The Baltimore Ravens saw All-Pro offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley go down in the middle of 2020 with a season-ending ankle injury. The hope was that he would be able to return at full strength for 2021, but after playing in the season-opener was shut down and opted for another surgery to help his recovery.
During Baltimore’s 2022 pre-draft press conference, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta was asked about contingency plans the team has for Stanley, and how his uncertain status impacts their draft plans. DeCosta showed confidence in the players already on the roster, as well as talked about the potential of taking another tackle in the draft.
“The question is really a good one, but the fact remains that we’re not sure how Ronnie [Stanley] is going to rebound. We’re optimistic. We feel … I don’t want to speak for Ronnie, and I wouldn’t speak in specifics, but we feel like he’s on a good pace to come back. In saying that, we brought in Morgan [Moses]. We have Ja’Wuan [James] on hand as well. Ja’Wuan James, who we brought in last year. We feel that there’s an opportunity in the Draft to address the tackle spot at some point, whether it’s in the first round or in the fourth round. There are good players all throughout this year; it’s a very, very deep position class. So, there are a lot of different ways for us to skin the cat, and we’ll do that at some point.”
Baltimore has more quality options on their roster already than they did during the 2021 season, but that doesn’t mean they should be done adding tackle depth. They could look to the draft to add a young player at the position, something they didn’t do last time around.