Baltimore Ravens Rookie TEs Receive High Praise From Mark Andrews

The Baltimore Ravens remodeled their tight end room with an overhaul of all but one returner from last year's 53-man roster. In free agency, they let Isaiah Likely, Charlie Kolar and six-time Pro Bowl fullback Patrick Ricard walk, leaving three-time Pro Bowl veteran Mark Andrews as the lone holdover.

“Obviously, Isaiah, Charlie, and Pat, those are guys that I can call friends for the rest of my life, and are just good people, so I'll miss them,” Andrews said in a recent interview with Ravens On SI. “But I'm excited about this room that we have now.”

The first move they made to replenish their ranks at the position was to bring in veteran Durham Smythe to help offset the loss of Kolar as the designated blocking specialist, but they didn't stop stocking up there.

“Durham is a great piece to add, and just a great room that we have,” Andrews said. “I think we're going to be dynamic, and we're going to play hard till that whistle blows. So excited about this team in this group that we have.”

The Ravens rounded out their tight end room on Day 3 when they traded up to take Matthew Hibner out of Southern Methodist in the fourth round and Josh Cuevas out of Alabama in the fifth round. Both bring skill sets to the table that are tantalizing, with Hibner being a gifted athlete who tested off the charts at the 2026 NFL Combine and was a seam stretcher in his final couple of seasons in college, while Cuevas played both tight end and H-Back for the Crimson Tide. Andrews likes what he has seen from both first-year pros thus far and believes they can contribute right away.

“They're going to continue to learn, get better, and they've got so much upside,” Andrews said. “I'm excited to see them grow and help them grow, which they will."

This isn't the first time that Andrews has been tasked with taking a pair of youngsters at the position under his wing and helping them blossom. He did an excellent job of that with Likely and Kolar to the point where both are now being paid among the highest tight ends at their respective specialities.

Historically, tight end used to be a position that had one of the steepest learning curves when it came to players making the transition from college to the pros. However, the expedited success of the likes of Brock Bowers, Sam LaPorta, Harold Fannin Jr., Colston Loveland, Jackson Hawes and Tyler Warren in recent years has shown that young players at the position are not only coming into the league ready to make an immediate impact, but that offensive coaches are carving out roles for them to thrive right away instead waiting and hoping they develop into a complete player, who can do it all.

“I always try to look back to where I was as a rookie and compare it, but these guys are ahead of that,” Andrews said. “I feel like they're doing a great job just learning the plays, and the main thing is that we're all starting and learning the plays, and they're doing a good job at that and then going out there and making plays.

Both rookies already have a sense of calmness about them that is noticeable and shouldn't come as a surprise, given that Hibner played on a national title-winning Michigan team before transferring to SMU, and Cuevas spent the final two years of his career with one of the most prestigious Power Four programs in the country.

“You can just tell that the moment is not too big for both of them, and they're gonna have long careers ahead of them,” Andrews said. “They're both very good players.”

Hibner has already drawn comparisons to Likley, as he projects as a complementary pass-catching threat alongside Andrews. Meanwhile, Cuevas has already been impressing with his underrated prowess as a pass catcher and has the history of the Ravens' second tight end taken in years they double-dip outshining the first going for him.

Ravens are poised to continue being a tight end-friendly offense

Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews runs into the end zone for a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins on Oct 30, 2025. — Oct 30, 2025; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA;Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews (89) runs into the end zone for a touchdown during the second quarter against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The tight end position has been a fixture and, at times, the focal point of the Ravens' passing attack for the bulk of Andrews' career under former offensive coordinators Greg Roman and Todd Monken. While many pundits believe that the Ravens are going to lean more towards using more 11 personnel with three-plus wide receivers out in the lineup more often than not under the first-time play-caller Declan Doyle, that might not be the case, given his background and affinity for the tight end position.

Not only did he spend two years as a tight ends coach under Sean Payton with the Denver Broncos from 2023-24, but he was also the offensive coordinator for a Chicago Bears team in 2025 that had a pair of players at the position eclipse 700 offensive snaps played, but had three nearly reach the 300-plus threshold. Andrews fully expects the tight end position to continue to be heavily involved in the offense moving forward, even if the wideouts see an increase in deployment.

“He loves the boys, (and) that's something that you can tell,” Andrews said. “He understands this position and he's not afraid to dial it up for the tight ends, which I think that's going to be awesome.”

Doyle is already being lauded as the next young offensive wunderkind, who could be one-and-done in Baltimore if his unit meets or exceeds expectations. His attention to detail, down to the granular minutia of how he wants certain routes run and play fakes sold, has inspired a lot of confidence in what they can accomplish with his dialing up and sequencing plays.

“He just really just understands this offense incredibly well,” Andrews said. “He's able to put his fingers in all the position rooms because he's the one installing, and I think when you have a coordinator that's able to dive into the offensive line room, dive into the tight end room, dive into the receiver room, dive into quarterback room, and really just, make it his own, that's a dangerous thing, and that's what he's doing. So, it's been really good.”

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