NFL GMs Explain 3 Pros And 2 Cons Of Ravens Trade For Eagles Center Cam Jurgens

The Ravens are taking a significant risk that new center Cam Jurgens, who has a deep history of back and nerve problems, is able to anchor their offensive line for years to come.

They are making that risk at a time when the person who understands Jurgens’s medicals and quality of play and what he looks like in practice better than anyone else, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, one of the best in the game, has an offensive line is in disarray. Yet he still moved the two-time Pro Bowler in a year in which he was trying to build another Lombardi Trophy winner, after previously moving Jurgens from center to left guard.

That alone should give Ravens pause. Roseman doesn’t lose a lot of trades, he is always in win-now mode, and landing a fifth-round pick in the next draft and a second-round pick in 2028 for a player with this medical history at this moment in time, is unquestionably a strong haul for a lineman who to this point has not been the same since requiring surgery to repair a snapped disc that ensnared a nerve following the Eagles Super Bowl win in February of 2025.

“Howie doesn’t give up on a season for October,” said one longtime NFL executive who has done deals with Roseman in the past. “It’s a lot to give up for a player with that history. Yeah, that would scare me a little bit.

“The Ravens see an opportunity to win the division, and they’ve got a major issue with the interior offensive line, but this is going out on a limb. And Howie is clearing anything he would have owed (Jurgens) next year too. So he doesn’t have that injury risk hanging over him anymore, either … Look, the Ravens have a lot of guys who are near the end or won’t be back there next year. They have the situation with the quarterback (Lamar Jackson in final guaranteed year of deal). That stuff will push you to do something like this.”

One NFL GM said: “Jurgens is still a good player, he is, we have good grades on his film. And it’s a major upgrade to anything Baltimore had there. But no way Howie is trading his center after his Hall of Fame tackle just retired (Lane Johnson) and his top guard is on IR (Landon Dickerson) if there isn’t a serious medical red flag. Howie isn’t mailing it in. He’s not tanking. No way Howie does this if he’s convinced this is a starter for him - at center or guard or anywhere - for the rest of that contract.”

Here are the biggest Pros and Cons to the trade, with Jurgens, 27, likely out until at least Week 6 after entering concussion protocol Sunday:

PROS

Football - NFL - Baltimore Ravens v Dallas Cowboys - Estadio Maracana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - September 27, 2026 Baltimore Ravens' Matthew Hibner celebrates scoring their fourth touchdown with Olaivavega Ioane REUTERS/Sergio Moraes | REUTERS

Desperate For Veteran Center Presence: Rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle was taking on water early. His mentor, Sean Payton, explained in detail the import of having a proven veteran center as a young coach in New Orleans (making a bold trade for a vet to address it) and Doyle’s run game was being swallowed up by a brutal interior line. And he was just forced to move a raw guard to center against one of the best defensive tackles on the planet. “You only make this move if you are desperate,” another GM said.

NFL analyst Brian Baldinger, a longtime former NFL lineman and expert on line play said of Jurgens recent film: "He isn't a guard, strickly a center. It allows Ioane to stay at guard where he can be the next (potential future Hall of Famer Marshal) Yanda."

There was way too much being asked of too many this early in the offensive operation, penalties were a major problem, and having someone you know can handle everything that comes with this vital position (medical permitting) is big. Desperate times call for desperate measures and this is a tough leader with an elite football IQ, but as we will explain there are serious risks involved too. “They may have just solved their biggest problem,” said one NFL personnel executive. “And if this isn’t their starting center the next three years, they just made it worse.”

Ioane Stops Moving: They can keep 14th overall pick Vega Ioane back at guard now and take a ton off his plate mentally and physically. Having his huge frame back at guard next to a proven center – and not whatever the Ravens were hoping to prove with Jovaughn Gwyn there – is a massive upgrade across the board, and if Jurgens breaks down, Ioane has already shown he can hold it down at center.

Fixed Cost: The Ravens were comfortable paying elite center Tyler Linderbaum in Jurgens’s salary range, but were not willing to go as high as the Raiders went, so he left. Jurgens has two years left on his deal beyond this season with very manageable cap numbers. And the guaranteed do not extend beyond 2027, at least, with $14.75 of his $17.5M salary guaranteed and with a salary of $17.5M in 2028. If he plays at his pre-surgery levels, that’s a win. That’s also a big if.

CONS

The Injury Risk Is Real: Jurgens was not right through the entire 2025 season, he gutted through 14 games but he was not the same guy. He was flying to South America for treatments at one point and has spoken about the incredible pain he was in and the nerve damage he experienced as part of the brutal back injury. He says he feels much better now, but man.

“What are the Ravens thinking?” said one longtime NFL exec who watches the Eagles closely. “The good, but not really great, Cam, left once he had the back surgery. You don’t see trades like this for interior offensive linemen and this one had back surgery and the tape since then is not the same, including at center.”

They Made This Mess: The Ravens let the highest-paid center in the league walk as a free agent, when they didn’t have to and are running a $365M payroll, and put their offseason resources almost exclusively into the defense. They gave a meh guard $10M (John Simpson) in free agency rather than address center.

They had 11 draft picks and drafted no one who snaps the football after letting Linderbaum leave and had their pick in the second round at basically every center in the draft with the run on them not yet beginning and chose project edge defender Zion Young, at the very tail end of the wave of those players, instead. And if this season doesn’t go as well as planned, and a lot of this core are gone or no longer as effective – Derrick Henry, Ronnie Stanley, Roquan Smith, Marlon Humphrey, Calais Campbell, Mark Andrews – that second-round pick is going to feel like quite a price.

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