Baltimore Ravens offensive line could be sneaky good in 2019
The Baltimore Ravens offensive line hasn’t been elite in recent years, but the 2019 edition could end up being one of the best units in the league.
The Baltimore Ravens plan to be a run-heavy team in 2019 while also hoping to give their second-year quarterback Lamar Jackson more seasoning as a passer. To do this, the team promoted Greg Roman to Offensive Coordinator and signed and drafted Mark Ingram and Justice Hill respectively to give Jackson a loaded backfield. The team gave Jackson some new targets as well in Marquise Brown and Miles Boykin.
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However, all these investments are worthless if they can’t keep Jackson clean in the pocket or give him lanes to run through. The offensive line will make or break the Ravens 2019 season because of the insane amount of reliance needed of them to make this offense function. Thankfully, that offensive line is better than you might think.
For starters, having a Hall of Fame player in guard Marshal Yanda is a fantastic building block for the unit. From there, Baltimore has its bookend tackles in Ronnie Stanley and Orlando Brown Jr. The former is more than due for his first Pro Bowl nod, while the latter turned heads as a rookie starter on the right side.
This only leaves the left guard and center spot as question marks, but the team may already have its solution to that in its younger players. Second-year man Bradley Bozeman should be able to slide into the the center spot and be an immediate upgrade over last year’s starter, Matt Skura.
As for left guard, Alex Lewis and James Hurst will have first dibs for starting reps. Either one of them will prove to be average, but I predict by mid-season the Ravens will have figured out that rookie guard Ben Powers is the way to go. Powers proved to be a more than capable player for the Oklahoma Sooners throughout his stint with the team and will take that with him to Baltimore.
In a perfect world, Baltimore’s offensive line would be as follows (from the left side to the right):
- Ronnie Stanley
- Ben Powers
- Bradley Bozeman
- Marshal Yanda
- Orlando Brown Jr.
From that group, Yanda is a safe Pro Bowl option with Stanley as a contender for a spot as well. Powers and Bozeman will prove more than solid, and I believe that if Brown progresses from year-one to year-two then he could also be a Pro Bowl caliber player. Three Pro Bowl linemen and two solid starters? That’s the makings of a borderline elite offensive line.
Next. 2019 Baltimore Ravens defense will be unlike any before it. dark
Many will be discussing the Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, and Los Angeles Rams (as well as many deserving others) as the best of the best offensive line groups in the league, and rightfully so. Even in the Ravens own division, the AFC North, the Pittsburgh Steelers possess an elite front-five. Still, the Baltimore Ravens 2019 edition of their offensive line will be able to stack up against all of them, and prove to be the driving force behind a deadly offense.