4 potential replacements for former Ravens center Bradley Bozeman
By Justin Fried
4. The best of the rest
First let’s take a look at a few players who wouldn’t exactly be upgrades, but they would at least fill the void at the position. The free-agent market is thin on centers right now, but these three players do have starting experience.
The Panthers’ decision to sign Bozeman means that last year’s starter, Matt Paradis, won’t be back. Paradis is probably the second-best available center on the market with just shy of 100 career starts under his belt.
The former Denver Broncos center has spent the last three years in Carolina and finished this past season with a 66.9 Pro Football Focus grade that ranked 16th among all centers in the NFL.
At this stage, Paradis is an average (at best) starter who is also coming off a torn ACL that cost him the second half of 2021. But he’s probably better than most of the other options.
Others such as Ethan Pocic and Austin Reiter represent borderline starting-caliber players. Pocic has started 24 games over the last two seasons, primarily at center with the Seattle Seahawks.
He’s a below-average starter, although his guard/center versatility could intrigue the Ravens. He’s a better option than Reiter as well.
Reiter bounced around between the Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints last season starting five games and grading out as PFF’s 38th-ranked center out of just 39 qualifiers. He would also be a pretty bad scheme fit in the Ravens’ power-run offense.
None of these would be exciting options, but they are options if the Ravens still want to turn to free agency.