The Ravens ripped the bandage off on Phase 1 of the offensive line rebuild last year, opting not to re-sign veterans Kevin Zeitler, Morgan Moses and John Simpson. If Phase 2 means letting Stanley and Mekari go, the Ravens have a few options.
The Ravens could turn to Andrew Vorhees at left guard. In his first real season, Vorhees initially won the starting job coming out of training camp, but suffered an ankle injury early in the season and Mekari supplanted him.
“One thing we’ve seen over the years with this position is guys get better as they get older and more established. They get in the weight room, they get stronger and play better , so that will be the case with the guys we have,” DeCosta said.
If Stanley doesn’t return, the Ravens could move Roger Rosengarten to the left side after his very successful rookie year at right tackle. DeCosta noted that Rosengarten has played on both sides before. Baltimore could then look to strike gold with another tackle in the draft like they did with Rosengarten late in the second round and develop him quickly.
“We’re fortunate to have some really good coaches and some good young players, but we also realize that we’ll have – conservatively – 10 or 11 draft picks this year, free agency and still a chance to sign deals .with some of these guys,” DeCosta said.
In summary, all options are on the table. But one of the Ravens’ takeaways heading into this offseason was that Phase 1 was a success, even if painful at first.
“I think our goal is to always have the best offensive line possible,” DeCosta said. “We made a tough decision last year to go younger and play younger guys, and we knew we would have some growing pains. I think we had a few, but looking back on it , I think it was absolutely the right thing to do, and we saw our guys improve and really become a unit and gel.
