Ravens GM Strikes A Cautious Tone About Rebuilt Offensive And Defensive Lines

The discovery period for the Ravens’ new offensive and defensive line is almost over.

The finding-out period is about to begin.

And even for the coaches and architects of this roster and staff, there are so many unknowns. Outside of some 11-on-11 reps in scrimmages against Minnesota and Washington, there hasn’t been a real semblance of what this new personnel and scheme might look like in a game scenario, but even then some of the key players were injured or unavailable.

Head coach Jesse Minter is a rookie. Almost none of the key starters played a snap in the preseason, let alone played much together.

The Ravens still won’t commit to a starting center, their depth chart on that side of the ball is littered with rookies (five of 25 offensive players), the one guy on the second-string offensive line with more than a handful of snaps lost his job a year ago (Andrew Vorhees). Nine players on the offensive side have never played for the Ravens before; the interior of the offensive line is entirely brand new. The staring defensive line has barely practiced together to this point (All Pro tackle Nnamdi Madubuike is still working back from next surgery), let alone take part in the exhibitions.

There is certainly a strong belief within this organization that rookie play caller Declan Doyle, 30, will have two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson humming right away, but there is no way to know for sure. Minnter is a proven defensive mastermind, but if he doesn't have a top defensive tackle, he's in trouble.

They feel like things are coming together, but then again general manager Eric DeCosta thought he had a Super Bowl roster this time a year ago, and it was littered with issues at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and failed to make the playoffs.

So it’s understandable he took a cautious tone about his reconstructed offensive line, and it's no surprise he kept more defensive linemen than in the past when the Ravens entered seasons dangerously thin there and to start, and had to immediately pivot.

"I think we are headed in the right direction,” DeCosta said of the offensive line. “I feel really good about how the group has done overall. Have not seen them play in games, so there is always an unknown, but the energy is great …

“I do not know what it is going to look like Week 1 because I have not seen what it is going to look like yet, but I am excited about it, and I think that we will probably build and build and build, and hopefully in January and February we are playing our best football."

With Madubuike possibly going to miss the first few games – but less than four – and Calais Campbell now 40 and Broderick Washington’s play slipping in recent years, the Ravens leaned into numbers with the interior of their defense, too.

“We have got some defensive linemen, I do not want to call them old, but they are more experienced,” DeCosta said. “We had a few guys with some injuries. Did that factor into us keeping six linemen? Probably did in some respects.”

Will Doyle Have What He Needs?

If the offensive line isn’t stable, it would undermine Doyle’s installation of an under-center offense to a level we have never seen in Jackson’s era before. And the fact the Ravens are short on blocking tight ends and not carrying a fullback after previously employing an All Pro one could complicate things, too.

Trench play cannot be duplicated in practice without tackling live to the ground, and that’s just not happening. Quarterbacks can’t be hit. The scrimmages are structured and doing whatever you can to eliminate injuries is the priority. Doyle spoke Wednesday about his offense getting steeled from practicing against what should be an elite defense, but it’s just different.

“Every day we get to come out here and compete against what I view as one of the best defenses in football,” Doyle offered. “You have a lot of really good players on the other side of the ball who test us all the time. Iron sharpens iron, and that is the way we really approach it. Jesse does a lot to test offenses and test our rules a lot. We have been able to see our guys in these controlled settings. I am really excited to see them go do it in Indy."

We’ll see if the preparation turned out to be enough, soon enough. It’s going to be a work in progress. It needs to gel quickly.

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