Everyone had a feeling that the Baltimore Ravens were going to draft Vega Ioane, and Baltimore knew they were getting a warrior in the trenches when they drafted him. The massive guard is ranked 14th on FanSided’s top-50 big board and will undoubtedly be a game-changer up front after horrendous guard play plagued the team in 2025.
Ioane’s play isn’t the only thing that screams warrior, though. Sure, his play does the talking, using outstanding power to throw oncoming defenders out of the way, but his mentality is just as impressive. It took one press conference for him to showcase that.
In his post-draft interview on Thursday night, Ioane quickly won over Lamar Jackson and the Ravens fanbase. He set the record straight about what he’s coming to do in Charm City.
“I’m coming in with the mentality that I’m not going to get beat. Nobody is going to touch my quarterback. Simple as that.”
Baltimore Ravens got the answer they needed to hear out of Vega Ioane
That Ioane quote probably has Ravens fans ready to run through a brick wall. That’s the type of mentality that will get every single one of your teammates fired up, and in a spot like the trenches where the dirty work is done, that’s the exact kind of way that you have to approach the game. Ioane is ready.
The Penn State product is exactly what Jackson needed. He went through it in 2025. He got hit countless times, and from the moment he injured his hamstring in Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs, it felt like he was on the injury report every week. If this team is going to build around the two-time MVP, as they say they are, they simply have to address the interior offensive line. They do so in a big way by investing first-round draft capital with the Ioane selection.
Hopefully, Ioane can keep Jackson off the ground. He did extremely well at that with the Nittany Lions, as pass protection is his calling card. He’s not going to allow many pressures, and he sure as heck is going to do everything in his power to ensure the opposing defense’s sack count stays at zero.
For a player as mobile as Jackson is, he needs to avoid the injury bug if the Ravens want to have a chance at capturing a Super Bowl. He gives them their best chance of that when his legs are healthy. We saw what happens when they’re not. Ioane will certainly turn the tables from what went down just a year ago.
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