Three Positions Where The Ravens Depth Is Most Compromised

The Ravens took a significant step forward to bolster an already strong roster by signing veteran center Ethan Pocic on Friday.

They head back to training camp in the coming days with Super Bowl expectations once again, though now with a far less established coaching staff. They are favorites in Vegas and earned high marks for the draft – as is seemingly always the case even if a lot of years it turns out to be more miss than hit – and hope springs eternal in the NFL in late July.

But no roster is perfect as general manager Eric DeCosta likes to say and this depth chart is a little more top heavy than anyone would like in some key spots, and there are a few areas where depth could become an issue. People tend to focus on the “position battles” for starting spots but especially now with teams not subjecting their veterans to much at all in the summer, the real jostling goes on below them and that’s where, frankly, more true competitions occur without major disparities in salary and guaranteed money, etc.

There are three positions that I will be paying a lot of attention to the second and third string options and how they are shaping up:

Inside Linebacker

Is there a true understudy to Roquan Smith on the roster? And is Smith clearly on a downward trajectory this many reps into his career at such a collision position despite what the coaching staff is going to say?

Smith took ownership of his down season in the spring, but the slide has been going on longer than that and the Ravens making no moves to extend him or push money into the future with an expiring contract told me quite a bit more than anything they would say out loud.

Teddye Buchanan come on in a big way last year, but it’s a huge stretch to now coming into Year Two with a little bit of expectations and trying to come back from a significant injury and having to wear the green dot and align a defense with Lombardi hopes. I know Trenton Simpson isn’t the guy, and the Ravens would likely have to look outside the organization if something happened to Smith, but, much like with center, you would much rather have the next man up already in your building and mastering the defense and practicing with the unit he would have to lead.

Not impossible, and Jesse Minter’s role model, Mike Macdonald, did it in Seattle his first season getting Ernest Jones at the deadline and obviously Smith came over at the mid-season deadline and altered the course of Macdonald’s defense in Baltimore.

Tight End

The rookies look kinda niche to me and/or a long ways off. Projects.

The more tight ends the merrier and they don’t have a true second option at move tight end and I have a pretty bad feeling about where Mark Andrews is at this stage of his career and where that’s going.

You couple that with a receiver room that has one known commodity in Zay Flowers and this is probably going to be a dynamic with find ourselves talking about quite a bit on “The Daily Flock Show” as the season goes on.

Offensive Tackle

I don’t like the back-up options on either side, frankly. This team could use a proven swing tackle. Carson Vinson might be that guy but I wouldn’t want to have to find out early in the season. We are probably all a little spoiled by how much cover Patrick Mecari provided but anything close to that would look huge on this roster right now.

Ronnie Stanley has been battling father time for quite some time and Roger Rosengarten belongs on the right side.

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