Ravens young offensive linemen ‘passed the test’ in Week 1 of preseason

Several players on rookie contracts fighting for starting jobs and key backups roles impressed in the exhibition opener.

The top position battles everyone has a close eye on in the Baltimore Ravens training camp are the three vacancies on the starting offensive line. They were created with the offseason departures of veteran guards John Simpson and Kevin Zeitler in free agency and the trade of right tackle Morgan Moses.

Each of their potential replacements got their first chance to prove themselves in the first week of the preseason this past weekend. Immediately following the team’s exhibition opener in which they fell 16-13 to the Philadelphia Eagles, head coach John Harbaugh couldn’t give much of an informed opinion on how the individual players and various blocking unit combinations fared. However, after going over the film, he was even more impressed than he originally thought especially when it came to some of the younger inexperienced players.

“I would say the whole offensive line passed the test,” Harbaugh said Sunday. “There’s nobody, really, in that group of guys you’re talking about, that didn’t look like they could play.”

“I do think the offensive line played well. Go back and watch the tape from a run-blocking standpoint and a pass-blocking standpoint, man for man, I thought they played well.”

It marked the first game third-year pro Daniel Faalele had ever played at right guard after being a career right tackle only prior to training camp. The 6-foot-8 and 380-pounder would be the biggest interior lineman in the league if he stayed there and since making the transition, he has come a long way in his development.

”I thought he made a jump in the game,” Harbaugh said. “The pass protection especially – [he] was really good with his feet, punched well, stayed square, stayed in front of people – I thought he played well. I thought he especially played well in pass protection; [in the] run game he was good, too, so that was kind of a … I’d say he passed the test – passed the first test.

Faalele has appeared in 32 career games during his first two seasons in the leagues with just one start and that came at left tackle his rookie year. While he was happy with the 2022 third-rounder’s overall performance in his first game at a new position, Harbaugh wants him to build upon the promising performance in the next game.

Even though left guard Andrew Vorhees was selected in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft, both he and 2024 second-rounder right tackle Roger Rosengarten are essentially rookies because he spent his entire first season recovering from a torn ACL he suffered at the Combine. This past Friday marked the first NFL action for both of them and Harbaugh was very pleased by what he saw from them as well. So much so that when he was asked if they made a good case to start the regular season opener at their respective positions, he answered: “I do think so.”

“[Andrew] Vorhees was very consistent and [Roger] Rosengarten was very consistent,” Harbaugh said. “For Roger, let’s get him some more plays next week. We kind of … Pat [Mekari] played well, and Josh [Jones] played well at left tackle, so Roger’s reps were a little less. We’ll get Roger some more reps next week [against Atlanta] and in practice this week.

Rosengarten has been taking first-team reps at right tackle for the past few weeks and Vorhees has been running with them throughout training camp. While he is comfortable with them performing those duties when the team travels to take on the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs to open the 2024 regular season, Harbaugh is still holding off declaring either the winner of their respective position battle.

“I’m comfortable that they took the steps that they showed us that they have a shot to do it,” Harbaugh said. “They’re not there yet, but we still have three weeks of work to do, so I think they’re very much in the mix. How close are we to naming it? Probably another game, maybe two games, honestly.”

Another young lineman fighting for not just a starting job but a roster spot heading into the final year of his rookie contract is fourth-year pro Ben Cleveland. The 2021 third-rounder has been prematurely penciled in as a presumptive starter in each of his first three seasons only to see others win the job. Nevertheless, he has played well when called upon to start or rotate in the regular season since joining the team. The Ravens have him cross-training at center and he was impressive in his first-ever start at the position against the Eagles.

“I was happy with Ben [Cleveland] at center,” Harbaugh said. “I thought Ben played well at center – maybe he’s a center. But he can also play guard, so there was a lot of good things.”

Even though Faalele has taken the bulk of the reps with the starters at right guard as the Ravens try to get him more comfortable and proficient playing the position, Cleveland shouldn’t be ruled out in the running to start there either.

While he has been running with the first-team at center with 2023 Pro Bowler Tyler Linderbaum currently dealing with a minor injury, the Ravens will want to roll out the best starting five offensive linemen in the regular season and if Cleveland is one of the top five, he could very well get the nod to be Zeitler’s replacement on the right side when it’s all said and done.