocked Ioane to Baltimore over and over and over.
If Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr. blossoms into the next Terrell Suggs and Ioane proves to be only a solid but unspectacular starter, the decision to pass on the talented edge rusher and tab the latter as the second first-round guard in franchise history will be panned for years. But we also saw how bad this team’s guards were last year, and that was before Las Vegas threw a record-setting three-year, $81 million bag at three-time Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum to further deplete the inside.
The Ravens can sing the praises of new offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford as much as they want, but when the need is as acute as theirs along the interior offensive line, waiting to draft a guard just wasn’t realistic, especially with DeCosta still needing to find a suitable replacement for Linderbaum at center. There are a handful of viable center prospects, but any of them will look much better as a potential first-year starter with Ioane and returning veteran guard John Simpson flanking him.
The idea of two rookies starting on the offensive line is unnerving, but neither of them being a first-round talent would have made that more pipe dream than practical plan for a team intending to return to Super Bowl contender status after a disappointing 8-9 campaign that resulted in the firing of longtime head coach John Harbaugh. The Ravens got away with going cheap at the guard spots in 2024, but that plan with Daniel Faalele and Andrew Vorhees came crashing down — along with their championship aspirations — last season.
“We want to be a strong, imposing team, and we probably haven’t invested as many resources in the offensive line recently,” DeCosta said. “I think other than Tyler Linderbaum, this is the first first-round pick we’ve used on an offensive lineman since Ronnie Stanley. Before that, I believe Ben Grubbs in 2007 when we doubled up that year with Yanda.
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“I think this guy just really checked off every single box for us as a player: mentality, personality, ability, skill level, athletic ability, physicality — all those different things at a very high level. We love when we can get the best player at his position in the draft.”
Of course, the lessons learned from Linderbaum’s departure must be applied with DeCosta taking another offensive lineman at a non-premium position in the first round. Given the way all offensive line spots are grouped together in calculating the cost of the fifth-year option, DeCosta and the organization can’t afford to drag their feet when it comes to extending Ioane if he proves to be the elite player they envision. Ultimately, the Ravens lost Linderbaum when they declined the fifth-year option and then failed to extend him before he went on to log another Pro Bowl season and moved that much closer to the open market.
But DeCosta said that’s “something for me to worry about three years from now.” The Ravens desperately needed help at guard, and Ioane immediately provides that.
Protecting Jackson and getting the interior offensive line to a better place were just too important to put off any longer, no matter the other options that remained on the board at No. 14.
“I’m coming in with the mentality that I’m not trying to get beat,” Ioane said. “Nobody’s going to touch my quarterback, and it’s as simple as that. In the run game, same mindset of being a mauler. I’m trying to open up lanes for our running back, protect the running back in that case, and just play ball.”
