Ravens GM Hinted At A Trade For A Center. Here Are Some (Slim) Potential Options

Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta concedes the team lacks the goods at center on its current roster, and he’s been playing coy about his solution to the problem.

Lately, he’s been noodling – through the team ‘s in-house media – about a trade. In conversations with numerous current and former NFL decision makers, it seems highly dubious that he’s going to land a proven, plug-and-play quality center at this point in the offseason via that sort of transaction. Spend a few hours studying every depth chart in the NFL – hand up, I did – and talking to execs about recent trade conversations, and there aren’t many likely outcomes.

No team truly loves its offensive line situation – which helps explain the run on them in the draft as we predicted along with former GM Marty Hurney on “The Daily Flock” and which the Ravens sat out. So other GMS aren’t keen to give away starters or quality depth in exchange for draft picks to be utilized a year from now. Centers are a commodity – which also explains why Tyler Linderbaum got a massive haul from the Raiders - and they are the central nervous system of an offense and their chemistry with the quarterbacks and guards are everything.

Not easy to pry away. Not many legit starting options just sitting on the second and third rungs of other depth charts.

There are two free agent options we would get behind and we still wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where this ended up. One potential center target was first suggested by Mike Sando in The Athletic (Garrett Bradbury) though we are far from convinced the Bears want to trade him after just acquiring him from the Patriots a few weeks back.

Then again, finding anything that made sense for both teams was quite difficult. We were able to scrape and scrounge and uncovered a few other possible targets, though not ones we were particularly enthusiastic about.

Bradbury

Bradbury, 30, played over 1000 snaps for Chicago last year, where Ravens rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle was an understudy on Ben Johnson’s staff. He’s been largely serviceable throughout his career since being selected in the first round by Minnesota in 2019. His athleticism was a calling card – the Ravens love that – and he was a great scheme fit in outside zone, which would also seem to mesh with what many believe Doyle will lean into.

He also has short arms and has suffered in pass pro, but is a proven veteran who would be a major upgrade over anything the Ravens have right now. Chicago’s offense thrived despite a shaky line, and Bradbury ranked 23rd in PFF’s pass blocking metrics (out of 40 qualified centers) and 35th in run blocking and 30th overall. This wouldn’t be anything close to what they lost to the Raiders, but a far more tenable option than anything they currently have.

The Bears selected Logan Jones in the second round, but having just reached the playoffs and with a young quarterback on the ascent in Caleb Williams, they also don’t have to make a move at this critical position, either. And at $3.7M in salary, Bradbury isn’t costing them much.

We’ll see. It’s far better than anything else we could come up with, but we’d prefer free-agent options.

Nick Samac / Luke Fortner

If Samac’s name is familiar to you, that’s because the Ravens selected him in the seventh round in 2024, then lost him to Carolina in September when he was signed off their practice squad. He’s appeared in 11 games and started none. Again, I am not condoning this – or attempting to fill this huge void via any post-draft trade – but there are connections here and perhaps they think he’s better up to the challenge than the current names on their roster.

The Panthers drafted top center Sam Hecht in the second round and signed Fortner, a veteran free agent who was a regular starter for Jacksonville and also started 10 games for the Saints in 2025, earlier in the offseason. He was a third-round pick in 2022. Was praised for his power coming out of Kentucky and has a build similar to Linderbaum’s. He only got $823,000 to sign and is one a vet-minimum salary.

Yeah, we are reaching, but, again, teams are not in the business of trading centers in May.

Jordan Meredith

After the fall-out from the collapsed Maxx Crosby trade with the Ravens – HYPER MATH – it’s hard to imagine these teams collaborating on another deal, even one as nominal as this would be. But Meredith lost his job to Linderbaum in Vegas. Meredith played over 500 snaps at center last season on a horrible Raiders line and ranked 32nd of 40 centers per PFF. He has 20 career starts and was first signed by the Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2021.

If DeCosta is able to convince a team to deal him their current starting center, then hats off. But that’s hard to project. But whatever he is going to do, he’d best do it ASAP. We’ll see how much Lamar Jackson is around for Organized Team Activities, but you’d best have your starting center when he is. Doyle is going to need someone sat least somewhat savvy to count on as he installs his offense for the first time.

It’s a critical position even in normal times, and given where the Ravens find themselves with a novice staff for the first time in 15 years, it’s beyond imperative.

“The center position makes it unique,” Hurney, a highly-successful longtime GM told me on “The Daily Flock” last week. “I can’t tell you the number of times I would say to head coaches in May, ‘Hey we don’t play a game until September, give us some time to find the right guys available to help out needs.’

“But with center you want to bring that guy in (now). Especially if he’s a younger guy, you want to bring in and get him up to speed as quickly as you can.”

You won’t find a coordinator younger than Doyle. Solving this center riddle needs to happen, and happen in a meaningful way, and happen soon.

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