Baltimore Ravens Agree To Deal With OL D.J. Fluker
After the 2020 NFL Draft concluded, the Seattle Seahawks released two of their starting offensive line; guard D.J. Fluker and center Justin Britt. The moves freed up some cap room, which may end up being used to re-sign Jadeveon Clowney, who is still available in free agency. The Baltimore Ravens, seeing an opportunity to bolster their offensive line, agreed to a deal with Fluker.
The Ravens guard position became very young in a hurry with the retirement of Marshal Yanda. They drafted a pair of them in the draft this year including Ben Bredeson from Michigan and Tyre Phillips, who played tackle at Mississippi State. They drafted Ben Powers out of Oklahoma last year. Their most veteran player is Bradley Boseman, who is entering his third year.
Fluker is not going to Baltimore to be Yanda. Yanda finished a Hall of Fame caliber career with the Ravens while is a former first round pick, who is a pretty average guard. He's reliable in the sense that his track record is a long one, so he should be able to play to expectations.
Fluker fits what they do on offense, is incredibly big and strong. If they can win at the line of scrimmage, pushing the opponent back, then Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense, both running the ball and utilizing playaction, are incredibly difficult to stop. It then becomes trying to find the ball first and then actually figuring out how to tackle these athletes in space.
Fluker will likely have to compete to win the job and if he loses, it probably speaks highly of what their young players have done in terms of development. Short of that, Fluker represents a decent baseline for one of their guard spots.
