The Baltimore Ravens are experiencing a wild trend late this offseason. They’ve been searching for a veteran backup to add to their offensive tackle room, and while they’ve signed a couple, both have already walked out the door.
They added Hakeem Adeniji in late July, but he retired just eight days later. They then pivoted to Kendall Lamm, but he too decided to retire.
To be fair to both, Adeniji has dealt with his fair share of injuries across his career, and Lamm has played 11 years and recently started experiencing back issues. Evidently, they believed their time in the NFL was up
However, there may be a silver lining to all this. The Ravens hired Dwayne Ledford this offseason to revive their offensive line. Maybe these retirements signal how demanding his workouts are, and for Baltimore, their offensive front desperately needs that type of leadership.
Baltimore Ravens will benefit a ton from Dwayne Ledford’s coaching
Dwayne Ledford’s coaching philosophy hinges on “speed off the ball.” It lives and dies on that hill. He wants his guys to play fast, attack the defense, and bring a relentless demeanor to make them extremely difficult to deal with.
They’re checking those marks in training camp.
I’m not saying Adeniji and Lamm retired because of Ledford’s aggressive coaching style—they each have their personal reasons. However, Baltimore’s new offensive line coach has heavily emphasized lining up quickly and playing at a pace that’ll stress opposing defenses. It could make some sense that two veterans who have endured the wear and tear of NFL life might not have loved playing in that system.
That’s the system that could turn around the Ravens’ offensive line woes, though. Obviously, the drastic shift at offensive guard is a much-needed boost, but the coaching may have been the bigger mess from 2024 to 2025. Luckily, it shouldn’t be like that anymore.
George Warhop’s two-year tenure in Charm City ended up in flames in 2025, putting Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry at a disadvantage all year long. The switch to Ledford is poised to be a massive level up. He coached up a fantastic unit with the Atlanta Falcons for five years, and the Ravens offensive line, if developed properly, arguably could have more talent with the likes of Ronnie Stanley, Roger Rosengarten, and Vega Ioane.
Quite simply, there’s no way that this year’s iteration of the Ravens offensive line is worse or even on the same level as last year’s. The improvements made from top to bottom signal a unit ready to bounce back. More importantly, with Dwayne Ledford leading the way, it should perform more like one of the better lines in football.
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