The 2024 NFL season concluded with Super Bowl LIX offering some reminders to the Ravens.
First, a dominant defensive line can make even the great Patrick Mahomes look bad as the Eagles did exactly that on Sunday night. No team slowed Baltimore’s high-octane offense better than Philadelphia did this season as the Eagles held the Ravens to a season-low 5.3 yards per play and just 19 points in their Week 13 win in Baltimore.
You don’t need to be the second coming of Tom Landry or Bill Belichick to recognize how valuable a dominant four-man rush can be as Philadelphia harassed Mahomes all night without blitzing a single time. Few would watch that game and argue with general manager Eric DeCosta adding a stud edge rusher or dynamic defensive tackle to try to take this Ravens defense to the next level.
But the biggest Ravens-related takeaway from Philadelphia’s 40-22 drubbing of Kansas City was the Chiefs’ left tackle situation finally blowing up in their faces on the biggest stage. It highlights the dilemma DeCosta now faces pondering the future with or without longtime left tackle Ronnie Stanley, who’s scheduled to become a free agent next month.
Kansas City opened 2024 with rookie second-round pick Kingsley Suamataia at left tackle before quickly pivoting to 2023 third-round pick Wanya Morris in Week 3, eventually trying out veteran D.J. Humphries in December, and finally settling on moving All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney outside for the stretch run. To the Chiefs’ credit, that move brought a higher floor to the position and mostly worked until running into the Eagles’ elite group on Sunday night, but moving Thuney still wasn’t Plan A, B, or C for a championship contender and the shuffling also weakened the left guard spot in the process.
That should serve as a warning as the Ravens ponder who will be protecting Lamar Jackson’s blind side for 2025. Of course, Baltimore dealt with more than its share of pain there from the moment Stanley suffered a severe left ankle injury just two days after signing a five-year, $98.75 million extension midway through the 2020 season. That injury sidelined him for 30 of the Ravens’ next 31 games — including the postseason — until he returned in Week 5 of the 2022 season, and other nagging injuries cost Stanley six more contests in 2022 and 2023 and contributed to his inconsistent play.
After accepting a $7.5 million pay cut last offseason, the 2016 first-round pick out of Notre Dame was a 2024 Pro Bowl alternate and is now coming off the first season of his career in which he started every game, meaning he’s certainly proven himself in his mind. That newfound dependability helped stabilize a Baltimore offensive line that had to replace three starters from 2023 and endured the heartbreaking death of longtime position coach Joe D’Alessandris during training camp.
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Deciding what to do with Stanley isn’t easy as he’s widely expected to be the most-coveted left tackle on the open market and the Ravens have limited salary cap space and don’t pick until 27th in the first round of April’s draft. With both Stanley and left guard Patrick Mekari scheduled to become free agents, the Ravens would prefer not replacing multiple starters on the offensive line for a second straight year.
But they also don’t want to jump right back into a steep financial commitment with someone who will turn 31 next month and carries such an injury history. Did 2024 mark a true turning point for Stanley’s career or an outlier that allowed Baltimore to recoup some of the value lost over the last several years? Do you dive back into what figures to be a pretty lucrative commitment with someone who was good but not All-Pro great like he was earlier in his career — for what it’s worth, Pro Football Focus graded Stanley 37th among 81 qualified offensive tackles in 2024 — or hedge your bets and continue getting younger?
DeCosta was noncommittal last month when asked about the futures of both Stanley and Mekari.
“We’re aware that we have some guys whose contracts are up, and we’ll look at that and certainly have some discussions with players,” DeCosta said. “We’ll look at potentially bringing back our guys. We’ll look at the draft. We’ll look at free agency. We’ll overturn every rock to find as many good offensive linemen as we can, and I think we have some good young players on the team. They’ve shown that.
“One thing we’ve seen over the years with that position is guys get better as they get older and more established. They get in the weight room [and] they get stronger and play better, so that’s going to be the case with the guys we have.”
An X factor in the Stanley dilemma is right tackle Roger Rosengarten, who will be coming off a solid rookie season. The 2024 second-round pick began his collegiate career at Washington as a left tackle before moving to right tackle to protect the blind side of lefty-throwing quarterback Michael Penix, but it remains to be seen just how confident the Ravens are in his ability to play left tackle at the next level. And even if he’s able to do the job adequately, there’s the question of who would replace Rosengarten at right tackle since Mekari was his main competition for that job last summer.
You certainly don’t want to be in the position of creating weaknesses at both tackle spots if Rosengarten ends up not being ideal for the left side. Just ask the Chiefs.
8Unlike past years when Stanley frequently received veteran days off and missed time for various ailments, the veteran was on the practice field every day, which first-year offensive line coach George Warhop pointed to as a major reason for his renaissance.
“We just let him play over there. We don’t do much for him, so that says a lot,” said Warhop about Stanley in early December. “Ronnie approaches each week with fresh eyes. I think he has a plan going into the game. I think he practices his plan. On the sidelines, he’s very intuitive — great communication [and] talks about what’s going on [and] talks to the other guys.”
Will Stanley maintain the same level of durability after securing a new contract?
If you could lock in a repeat of the 2024 Stanley at a fairly reasonable cost, you’d love to have him help anchor their offensive line with two-time Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum and Rosengarten, which would give DeCosta the freedom to continue evaluating options at guard.
But no such guarantee exists, making the Stanley decision a tough one.
Watching the Eagles smother Mahomes and the Chiefs offense reminded of the consequences of a championship contender not getting that position right.
