Why Ravens should use this year's draft to help solidify themselves up front

New York Times

27-02-2025

INDIANAPOLIS — The Baltimore Ravens have used just one of their last 11 first-round picks on an offensive lineman. Of their last 30 Day 1 or 2 draft picks, only five were spent on the offensive line.
The last time they picked an interior defensive lineman in the first round was Haloti Ngata in 2006. Since taking a defensive lineman in the third round in three consecutive drafts from 2015 to 2017, Baltimore has used just two of its last 26 Day 1 or 2 picks to solidify the interior defensive line.
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With four pending free agents on the offensive line and another on the defensive line, this feels like a year where the above-mentioned trends change. A highly regarded offensive and defensive line draft class should provide all the incentive the Ravens' decision-makers need.
'It starts there,' Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Tuesday from the NFL Scouting Combine. 'It starts on the offensive and defensive line, so we're going to be looking at both lines really hard.'
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Less than three weeks ago, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX and reinforced one of football's oldest adages: win the line of scrimmage and win the game. The Eagles had arguably the best offensive line in the NFL, and their defense was so dominant that they overwhelmed Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs without blitzing.
The Eagles' tour de force has put a lot of focus in Indianapolis this week on the guys up front as teams pore over prospects of all shapes and sizes. The defensive line class, which is arguably the deepest and most talented position group in the draft, will have their on-field workouts on Thursday. The offensive linemen, a group that's particularly strong in the interior, will be on the field Sunday.
'I don't want to speak for all of the teams, but I think every offseason, it's offensive line and defensive line,' Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said Tuesday. 'I think our priority is always on the fronts first, and this will be no different.'
The same holds true for the Ravens. Nearly three decades ago, long-time Baltimore general manager Ozzie Newsome constructed the team with the idea that it would dominate along the line of scrimmage. The Ravens' decision-makers annually talked about building 'from the inside out,' meaning it all started on the offensive and defensive fronts and things would fall into place from there.
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That philosophy hasn't changed with Newsome's long-time lieutenant, Eric DeCosta, running the team since 2019 — even though DeCosta has recently prioritized other holes with many of his early picks.
Last year, the Ravens devoted $34.3 million of cap space to their offensive line, which ranked 12th in the NFL, according to Spotrac, and $18.3 million to their defensive line, which ranked 21st.
From those groups, starting left tackle Ronnie Stanley and starting left guard Patrick Mekari are pending unrestricted free agents, as are reserves Ben Cleveland and Josh Jones. Reserve defensive lineman Brent Urban is also a free agent, and there's some uncertainty about veteran nose tackle Michael Pierce's status.
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In certain spots along the line of scrimmage, the Ravens probably need upgrades. In others, they need replacements or depth. They've returned the same defensive line back-to-back years. It feels unlikely it will be a third straight year for that group.
'It's always going to be an allocation of resources in where you spend your money every year,' DeCosta said Tuesday. 'There are different schools of thought, but you have to be physical. We've always prided ourselves on being a physical football team that can stop the run, run the ball, protect the quarterback, rush the passer and win games in the fourth quarter.'
The Ravens' offensive line graded out well last year despite having three new starters, including a natural tackle in Daniel Faalele playing right guard and rookie second-round pick Roger Rosengarten starting at right tackle. A mostly veteran defensive line also performed, as the Ravens had the top-ranked run defense in football and finished second in the league in sacks.
However, the last vision of the Ravens featured them getting handled up front by the Buffalo Bills in a 27-25 loss in the divisional playoff round. Offensively, Lamar Jackson was sacked twice and hit five times. Defensively, the Ravens had only one sack of Josh Allen and allowed 147 rushing yards and three rushing scores.
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The loss had so many shared elements with past Baltimore playoff failures, with one of the most notable factors being an inability to win at the line of scrimmage. That, however, is not unique to the Ravens. It's where most big games are won or lost.
'You have to look at the lines of scrimmage and you look no further than the Super Bowl, where that game was clearly won at the line of scrimmage,' New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said Tuesday.
'You have to be able to win at the line of scrimmage,' former Ravens defensive coordinator and current Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said Wednesday. 'If you can't see that from watching the playoffs this year, then I don't know what game you're watching. We have to be able to do that if we want to win a championship.'
Fortunately for the Ravens and everyone else, they should have plenty of options come April's draft. Eighteen of the top 60 draft prospects on Dane Brugler's top-100 list are either offensive linemen or interior defensive linemen — and 13 are edge rushers, another significant need for the Ravens this offseason.
Offensive tackles Will Campbell (LSU) and Armand Membou (Missouri) will likely be gone before the Ravens are on the clock in the first round at No. 27, but tackles Josh Simmons (Ohio State), Kelvin Banks Jr. (Texas) and Josh Conerly Jr. (Oregon) and guards Tyler Booker (Alabama) and Donovan Jackson (Ohio State) may not be.
If the Ravens can re-sign Stanley — and DeCosta and Harbaugh certainly were optimistic Tuesday — they could add a developmental tackle later in the draft. A guard, however, would become a priority.
'We see a number of guards that could get picked in the first and second round and probably provide early value and start right away for their drafting clubs,' DeCosta said.
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One by one, NFL general managers have touted the available defensive linemen when asked about the strength of this year's draft at the Indianapolis Convention Center this week. The class has both quality and quantity.
'There's a lot of depth along the defensive front, not just edge rushers, but D-tackles,' NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said on a conference call with reporters last week. 'There's a lot of defensive tackles. In terms of guys with potential starter grades — so I'm not saying they're locks, stamp it, they're going to be starters, but with players with the potential to start at defensive tackle — last year I had 12. This year I had double. So it is as deep of a defensive tackle draft as I can ever remember.'
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The group of interior defensive linemen that could be options for the Ravens at pick No. 27 includes Oregon's Derrick Harmon, Michigan's Kenneth Grant and Mississippi's Walter Nolen. The edge-rush options figure to be more numerous. Texas A&M's Shemar Stewart, Georgia's Mykel Williams, Tennessee's James Pearce Jr. and Boston College's Donovan Ezeiruaku are all widely viewed as late first-round, early second-round guys.
'Yes, game-wrecking defensive tackles, kind of a big deal,' Harbaugh said. 'Pass-pressuring defensive ends, that's kind of a big deal, too.'
This offseason, especially. Never was that more clear than on Super Bowl Sunday.
(Photo of John Harbaugh: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)