Stanley's Up: Ravens' Blocking Staple Feels 'Best Since 2019'

There's paid time off and then there's what Ronnie Stanley's contract has paid for over the past three years.

Even with the frequent absences, one can't call Stanley lazy at all. His five-year, $112.8 million extension was well-earned, as he has lived up to the first-round billing the Baltimore Ravens expected when he was the sixth overall pick of the 2016 draft. He was nominated to the All-Pro team in 2019 and the accompanying Pro Bowl invite earned him that big payday.

An ankle injury, however, has eaten away at the more recent stages of his career. He was carted off the field in his sixth appearance of the 2020 season and was limited to only the kickoff game the year after due to the lingering aftershocks. Even last season, which saw him take the field for 11 games, was far from the standard that Stanley has set between Baltimore and Notre Dame.

With so much new offensive weaponry coming in (i.e. coordinator Todd Monken and receivers Nelson Agholor, Odell Beckham Jr. and Zay Flowers), the Ravens may want to consider Stanley among the newcomers, especially if his comments during the team's minicamp activities this week.

"This is as good as I've felt since 2019, preseason 2020," Stanley declared in video from the Ravens. "I've been able to really put most of my time on training and building and getting stronger, getting more endurance, and just becoming an overall better athlete. (It's) been a big difference for me."

For the time being, Stanley's immediate legacy on the Ravens is the fact that the team traded Orlando Brown Jr. to Kansas City to keep him in his natural position of left tackle. While Stanley has been stuck on injured reserve, the Ravens have had to watch Brown continue his streak of Pro Bowl, win a Super Bowl, and join their division rivals in Cincinnati. Baltimore has spent recent drafts trying to bolster the Stanley-less line, matching him up with Ben Cleveland on the inside and Tyler Linderbaum at center.

Stanley plans to forge a path forward in Charm City by setting reasonable goals and taking advantage of his rediscovered health.

"(I've) been able to build and really build off what I did last season and just get better," he said. "I really feel a big difference the last couple of years."

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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