The Ravens feel good about who they have at guard. And if they don’t later on, they’ll make changes.
It was a near consensus the Ravens needed to address their interior offensive line in the 2024 NFL Draft. They watched both veteran starting guards John Simpson and Kevin Zeitler sign elsewhere in the offseason which generated concern from pundits and the public over how they could replace the new absences in the draft. But the draft came and went without a guard being selected by Baltimore.
Admittedly, part of that was due to the way the board fell. General Manager Eric DeCosta said what happened on Day 2 after taking offensive tackle Roger Rosengarten in Round 2 was something they’ve never experienced in their board getting wiped out for offensive line.
“… I’ve never seen anything like what we saw today, where every single guard and tackle on the front board got picked in a span of 20 picks,” DeCosta said. “[I’ve] never seen that before.”
As the draft ended and undrafted free agency began, the Ravens could have revealed their concern at the position by supplying themselves with numerous guards. Rather, the team signed only one new guard in Darrion Dalcourt.
The actions of the Ravens over the course of the draft suggest they’re not panicking about the depth from last season stepping up.
“We very much have confidence in those guards we have here. It wasn’t that we felt like we were desperate, [that] we had to draft guards,” Harbaugh said at rookie minicamp. “If the right guards were there at the right time, we certainly were going to take them. The right corners happened to be there at the right time, so we took those guys, as an example. I know that those guys that you’re talking about [already on the roster] are going to play great football for us.”
The Ravens are going to give Andrew Vorhees, Patrick Mekari, Ben Cleveland and many others a real shot to prove they can protect Lamar Jackson and open lanes for running back Derrick Henry. They have the time to do so. But they also won’t accept if those players aren’t the answer.
“And then, Eric [DeCosta], if we need to do something else, we will,” Harbaugh said. “There are still guys available out there.”
The Ravens have invested in the interior offensive line over the years but have benefitted from adding veteran talent that outpaced the development of some. Now, with the latter no longer on their roster, there’s an opportunity for the younger talent to prevail.
Contingency plans are something DeCosta has frequently spoke on. He wouldn’t be doing his job if they only had a one-track set-up for any given position. It’s clear they’ve planned for this development since they made the decision to not extend Zeitler’s contract back in February, resulting in his contract being voided. Be it the already rostered opportunists or depth waiting on the market, the Ravens have a plan.