The Baltimore Ravens are gearing up for another run at the Super Bowl in 2025. The team’s nucleus boasts a ton of stability from last year’s 12-win roster, too, which is great news for the Ravens. Hardly any of the team’s offseason departures left behind a notable void of snaps, particularly on the offensive side of the football. But one battleground position looms as a big opportunity for a slew of players this summer.
Only two members of the 2024 Baltimore Ravens offense with more than 60 snaps taken for the year are no longer with the team. One departure, wide receiver Nelson Agholor, has a presumed upgrade in place after Baltimore inked veteran DeAndre Hopkins to join the wide receiver room.
The other departure does leave a void that the Ravens will need to monitor, however. Offensive lineman Patrick Mekari had played his entire six-year NFL career with the Ravens before leaving in free agency to join the Jacksonville Jaguars this offseason. His departure opens just short of 1,000 snaps on the offensive line from last year’s unit. And while Mekari may not have shined in a full-time starting role between right tackle and left guard, he was a safety blanket for the Ravens nonetheless.
Mekari took snaps at all five positions throughout the course of his six years in Baltimore and exceeded at least 500 snaps at four positions — left tackle, left guard, center and right tackle. With him out of the mix, Baltimore not only needs to decipher their preferred option as the sixth offensive lineman but also must find a starter at left guard.
That’s the bad news for the Ravens. But Baltimore has done everything in their power to provide enough possible solutions to find an answer they can feel good about. There are potentially four legitimate contenders to secure the starting left guard position — and the battle will evolve this week as the Ravens begin their Phase 3 of the offseason program: Organized Team Activities are upon us.
The leader in the clubhouse is last year’s winner out of training camp, Andrew Vorhees. Vorhees started the first month of the season in 2024 before an ankle injury pushed him out of the lineup. At that point, Roger Rosengarten seized the right tackle job and pushed Mekari inside to left guard — where he played for the remainder of the season. Vorhees was once considered a viable mid-round draft choice before injury caused him to tumble to the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft and could use last year’s limited play time as a springboard.
The most experienced contender who could ultimately push Vorhees out of the top spot is free agent addition Joseph Noteboom, who has nearly 700 career snaps at guard despite playing predominantly offensive tackle for the last seven seasons with the Rams. Noteboom is a much more likely candidate to seize the sixth offensive line position but cannot be discredited as a contender to start inside if Vorhees doesn’t seize his opportunity.
A pair of 2025 rookies will be fascinating to watch as well. The Ravens had conviction with LSU’s Emery Jones Jr. as a third-round draft choice and he is likely a better stylistic fit to play inside at guard than he is at tackle in the NFL. But Jones Jr. risks falling behind the pace as he recovers from a shoulder issue. Baltimore does not expect him back until much closer to training camp.
"It's going to be a little while. He had a labrum/shoulder issue I don't think you guys were aware of. I don't think it's going to clear up now. Probably be looking at training camp, maybe earlier, we'll just have to see how it goes. He's not going to practice in the immediate future." - Ravens head coach John Harbaugh
The Ravens’ addition of Garrett Dellinger, another member from the 2024 LSU offensive line, gives offensive line coach George Warhop another option to mold. Baltimore, of course, did draft offensive tackle Carson Vinson on the 2025 Draft’s third day as well — although Vinson has a tackle build and it would surprise many draftniks to see him get pushed inside. There’s another hedge in place with veteran guard Ben Cleveland, who never made the leap into playing for a well-developed Ravens’ front five during his rookie contract but was at least brought back on a one-year contract this offseason.
Uncertainty can be a bad thing on an NFL depth chart — but competition is usually the right way to find a viable answer. And the Ravens, thanks to a slew of options at their disposal, should be able to stage quite the competition for the vacancy left behind by Mekari.
