Ravens News 3/1: DL Standouts

Ravens face important rebuild on offensive line, but how ‘remains to be seen’

Brian Wacker, The Baltimore Sun

Last season, the Ravens led the NFL in rushing, with their 2,661 yards on the ground 262 more than the next closest team, the Chicago Bears. They were pretty good when it came to protecting Lamar Jackson, too, with the offensive line allowing just 160 pressures of their $260 million quarterback, the fifth-fewest in the league during the regular season.

But replicating that kind of success in 2024 will perhaps be the Ravens’ biggest challenge.

Cutting both Stanley and Moses would be a boost to the salary cap-strapped Ravens, saving them roughly $15 million, but it also seems unlikely they would jettison both when they’re probably not bringing back at least one of their starting guards, too.

Baltimore’s first pick in April’s draft won’t come until No. 30 overall, but NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said he has at least 10 offensive linemen among his first tier.

“Tyler Guyton and Mims as these two big freaks, like just big physical, athletic kind of rare guys,” he said. “They’re a little bit raw, but there’s a huge upside there. If one of those guys were to fall to them, I think that would be a home run pick.”

Andrew Vorhees Is ‘Thankful’ After Last Year’s Combine Knee Injury

Ryan Mink, BaltimoreRavens.com

“Not a lot of guys get the opportunity to ‘redshirt’ as a rookie. There’s a lot of benefits to it,” Vorhees said. “I think it will definitely have a huge, huge positive impact on my career.

“I feel like I was able to take a deep dive into football and really understand this offense, understand what it’s like to be a pro by following guys like Patrick Ricard and Kevin Zeitler around – guys you want to model your career after.”

“I’m stronger than ever,” he said. “It’s just scratching days off on the calendar getting ready for OTAs.”

Vorhees was an AP first-team All American and Morris Trophy winner (top offensive and defensive lineman in the Pac-12) in his final season at USC. His tape tells the story of a physical, polished blocker that could certainly be part of Baltimore’s offensive line solution.

Highest-graded interior defensive linemen from the 2023 NFL season: New York Giants’ Dexter Lawrence comes in at No. 1

Mason Cameron, PFF

16. MICHAEL PIERCE, BALTIMORE RAVENS: 80.1

Pierce earned the fifth-highest run-defense grade (77.9) at the position. The veteran tackle produced 26 run stops on over 240 run-defense snaps, good for a 10.8% run-stop rate, placing him in the 91st percentile among interior defenders.

19. JUSTIN MADUBUIKE, BALTIMORE RAVENS: 77.4

Madubuike finished rushes at a high clip, amassing 34 knockdowns over the year. He recorded 15 sacks, 19 hits and 43 hurries across 575 pass-rush snaps in 2023.

Top NFL draft prospects intrigued by Ravens’ aggressive defensive philosophy

Giana Han, The Baltimore Banner

Defensive end Chop Robinson, who played with Jacobs at Penn State and also grew up in Maryland, said the Ravens stand out for the speed they play with. Robinson is projected by many outlets to go before the Ravens pick at No. 30, but he said it would be awesome to be close to home and to get to play with Oweh.

Missouri defensive lineman Darius Robinson has been projected as the Ravens’ first pick in several mock drafts, and he said he loves the way the Ravens play: “They run and they hit, and that’s just my mindset.”

Jaylen Harrell has a more intimate knowledge of the Ravens defense. He played edge for Michigan, where he worked with Mike Macdonald, the Ravens’ defensive coordinator the last two seasons (he’s now the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks). He watched the Ravens more closely the first season Macdonald was there and drew inspiration from Matthew Judon. He said the Ravens do a good job of putting their players in position to succeed.

2024 NFL Scouting Combine: What We Learned during Thursday’s activities in Indianapolis

Eric Edholm & Gennaro Filice, NFL.com

Rising DT puts on a show. Braden Fiske arrived in Indianapolis as a prospect with fans in the draft community, including NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, who just added the Florida State product to his updated ranking of the top 50 players in this class, slotting the disruptive DT in at No. 45. After Thursday’s display at Lucas Oil Stadium, though, Fiske could be moving on up.

Fiske ran the fastest 40-yard dash of Group 1, which primarily consists of defensive tackles, and he did so in style, blurting out “OH, YEAH!” like the Kool-Aid Man as he broke the finish line in 4.78 seconds.

And that was only one facet of an impressive all-around workout from Fiske. The 6-foot-4, 292-pounder also posted the highest vertical leap (33.5 inches) and longest broad jump (9-foot-9) of the DT group. Not to mention, Fiske had Jeremiah and guest analyst Cam Jordan in awe of his footwork in the four-bag agility drill.

Chop flies. Chop Robinson sliced through the 40-yard dash competition among the defensive linemen on Friday.

Penn State’s 6-2 7/8, 254-pound pass rusher recorded an official 40-yard dash time of 4.48 seconds, the best among the defensive line group. Robinson opted not to run a second 40.

The next-fastest time was from Colorado State edge rusher Mohamed Kamara at 4.57 seconds, followed by Florida State edge rusher Jared Verse at 4.58.