A day after head coach John Harbaugh expressed uncertainty about the starting left guard competition, the Ravens jettisoned the man who’d been lining up there the most this spring and summer.
General manager Eric DeCosta made his third trade of the preseason Wednesday, sending third-year offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor to the New England Patriots for an undisclosed draft pick. The deal is pending the passing of a physical.
(Updated 12:15 p.m. Thursday: The Ravens traded Eluemunor and a sixth-round pick to the Patriots in exchange for a fourth-round pick, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.)
The 2017 fifth-round pick from Texas A&M appeared in 17 games and made three starts over his first two seasons, but he entered the spring practicing as the first-team left guard while former starter Alex Lewis recovered from offseason shoulder surgery. Eluemunor’s path for the starting job seemingly improved when Lewis was traded earlier this month, but conditioning concerns and inconsistently play drew the ire of the coaching staff and prevented him from ever seizing control of the job.
The problem is no one else has stepped forward with rookies Ben Powers and Patrick Mekari as well as second-year lineman Bradley Bozeman all receiving first-team reps at different points this summer to mixed reviews. Bozeman has most recently lined up as the starting left guard since Eluemunor sustained some sort of injury during the joint practices in Philadelphia last week, but versatile veteran lineman James Hurst has also been noted as an option at left guard this spring and summer and has started multiple games there in the past.
The position remains one of Baltimore’s biggest concerns with the opener less than two weeks away.
“I’m sure there are people in the building — coaches and such — who have their opinions, but I’m very open right now,” said Harbaugh about the left guard spot Tuesday. “It will probably, in all honesty, remain a competition until somebody establishes themselves as the established starter. There’s a difference between being a starter and an established starter.
“That person is going to have to continue to earn that by how they play into the regular season, and I’m quite sure a certain one or more guys will step up.”
The departure of the 6-foot-4, 335-pound Eluemunor also raises the question of who might back up starting left tackle Ronnie Stanley. Eluemunor started one game at left tackle in place of Stanley last season and played well there in the second preseason game against Green Bay. Hurst has struggled mightily playing the position in the past while 2018 sixth-round offensive tackle Greg Senat missed the last two preseason games and only returned to practice earlier this week.
DeCosta traded Lewis to the New York Jets for a 2020 conditional seventh-round pick and kicker Kaare Vedvik to Minnesota for a 2020 fifth-round pick earlier this month.
