For Months It's Been Obvious The Ravens Needed Ethan Pocic. Good On Them For Getting Him Now

The Ravens did the right thing. They did the smart thing. They did the only reasonable thing.

They signed free-agent center Ethan Pocic, as we have been campaigning for – along with our buddy Brian Baldinger, elite NFL analyst and former offensive lineman – all offseason long. The Ravens never fooled me that they truly thought they had the solution at center and it never made sense to have a team-record $350M payroll and have a hold this huge at such a vital position while trying to implement a new offense with a rookie offensive coordinator in Declan Doyle who has never called a play.

When general manager Eric DeCosta went to in-house media to pontificate about trading for someone after failing to upgrade in the draft, we called if out for the stalling tactic it was. When anyone in Owings Mills tried to pretend they could evaluate journeymen or an un-drafted kid during OTAs, we told you that was ridiculous. When he went on the radio this week to gush about how much the coaches loved the guys they had, while they were trying to sign Pocic, we ignored it.

When You Know, You Know

When you've been doing this as long as we have and you talk to enough people, you know when people and spinning and BSing. And you understand that's part of the job. So you develop a strong filter. Never gonna be perfect, but more than good enough.

And when we had Baldy on “The Daily Flock Show” for the first time around the draft we devoted ample time to discuss two – and just two - obvious free-agents they should sign – Calais Campbell and Pocic. And longtime GM Marty Hurney told you on the show there was no way they were going Into the season with what they had and he endorsed the signing of Pocic, also.

Which is why every time I did a Ravens 53-man roster projection going back over a month I included Pocic on it. Because even before he was fully cleared to practice from an Achilles injury this move was desperately needed. And once he got cleared the one-year deal, right around the $5M total we discussed all offseason long, happened quite quickly with many teams interested because Pocic was clearly the best center available with Graham Glasgow etiring.

Of course you would want Lamar Jackson to start building chemistry with the center and one who commands respect, given the important of the situation. So they could start seeing the offense int he same way and getting used to one another, especially with Doyle speeding up this offense and using more pace and cadence.

It’s also why I made sure I asked Sean Payton, Doyle’s mentor, about the importance of a veteran center to his offense and Payton immediately flashed back being a rookie head coach and trading the 34th overall-pick, somewhat controversially, for center Jeff Faine.

Pocic is a rock steady and cerebral and has been through plenty of installs and he’s worked with all manner of quarterbacks and he is the perfect stopgap to get them through a critical year trying to upgrade an offense line that was poor year ago even with star center Tyle Linderbaum anchoring it. He’s 30, still plenty young enough and he was with a winning franchise in Seattle and then spent five years in Cleveland, so he will be thankful to be back with a winning franchise.

Doyle needed this. Jackson needed this. The starting guards needed this. The Ravens needed this.

Good on them for making it happen, just in time for training camp,

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