New Pro Bowler Kevin Zeitler Seeks 'Obvious' Return to Ravens
A bittersweet transaction awaited the Baltimore Ravens on Tuesday.
Third-year Raven and 33-year-old blocker Kevin Zeitler is Pro Bowl-bound, named to the AFC all-star team for this weekend's skills competition festivities in Orlando. Alas, participation in one comes at the cost of another.
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Zeitler is going to Disney World for all the wrong reasons, as he'll be replacing Joe Thuney of the Super Bowl-bound Kansas City Chiefs. Thuney's Chiefs ended Zeitler's chances at a championship on Sunday with a 17-10 victory in the AFC title game. To his credit, Zeitler put up one of Baltimore's finer performances in the offensive-challenged heartbreaker: Pro Football Focus noted that Zeitler allowed no pressures on 46 snaps that required pass blocking.
Partaking in the Pro Bowl Games at least deals with one injustice involving Zeitler: the interior man has established himself as one of the most consistent blockers over the best decade and garnered the most fan support in the fan vote, but that wasn't enough to earn him automatic entry.
Now comes the potential for awkwardness: Zeitler is due to hit free agency which could resume his nomadic endeavors: he began his career as a first-round pick of Cincinnati and has also taken snaps with the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants. Though he's a step away from AFC North bingo, Zeitler appears to believe he has found a home in Charm City.
"Obviously, I want to be back as a Baltimore Raven, there is no doubt about that," Zeitler said, per Ryan Mink of the Ravens' official site. "I've loved my time here, I love the people here, love my teammates here, and I want to keep playing with them. Hopefully, that business side of football can be figured out nice and quick, and we can get that taken care of."
Zeitler, who turns 34 in March, just played through the final season of a three-year, $22.5 million contract inked during the spring of 2021. He is one of an AFC-best eight Ravens set to partake in the Pro Bowl Games, joined by Kyle Hamilton, Lamar Jackson (will not play), Tyler Linderbaum, Justin Madubuike, Patrick Queen, Roquan Smith, and Justin Tucker
