Ravens Have Clear Plan For NFL Draft: Offensive Line - John Harbaugh
The Baltimore Ravens signed quarterback Lamar Jackson to a five-year, $260 million contract last offseason, even though he has a modest injury history. General manager Eric DeCosta and coach John Harbaugh don't want that to be an issue moving forward and are looking to the draft to protect him.
“The offensive line is where it starts,” Head Coach John Harbaugh said Tuesday at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine. “We talked about that in 2008 and that’s been true forever. You win in the trenches first, right. We think that we’re offensive line-centric in our philosophy and we’ve got some question marks in our offensive line. There’s going to be some rebuilding that is going to have be done in there.”
The Ravens offensive line dealt with injuries and as a result, inconsistent play last season, and still somehow managed to boast the best rushing attack in the NFL. Next season the team would like to be even better in offensive coordinator Todd Monken's second season.
“It’s always going to be a priority; that’s Coach Harbaugh from 2008 on,” General Manager Eric DeCosta said Tuesday. “We have to have a big, strong, imposing offensive line. So, we’ll continue to build that out. Obviously, this year, we’re going to have, probably, some change on the offensive line in different ways. It remains to be seen exactly what that looks like, [but] we will have a plan.”
Harbaugh admitted that for him, the process of evaluating offensive line talent in the draft has just begun, but he's already heard good things from DeCosta about potential draft targets in April.
“The draft can help a lot and certainly with the offensive line,” Harbaugh said. “I just started watching it and so far so good. Eric tells me its a good o-line draft.”
