Ravens Coach Praises Rookie Class Work Ethic

The Baltimore Ravens used three of their league-high 11 picks in the 2025 NFL Draft on offensive linemen to reinforce and add more competition in the trenches on that side of the ball. Two of them hail from the same college program as third-rounder Emery Jones Jr. and seventh-rounder Garrett Dellinger played together at Louisiana State University.

During their time as Tigers, their position coach was Brad Davis, someone Ravens offensive line coach George Warhop has a great deal of respect for, given how the linemen he has sent to the league in recent years have performed and comported themselves. Jones Jr and Dellinger are his fifth and sixth players that were formerly coached by Davis. He praised their aptitude and intelligence.

"Emery is very smart; he's very engaged; he's plugged in," Warhop said Tuesday. "He'll get off to the side and try to do the stuff we're doing. He can't do what we're doing, but he can mimic it on his own. I've been most impressed with him, and with 'Delli,' in the meeting rooms. Just [their] understanding [of] what we're doing, and they're very, very, very close to being really good pro players, in that regard."

Jones Jr. is currently dealing with a shoulder injury that will likely keep him sidelined until training camp as a precaution. Getting him mental reps and still going through the motions of his technique even if he can't make forcible contact with bags or sleds just yet is still of the utmost importance.

Warhop also shared that Dellinger is getting cross-trained to play center, a position he took some reps at in college. Being able to show he can be a primary backup at multiple spots will only improve his chances of making the final roster.

The third offensive lineman the Ravens selected between Jones Jr. and Dellinger was fifth-rounder Carson Vinson out of Alabama A&M who was the only prospect from a Historically Black College to get drafted. Warhop was the person in the team's draft war room who pounded the table for them to take him and explained what stood out about him during the pre-draft process that made him become a believer in his potential.

"He played at a smaller school. The talent level that he was playing against wasn't that great and he was really just OK on his college tape," Warhop said. "But when he went to the Senior Bowl and he was playing against better players, I liked how he competed. You got to see him going against guys his size, his talent level. He wasn't perfect, but he competed, right? And so, that's what we need to see."

"We need to see guys with his size, his range, his length and his ability [to] compete and not back down. So, once I saw that and how God made him – and there's not that many guys like that – [so] I was like, 'If we have a chance, we need to draft him.' I just thought I needed to push as much as I could for him every time he came up."

Even though the Ravens have yet to put the pads on and full contact isn't allowed in practice, Vinson has still managed to make a strong first impression with how he has "come a long way" during OTAs.

"He wants to be the best version of himself every day," Warhop said. "When he comes out here, he's trying to get better from what he did yesterday. And then I can crawl right up his stuff, and he does not ever blink. He does not blink. You see him out there, he just kind of looks at me, [he says] 'Yes sir,' he goes on, and he does what he's supposed to do."

As a whole, Warhop is impressed with the Ravens' entire rookie class that general manager Eric DeCosta and the rest of the personnel department brought in. He also noted the positional versatility of undrafted rookie Reid Holskey who is also being cross-trained at guard and center.

"All these guys really do a nice job. They work; they try to get better," Warhop said. "They're all at different stages, they [are] all from different spots, but I'm really, really impressed with the group they brought in. Eric did a great job with that."

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