Ravens young lineman has ‘a great shot’ to regain starting spot

John Harbaugh says Andrew Vorhees will be back “in the mix” to compete for the left guard job.

Two years ago at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Andrew Vorhees was one of the top guard prospects coming out of college where he starred at USC.

Injuries during the on-field drills at this annual event aren’t common but they occur from time to time. Unfortunately, the former Trojan fell victim to the rare occurrence when he suffered a torn ACL during a drill but still managed to be the talk of the town in Indianapolis after he came back the following day and posted a Combine-high 38 reps on the bench press.

The Ravens were elated when they got the chance to trade back into the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft to select Vorhees who was projected to be a Day 2 pick before his injury. General manager Eric DeCosta told the media in his post-draft press conference that the team expected him to be “playing winning football” for them in 2024 and that the move to acquire him “really solidified our line for the coming years.”

After spending his entire rookie season rehabbing from injury, Vorhees won the starting left guard job in his first healthy NFL offseason and training camp. He opened the 2024 season as the starter through the first three games but an ankle injury caused him to miss some time. During his absence from the lineup, the starting line configuration of veteran utility lineman Patrick Mekari at left guard and rookie Roger Rosengarten at right tackle was the one the coaches decided to stick with the remainder of the season.

With Mekari slated to test and potentially depart in free agency after proving he can be a full-time starter and not just a high-quality backup at all five spots, the left guard spot will be up for grabs again this offseason. During his Tuesday press conference at the 2025 Combine, head coach John Harbaugh gave a vote of confidence that Vorhees is capable of reclaiming his spot in the starting lineup heading into his third season and second straight healthy.

“Vorhees has a great shot at that,” Harbaugh said. “He looked really good at the end of the year when he played. There are other guys in there, too, in that mix.”

After returning from injury, Vorhees served as the primary backup and only saw the field for 13 offensive snaps before the regular season finale when he played 67.1% of the team’s total snaps on offense in relief of Mekari who started the game but couldn’t finish due to an illness and performed well.

Harbaugh admitted that Vorhees’ injury, not performance in any of his first three career starts was the only reason he fell out of the starting rotation. It opened the door for Mekari to showcase his ability at the position and he made the most of it, resulting in him being able to keep the job even after the original starter got healthy.

“Pat went in there and played great, and that was the better option, but Andrew was working all the way through and developing and then all of a sudden – boom – he’s back on the field,” Harbaugh said. “You guys don’t see the practices, but then he’s back on the field, and he played really well. That was because of all the work between then and when he got his opportunity.”

If Mekari departs in free agency, Vorhees would certainly be the in-house favorite to reclaim his starting spot. However, the Ravens could also address the position and add fierce competition in the first couple of days of the 2025 NFL Draft which features a crop of prospects rich with talented trench players on both sides of the ball. On Tuesday, DeCosta said they see “a number of guards that could get picked in the first and second round and probably provide early value and start right away.”

“We’ll try to find the best five guys we can,” DeCosta added. “There were a lot of questions about the offensive line last year, and we did a pretty good job of putting a pretty competitive offensive line together on the field last year. I would expect the same to hold true this year.”