The center of concerns for Ravens continues with Pinter injury

We’ve been discussing the center position of the Baltimore Ravens and who snaps to Lamar Jackson (and how) since Tyler Linderbaum backed up the Brink’s truck on Mark Davis in Las Vegas. Now, with the awful Danny Pinter injury at practice in Minnesota, the Ravens move to the “next” plan and as Luke Jones and Nestor discuss, that’s not good with the season about to begin and the center of the offense murky.

The discussion focused on the Ravens’ center uncertainty after Danny Pinter‘s injury and what to watch in the next preseason game.

Center Outlook

• Luke said Pinter’s torn patellar tendon is expected to end his season, removing the player who had been getting most first-team center reps.
• The main options now are Ethan Posick and Jovan Gwynn; Corey Bullock was mentioned as depth but not viewed as a serious contender.
• Key blocker: Can Posick be accelerated for Week One, or will the Ravens need to rely on Gwynn, who has almost no NFL experience?

Offense Outlook

• Luke said the offense still looks like a work in progress compared with a defense that appears closer to ready.
• The new Declan Doyle offense is described as more under center, more play action, and less dependent on a fullback than prior systems.
• Open question: Can the offensive line, especially at center, stabilize quickly enough for the scheme change to take hold early in the season?

Roster Watch

• For the Vikings preseason game, Luke is prioritizing center evaluation and whether young edge players such as Zion Young and Mike Green flash more.
• He also highlighted defensive line depth and back-end roster decisions as key areas to monitor before final cuts.

• Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour event at Koco’s Pub on Wednesday as part of the tour. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Invite Ron Cassie and Max Weiss from Baltimore Magazine to appear at the Maryland Crab Cake Tour event at Koco’s Pub on Wednesday. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Organize and run the Baltimore Positive 28th anniversary celebration on Friday the 28th with the planned “28 musical memories” format. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Coordinate giveaways of Ravens scratch-off tickets at Koco’s during the Maryland Crab Cake Tour on Wednesday, in partnership with Maryland Lottery and GBMC. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Center injury impact

• Danny Pinter suffered a torn patellar tendon and is expected to miss the season.
• His injury deepens an already uncertain center competition.
• Ethan Posick and Jovan Gwynn are now the primary names to watch.

Preseason priorities

• The next Vikings game should clarify how first-team center reps are split.
• Luke wants to see more from young edge rushers, especially Zion Young and Mike Green.
• The focus is less on results and more on which depth players clearly stand out.

Offensive development

• The offense is still adjusting to Declan Doyle‘s new system.
• Expected changes include more under-center looks and more play action.
• The defense appears further along than the offense at this stage.

Roster construction

• Luke discussed possible fringe-roster movement at guard and along the defensive line.
• Defensive line depth is notable, but role clarity and readiness remain open questions.
• Final cut decisions will likely center on a small number of back-end roster spots rather than a broad competition.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Tassel, Baltimore. We call this thing Baltimore positive. All of it brought to you by friends at the Maryland Lottery. We’re doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour on Wednesday. We will be at Koco’s Pub. Finally back after their vacation. I get some coconut shrimp. Look forward to that. We will have Ron Cassie and Max Weiss from Baltimore Magazine coming out to I don’t know do I get an award do I get like a plaque or something I’m not sure for best reinvention here at Baltimore Positive we’re looking forward to that that’s Wednesday and we’re certainly looking forward to real football in a couple of weeks but between now and then we got fake football and we have real problems on the offensive line. Luke Jones joins us now. The injury to Danny Pinter has sort of changed the center position here. I think it’s going to create a little bit of murkiness for us the next three or four weeks as we get into this thing. Welcome in, man. I know it’s a break for you to talk football. It’s so joyous because talking fake football because baseball has brought us so much joy here this week.

Luke Jones 1:02
Yeah, unfortunately, the the only major headline from a couple days of joint practices with Minnesota was a not so good one, and obviously the the torn patellar tendon suffered by Danny Pinter. The Ravens haven’t fully confirmed that he’s going to miss the rest of the season, but I don’t see a scenario. I mean, that’s that’s a season-ending kind of injury, unless it’s a partial tear or there’s another option that I’m would not be aware of. The expectation is he’s done for the year. And look, I mean, it’s it makes the center position murky. I mean, it was already murky. I think. Let’s be clear. A month ago, we all assumed when they signed Ethan Posick, he was going to be the starting center. So, if that still ends up being the case, then losing Danny Pinter’s, you know, this isn’t losing Tyler Linderbaum if that had happened the last couple training camps, right? We don’t know if Danny Pinter was going to be able to do the job at a high level. But I think the way that the summer was stacking up, Pinter had been running with the ones, Posick has been running with the threes. We saw that in the preseason opener. He didn’t play till the fourth quarter. For me, I was really, really starting to wonder if this was a scenario where, with Posick coming back from the Achilles tear last December. I was really wondering if we were going to see a scenario where he ended up starting the year on IR with the thought that hey, continue to get healthier, continue to ramp back up, and we’ll see if the target is I don’t know, say October, right? And I mean, he’s practiced all summer. It’s not as though he hasn’t been on the field. It’s not as though he’s not taking any reps. It’s just kind of been striking that he wasn’t working with the ones. He wasn’t getting run with the ones. So made me feel like where he is right now, ability-wise, because of where he is health-wise, that you were going to see Pinter start the season as the starting center, and then if Posik got into, you know, got into a place where he was better, feeling better physically, and you see how Pinter does, right? I could have seen that be being the scenario to start the year. Now you remove Pinter from that equation, and the question becomes: All right, can you accelerate things for Ethan Posick, or do we start to look at Javon Gwynn? Who, by the way, for what it’s worth, and I’m not saying that this publication is the gospel when it comes to evaluating offensive line, but Pro Football Focus really, really gave high marks for Jovan Gwyn playing center, and he got the bulk of the snaps there. I mean, Pinter played a couple series, and then Gwin came in and played the rest of the first half and into the fourth quarter at center. So, my question would be: Do they pivot to Ethan Posick entirely, and they just try to accelerate whatever timeline he potentially had in terms of being ready to play for Week One, or do they take a nice long look at Jovan Gwynn, who, by the way, was with Dwayne Ledford, their offensive line coach, was with him in Atlanta the last couple years. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he followed Dwayne Ledford to Baltimore, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Dwayne Ledford wanted him to follow him to Baltimore. He’s played next to no football, right? Even you know he he was a late round pick back in 2023. I think what was a seventh round pick, you know had had a you know a career at South Carolina that you know was nondescript, didn’t scream like future NFL starter or anything like that, and has barely played in the NFL. You know, he played a total of I think it was 13 snaps or 11 snaps. Sorry, I I actually overestimated a little bit, but he played 11 offensive snaps last year for Atlanta. I mean, he was just a special teams depth. Game day lineman for them, but I don’t know. It’ll be interesting to see how these preseason games look. It’ll be interesting to see how the next couple weeks look.

Luke Jones 5:09
Does is it a case where those two guys are sharing first team snaps, first team reps, they’re alternating days, or do they say, “Look, we’re not going to accelerate this thing with Ethan Posick. This was, you know, whether we broadcast it to the media or not. This was meant to be an October through January signing rather than a week one signing, and we’re going to go with the younger guy because Posik still needs to get himself in a better place to get back to pre-injury form. I don’t know, but anytime you remove an option from an equation like this, where there is so much uncertainty, and you know the the positive spin is to say you have competition. The negative is to say, well, we don’t really have a guy that we feel great about. But you remove Pinter from that equation, who had gotten the bulk of the work with the ones, even going back to the spring, it’s not ideal. That that’s obvious. I mean, they clearly had, you know, at least some confidence level in Danny Pinter that it looked like he had a really good chance to be the the guy at least in week one. So it’s not great, right? I mean, it’s not ideal. I mean, you were already already had question marks about that position even before Danny Pinter gets hurt. Now you just remove him from the equation entirely. So now it’s Jovan Gwyn, Ethan Posick, and I suppose you know Jesse Minter did say this in Minnesota on Thursday that Corey Bullock will get some more run at center. You know because he’s mostly worked at guard, but for me, Corey Bullock being the one guy that’s the incumbent here was the incumbent backup. The fact that he hasn’t gotten much, you know, hasn’t gotten any run with the first team or even the second team as a center, that tells me he’s not a serious candidate for for that job. So I think for me, it’s going to be all eyes on what does Jovan Gwin look like in Game Two against the Vikings Saturday, and what does Ethan Posick look like? And do do they start to accelerate their ramp up of him to see, hey, can he be ready week one? Can he be ready week two? Or are you in a position where you’re having to go with a guy with no experience at all in in the NFL, basically, and you’re kind of hoping for the best, and you’re hoping that Dwayne Ledford’s able to coach him up. So it’s not great, and that’s why I love the

Nestor Aparicio 7:27
name Dwayne Ledford. He sounds like a member to Leonard Skinner. Yeah, I love that name. I mean, he’s

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Luke Jones 7:32
if you’ve any for anyone who’s paid attention to their off season. I mean, beyond the the head coach and the coordinators, no position coach has been talked about more than Dwayne Ledford as their O-line coach, and and he was highly thought of in Atlanta. He was thought of as being a difference maker, and boy, he he can really prove his worth as an offensive line coach if if they can get competent play at center. You know, if they can get average play at center because you look at this thing on paper when it’s a guy that has 11 career snaps under his belt, a former seventh round pick who barely played at all his first three seasons in the NFL, or talking about someone who’s coming off of a December Achilles injury, and if if I’m calling a spade a spade, you know Ethan Posick wasn’t exactly having the best season in Cleveland last year, even before the injury. So, those are your options, Dwayne Ledford. Work your magic, right? And again, Danny Pinter being removed from that equation, considering how much run he was getting, you got the sense that that there was a at least a pretty good chance he was going to be their Week One center, and obviously that’s not the case anymore.

Nestor Aparicio 8:42
Here’s Luke Jones. We’re gonna be watching fake football this weekend. So, are we on the Jacoby Lane thing? Are we on the Van Gaoni? I mean, you know, like watching this Saturday afternoon at 1o’clock. By the way, noon in Minnesota, kind of weird. So, if you’re around the middle of the day Saturday, turn the golf off and put this on. But for five minutes, I don’t, you know, I don’t, I don’t know what to say. You know, they’ve practiced. We’ve got an injured center, which is the worst situation. You know, the Zay Lau hours and Lamar Jacksons will all have their gold chains hanging around their neck and be talking to whatever employee that Sashi Brown puts in front of them to talk to them on the field. I don’t. I’m not watching this for entertainment. I’m watching it to figure out. All right, what are they trying to do here this weekend in Minnesota? Yeah, I mean, like I

Luke Jones 9:30
said, for me, center is paramount now. I mean, I think Jovan Gwynn’s going to get the start, and then you’ll we’ll see how much Posick plays, when he plays, all of that. But beyond that, and obviously that’s a a massive, massive question mark for them, even more so now. But beyond that, you just want to see how the young guys look, and I mean, I’ll be honest, I don’t know if Jacoby Lane even needs to play as much as he did in Week One, right? I mean, I’m not saying you you just. Him outright, but at the same time, he made a few plays. He did exactly what he’s been doing in training camp all year. Do you really need to force him playing a whole lot more with Snoop Huntley or Joe Fignano? Right. I mean, like I don’t know how much of that you need to see. Same with Vanguyone. I mean, I think it’s going to be similar for him. I think he gets a couple series, and then you pull them, right? And and I’m guessing you want a, I’m guessing him playing Saturday will be that’ll be it for him in the preseason. I I would think, assuming he plays like he did in the first one, I would think you don’t even want to risk putting him out there for the final preseason game. So you’re just you’re looking at depth pieces. I’ll give you a name that I’m hoping to see a little bit more out of than what we saw in the first game. We we talked about Vanga Iwanee, their first round pick. We’ve talked about Jacoby Lane, their third round pick. Right, Elijah Serat did some good things. Fumble aside in that game against Philadelphia. I’ll tell you someone that I want to see flash a little bit more in this game. I I’d like to see Zion Young, their second round pick, stand out a little bit more. I didn’t think he was awful in the first game. Let me be very clear about that. But for a second round pick where they were as excited as they were to get him, the idea that you know they the perception that they had a first round grade on him. And look, I mean we hear this from teams all the time, right? Every team loves their draft picks initially. I mean, that’s why they drafted them. But I’d like to see a little more of a flash from him from a pass rushing standpoint when he’s going up against backups and third teamers. You know, he he showed a good motor. I mean, he ran down. You know, there there was a play he ran down and made a tackle. But I want to see him disrupt the pocket a little more, you know. Especially if you’re going up against backups, you know. I say this all the time. These preseason games, you know, forget about the the final score, you know, even forget about the the volume stats. I want to see individual matchups, right? If you have young players that you’re counting on to do real things for for for you this season. You know your your rookie draft picks or your second round guy or second year guys that you’re looking to make a jump, third year guys that need to make a jump. You know, kind of now or never for them. You know, you want to see them stand out in this setting. If Minnesota and well, I don’t know exactly what the Vikings’ plans are going to be off the top of my head, but assuming they they handle it similarly to Philadelphia, you want to see these guys stand out, right? If if it’s backups against backups, if you have good backups, you want your backups to really stand out and look really good, and that’s why it was so encouraging to see Jacoby Lane do what he did-that’s why it was so encouraging to see Yoane do what he did. So, but but for me, Zion Young’s kind of the the guy, and and I’ll I’ll even throw Mike Green in there as well. Mike Green probably was, I’d say, at least the relative surprise that he played last Saturday night.

Luke Jones 12:57
When you kind of look at the scope of everyone that they rested, I think Mike Green was one of the more prominent players that they actually played against the Eagles. So if they do that again, you want to see Mike Green flash a little bit more as well, right? I mean, for all the talk of Trey Hendrickson and even Nomdi Matabike, you’re still looking for another edge to to make a jump, right? And Tavious Robinson’s that run-stopping guy that they’re going to move around. Yes, he showed a little more pass rushing juice last year in his third NFL season, but the guy you’re really looking for this year to make a jump is Mike Green. You know, you’re looking for him to, especially knowing that Trey Hendrickson’s going to get as much attention on the other side as he will, you want to see Mike Green eat as a result, right? You want to see him have a eight sack season on the other side. You know, if Trey Hendrickson has 13 sacks or something like that, you want Mike Green to have a you know have an eight sack season because henry thing. Yeah, exactly. And in the way that you you know in the way that you viewed, you know, various pass rushers the the Ravens had over the years. When when you’re talking about the opposite side of Michael McCrary or Peter Bolwear or Terrell Suggs for years and years and years, there are other guys that line up on the opposite side that should benefit because you know Suggs is going to be double teamed and and they were going to have a chipper over on that side. Well, unless they’re in max protect, they’re not going to be able to do that on the other side. So that’s where Mike Green. You say you got to win one on one, right? I mean, it’s that simple. So, so I want to see a little bit from those guys, a little bit more from those guys. You know, you could throw Adisa Isaac in there too if you want, right? I mean, third year guy, former third round pick, has been heard his first two years. Can you start? So, can he start showing some juice, right? So, so I think that’s that would probably be a big one for me. You know, I think the the young edge rushers. I want to see them flash a little bit more than what we saw, at least a little bit more than what we saw against Philadelphia. I mean, for as great as the defense played, and look, Philadelphia’s quarterbacks got the ball out so quickly. I mean, they the time to throw was negligible. I mean, they they they were getting rid of the ball so quickly they didn’t really even give the Ravens a chance to get their pass rush home. But you know, I want to see a little bit more there, right? I mean, if we’re looking for relative things, I want to see in the preseason other than just not getting any more guys hurt, right? I mean, you already lost the center. The last thing you want is to have another interior offensive lineman go down. So, but beyond that, I mean, you know, it’s just kind of the who impresses, like who stands out, who doesn’t stand out, right? I mean, it’s not going to sit here and try to blow smoke about how incredibly excited I am to watch the second preseason game to tell you how excited I am. Nestor, my plan, you know, for anyone listening, my plan is I’m going to watch the first half of the preseason game and then I’m going to head to the ballpark for Ray’s Orioles and Pete Alonzo Bobblehead Night. I mean that that kind of tells you how I’m viewing this thing. And obviously, I’ll. By the way, on

Nestor Aparicio 15:58
behalf of all the listeners, I’m very disappointed you’re skipping Vanilla Ice. That’s all I’m gonna say.

Luke Jones 16:03
When when is that? When is Friday

Nestor Aparicio 16:06
night? Yeah. Oh, is

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Luke Jones 16:07
that Friday night? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Take. We don’t do

Nestor Aparicio 16:11
radio on Saturday. You’re excused.

Luke Jones 16:13
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I wanted to have one night to catch my breath, but yeah. That that. But but yeah. Other than that, I mean, I think we go kind of go back to the joint practices. I wasn’t there, obviously, but the but the overall perception of the joint practices was the defense was fantastic, and the offense still remains a little bit of a work in progress. Minnesota

Nestor Aparicio 16:36
doesn’t have a quarterback, right?

Luke Jones 16:37
Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah. I mean Kyler Murray, is he going to be better than J.J. McCarthy? Yeah, I think so, but like that’s a pretty low bar, right? I mean, it’s kind of like talking about the the center spot right now for the Ravens. Like, okay, like Danny Pinter might have been the Week One guy, but like, what’s the bar? Like, is that going to be good enough? I mean, it’s certainly not going to be Tyler Linderbaum. So, but yeah, I mean, the overall perception of people that were out and at the Vikings complex and and watching that was that the Ravens’ defense looked great, and the offense was a little more up and down. And that that’s were there fans

Nestor Aparicio 17:13
there, by the way? I didn’t see any of this.

Luke Jones 17:14
As far as I know, there were. Yeah, I mean, like yeah, yeah, it was open. So, but yeah, that’s kind of what we’ve seen over the course of camp, right? The defense has looked really, really good, and the offense has been a little more of a work in progress. I wouldn’t say the offense has been bad; like that would be, you know, I don’t think Lamar Jackson’s had a bad training camp. I it, but it looks like they’re doing things differently on offense than they have in the past. I mean, it’s definitely a different offense. Way more under center, way more play action passing under center. They are not deploying a fullback with any kind of regularity. If they do, it’s just a tight end that motions there online, right?

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Nestor Aparicio 17:50
But I mean, oh no, that would have been the first thing we would have said is that you know the Ricard era might be over. Oh

Luke Jones 17:55
yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean they didn’t even try to re-sign Ricard, right? Well, that’s a

Nestor Aparicio 18:00
remnant of Greg Roman, honestly.

Luke Jones 18:02
Exactly, and and you know, I mean, even Todd Monkin early on, Todd Munkin was kind of there privately. I know there was skepticism, but you know, they loved Patrick Ricard. But clearly, this Declan Doyle offense, which is somewhere in between the Sean Payton offense and the Ben Johnson offense, but I think what’s been very evident, and this even reflected in the preseason game, even though we didn’t see the starters out there, they’re going to be under center way more. I mean, the days of Lamar Jackson being in shotgun 96% of the time, I think that’s over unless unless the Ravens happen to be down three touchdowns in the second half. Also speaks

Nestor Aparicio 18:40
to your center having to snap the ball differently. We don’t know who the hell the center is, like right? Yeah, I mean, I mean, I mean, the shotgun, you know, playing that game as it creates one more. I mean, look, I I told you all along I thought that this offense with the sleight of hand and with the mesh point it would be a lot sloppier than it’s been over the body of work. I mean, it’s a compliment to Lamar and everybody he’s handed the ball off to, but in a general sense,

Luke Jones 19:04
yeah, yeah, and I I don’t think that’s remotely a driving force for why they’re doing it, but it is it it it feels like a little bit more of a feature, right? That might be hopeful. You hope that’s one less thing on the plate of whoever’s lining up at center, but but yeah, I I think Lamar has said this. Zay Flowers has said this. Some of the O linemen have said this. I mean, this is not. This is not the Todd Monkin offense. Which the Todd Monkin offense, as different as it was from the Greg Roman offense, still maintain some connective tissue in the way that they did things. By all accounts, this is a completely different offense now, and to be clear, that doesn’t mean oh they’re going to become this insane pass happy offense. They know they still have Derrick Henry. They know that Lamar Jackson, at least the presence of Lamar, even just speaking in terms of as a decoy, is still a centripetal force for your running game. And the threat of Lamar to run, even if he’s not going to run nearly as much as he did six, seven years ago. So, like that, that’s not what we’re talking about here. But just the way it looks, right? The what they’re asking these guys to do. They they’ve talked about it. It’s it’s a more sophisticated across the board kind of offense than they’ve run and than they’ve been running in the certainly going back to the Greg Roman era, right? I mean, as great as Lamar was even back then, they weren’t they weren’t running a whole lot of true pass sets and things of that nature. Whereas I think you’re going to see more of that. You know, I think you’re going to see a more well-rounded, sophisticated, wide-open, multiple kind of offense than you’ve seen in past years, and I think that’s a great thing long term. But when you talk about having a lot of new parts, whether we’re talking about the interior O line or the fact that they have, other than Mark Andrews, a brand new tight end room, some some changes of you know kind of across the board. Yeah, I I could see. I’m not saying this offense will stink to start the year. I I don’t far from that. But could I see this offense having some, you know, needing to iron out some kinks and and having some hiccups here and there? Yeah, I I think that’s and that’s why we’ve talked about the fact that you look at the schedule on paper coming out of the gate. It’s a far cry from what it was last year, let’s just put it that way, right? Last year, I mean, that was the Crucible early on, and that was one of the reasons why they started one and five. Like they weren’t as good, and they played a lot of good teams early on. So, so yeah, so I think that’s where things are, you know, still a work in progress. We’re not going to learn anything on Saturday in that regard, because you’re barely going to see any starters, but but just looking at it from a big 30,000 foot look, that’s kind of where they are right now. I think the defense is ready to play now, other than Madabike needing to continue to ramp up here over the next few weeks. But I think beyond that, you know, the defense has looked really good, and the offense still has some work to do. And I, but that said, I still think the overall vision, the overall upside of this offense, assuming their offensive line can hold up. Which, I mean, that’s that’s a big question. That’s a big if. If that can happen, then I think this team has a chance to be excellent on offense. And I think Lamar Jackson has a chance to have another MVP caliber year because that’s kind of been his mo when he’s in the first year in a new system. He did it with Monken. He did it with Greg Roman. I’m not going to sit here and say he can’t do it with Declan Doyle, but they are they do have some boxes that they need to check here, not just over these next few weeks, but early in the season to really take off as an offense.

Nestor Aparicio 22:41
All right, and cuts don’t happen till after the third game against Washington, right? A

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Luke Jones 22:45
week from yeah, the 30th. So a week from two days.

Nestor Aparicio 22:50
Looking at anything that might be weird around the edges of the roster in regard to some drafted players, either this year where they’re just like this guy’s not cutting it, or somebody we’ve heard of, some Tavious Robert, you know, some guy that you know may be around, but like, hey, somebody’s earning a job. I don’t know, and I don’t know enough about Minter and certainly where DeCosta is on wanting to quit on certain guys, you know, like if Mark Andrews can’t as an example, and the other part of this is if they’re going to cut people, cut veteran players. Let’s say like a Mark Andrews, or you know, it’s not going to be Roquan Smith or anybody like that. But finding other players out on the wire, there, you know, this isn’t a complete roster just yet, right? I mean, especially not at the center position, maybe some depth at secondary, that sort of thing, where they would be sniffing. I know Ozzy would be sniffing this time of year.

Luke Jones 23:45
Yeah, I mean, I’m not going to say they’re not a complete roster, but everything’s in pencil, right? I mean, you’re not going to sit here and say we definite, we definitively have the 53 guys that are going to be on our week one roster. I mean, that that can always be TBD because you never know what could happen. You know, they’re not. Mark Andrews is in no danger when they just gave him a contract extension. What eight months ago? Nine months ago, but I think for me, I look at you. You always look at guys in the final year of their rookie deal. You know, someone like Andrew Voorhees, for example, who’s going to be a backup? They actually just redid his deal because he had one of the proven performance escalators. You know, got later round draft picks that play a lot their first couple years in the league. They get a bump in pay, and that sounds great on the surface, right? That sounds great to the player. But then what happens is if that player is a backup. That then puts them in danger of not making the team. So I could see someone like Voorhees being traded because he’s he’s very clearly not one of their two best guards, and he might not be one of their three best guards at this point in time. So you know, but that’s I don’t think anyone would be stunned by that. For me, I kind of look at the defensive line as a really. Interesting group right now, Nestor. Because you think he

Nestor Aparicio 25:01
would deal out of the offensive line when they don’t have the depth. Yeah, because I don’t think Andrew because Andrew Voorhees isn’t good. I mean, he’s going to play him. Right. You know,

Luke Jones 25:08
he was a starter last year, and they bent. You know, he’s he’s not. He hasn’t gotten first team reps all all spring and summer. I mean, John Simpson and and Benga are going to be the guys. Does it mean

Nestor Aparicio 25:16
that you don’t want to the play if Simpson gets hurt?

Luke Jones 25:18
Fair enough, but if you don’t like him at $2 million, and if some team wants to give you a, some team is desperate and they see, hey, that guy started last year, he must be good. Like, think about it. We didn’t even bring it up because it’s he’s not the the Ravens’ problem anymore. But the Giants and John Harbaugh just traded Daniel Falele to Jacksonville for a sixth round pick. I mean, if someone wants to give you a fifth or sixth round pick for Andrew Voorhees, they’ll they would absolutely do it. So, but I your point’s well taken. But even so, like we’re not talking about no one would be stunned by that, right? I mean, no one would be all that surprised by that. I think where things are interesting from a roster standpoint for me, beyond talking about okay. Could you add another veteran edge rusher? Could you add another outside corner to the mix? Just talking in terms of who they have on their current roster. I think the D line is really interesting because you have Anamdi Matabike who still has some boxes to check in terms of ramping up. He still has not done any hitting, you know, to the point where I’m, I’m, you know, if this goes on much longer, like the next week or so, like if he’s still not working his way into team drills and things like that, then I start to ask, is he going to be ready for week one? So, but I’ll give them another week, right? I’ll give them another week for that. But so you have him, even if he is ready to go week one? What’s his workload going to look like? You have Clayus Campbell, who’s going to turn 40 years old before week one. What’s his workload going to look like at this stage of his career? You have Travis Jones, who should be completely fine, but he’s coming off of an off-season pec surgery and did not play at the very beginning of training camp. Now I think he’ll be fine, but you still want to be mindful of that. You have Broderick Washington, who kind of, sorta is in the same category as Andrew Vohr. He’s you know a guy that is making some real money, but he’s a depth piece, and he’s a little bit older than some of the you know a couple of the D linemen you just drafted the last year or two. Is he a guy that hypothetically you could trade, or do you want to have that depth because of the uncertainty with Matabike, because Calerius Campbell’s another year older? So you know you’ve got Anias Pub’s, you’ve got Rayshon Benny, you’ve got C.J. Akoye, who was on the 53-man roster last year. There’s not room for all those guys, and I didn’t even name the name that I’m going to bring up, who I think could be interesting. It’s John Jenkins, who had a really nice season for the Ravens on a defensive line that was just completely decimated by injuries. They signed him to a contract extension at the end of last year, but it was only for the 2026 season. I wonder if John Jenkins could be a sleeper candidate to kind of be the Brent Urban, and what I mean by that is, and we anyone who’s paid attention to final cuts the last four or five years, Brent Urban would almost every year be cut. You know, he’d be released as one of the final cuts, but because you’re a vested veteran, you’re not subject to waivers, and then basically it’s a handshake agreement. The Ravens release you, and then they bring you back a few days later, or the next week, or or whatever. I could see them maybe doing something like that with John Jenkins, who was a starter for the Ravens last year. So, so I I think the D line for me is that’s kind of the interesting group beyond just looking at certain positions and saying, oh well, you know, do they have enough depth at inside linebacker? Do they have enough depth amongst their outside corners? But D line is kind of this position group where I think they have a lot of inventory, like a lot of names of interest. But how many of those guys are really players?

8

Luke Jones 28:59
How many of those guys are legit members of your rotation? How many of those guys can you fit? And and even in the case of say like a Peebles or a Rayshon Benny, if they’re not on the 53 man roster, what’s your degree of confidence of getting them to the practice squad and continuing their development? So so that’s a group I’m very much interested to watch. Kind of like how I was talking about the edge rushers a few minutes ago. That’s a group where I want to see some of those younger guys. Like you’re in a battle to make a roster spot. Go make some plays. Go go be disruptive. Go dominate the the Vikings’ backup offensive linemen. Right. That’s what you’re looking for from that group. So you know I I don’t think this team has an abundance of intriguing roster questions. I just don’t. I think there are questions about the players that some of the players that will be on the roster, but I don’t think there’s like I don’t think this is a team that has 12 roster spots up for grabs right now. I think it’s maybe two or three at the most, you know. And and that’s kind of the way it always is. I mean. Fans and media, I think we have a perception that the bubble’s way bigger than it actually is, but but those positions that I named, like go go show out, as the kids would say, right? Go play well, go dominate some Vikings backups, go go stand out, go leave no doubt about the fact that you belong on this football team in the way that I think Keon Martin, for example, has really taken a major stride or two to saying I think he’s going to be on this football team, and I’m not sure I would have said that three weeks ago. But he’s been their other than Hamilton, he’s been their best nickel. He has lined up a lot with the ones when they go in the dime package, and oh yeah, he was the best defensive player on the field for the Ravens last Saturday night by probably by a pretty significant margin. So there’s a guy that was an undrafted player last year, made the team, mainly did special teams, and now he’s looking like someone who might be their next Tavon Young. You know, a guy that is undersized but really plays tough from the nickel, and probably not going to be in the nickel package too often this year. But when they go dime, I can see him being on the field. So you’re looking for a couple more players to make that kind of a statement on Saturday. Whether we see that or not, who knows? I’m not saying it’s going to be the most captivating entertainment, but that’s what Jesse Minter and Anthony Weaver and Declan Doyle and Eric DeCosta are looking at at this point in time in terms of filling out the back end of the roster. Who are the depth guys that are actually showing it? Not just guys that we’re talking about in the off season, and then you know not really doing a whole lot when they get out there for these preseason games.

Nestor Aparicio 31:40
Well, we’ll be doing a lot once it’s all over with. We’ll have some real football around here. Luke will be monitoring all things Minnesota and the Ravens at 1o’clock on Saturday. We’ll be back on Monday to discuss all of this, and I don’t know whether the Orioles are going to have a real season by then. We’re getting into sort of that little tenderloin period here, where our 28th anniversary is this month. We’re going to celebrate on the 28th, which is next Friday with 28 musical memories this year. That is my, you know, my kids’ anniversary was like the the their 10th anniversary steel or something like that. Whatever whatever those years go, it’s our 28th anniversary. I think it’s rock and roll this year, so that’s what we’re going to do. Especially because Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson are around. He is Luke. You can find him at Baltimore. Luke, you can find me anywhere Baltimore Positive is served. I am Nestor at Baltimore Positive. Also, we’ll be giving away Ravens scratch-offs on Wednesday at Koco’s when we bring the Maryland Crab Cake Tour presented by our partners at Maryland Lottery. The Raven scratch-offs with the Kiss Face Bird, as well as our friends at GBMC and the aforementioned. And I’m wearing my orange Farnan and Dermer gear here. They are the comfort guys. You can find them at 410-367-7777. And Zach came out. We had Dennis Kalatas this week. We had Damian Hahn, Billy Cole, all over at Fishmonger’s Daughter, one of the great new restaurants in town. As part of our Fadley’s family, I did not have a crab cake though. I did. I had this delicious fish sandwich. It was a hake sandwich with like, and you know I like a fish sandwich with tartar sauce on. I don’t even tell my ate tartar sauce. Just absolutely delicious, and the sides are phenomenal out there. These great potatoes. I’m gonna send Luke out there sometime with his mom and his sister and kids going off to school here. I got friends dropping their kids off at college. Who we might even get some rock and roll in here, but before next week, especially if the Orioles are gonna go into the tank, and the football team is going to play more fake football. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. I’m not taking vacation yet, but I have not touched the beach, and it’s almost Labor Day. We’re Baltimore positive.