INDIANAPOLIS — Over the past five drafts, the Baltimore Ravens have made 27 selections within the first four rounds. Only one of them was spent on an interior defensive lineman. They haven’t picked an interior defensive lineman in either the first or second round since 2014.
Of their last 17 first- or second-round picks dating back to 2017, only two of them yielded offensive linemen.
There was a time when the Ravens’ roster-building intentions were clear. They built the team from the inside out, loading up in the trenches and ensuring both the offensive and defensive lines benefited from an annual infusion of youth, size and talent. Former general manager Ozzie Newsome believed it was the best way to remain in the hunt in the blue-collar AFC North.
Ravens officials insist that the long-standing organizational belief hasn’t waned, but their body of work in recent offseasons suggests the team’s decision-makers have prioritized other areas. After a season in which the Ravens struggled along both the offensive and defensive lines and didn’t consistently win the battle in the trenches, that probably needs to change.
The Ravens’ representatives in Indianapolis have spent part of the first half of this week at the NFL Scouting Combine meeting with the upcoming draft’s top offensive and defensive linemen. That’s standard procedure for general manager Eric DeCosta and his staff. However, if there was ever a time for the organization to get back to its trench-building roots, this offseason would be it.
“It’s an O-line, D-line-driven league,” Ravens coach Jesse Minter said Tuesday. “Just look at the Super Bowl winners of the last couple of years. I think that’s really where you start.”
That’s certainly where DeCosta and the Ravens have to start as they decide how to use their offseason assets to solidify a roster that proved uncharacteristically thin during a disappointing 2025 season in areas where the team prides itself on being deep.
The loss of standout defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike to a season-ending neck injury in Week 2 left Baltimore vulnerable defensively. Stopping the run was a struggle early, and getting to the quarterback was an issue throughout.
With Madubuike’s future uncertain, Broderick Washington looking like a potential salary-cap cut after missing most of last year, and Brent Urban, Dre’Mont Jones, Kyle Van Noy and David Ojabo all eligible for free agency, the Ravens need to add at least two starting-caliber defensive linemen and a high-impact edge rusher this offseason.
The offensive line scuffled all season to overcome uneven guard play, and the lack of depth up front was reflected in the fact that the coaching staff didn’t feel it had an upgrade over Daniel Faalele and Andrew Vorhees on its bench. Complicating the challenge of finding two potential starting guards and a swing tackle is the pending free agency of standout center Tyler Linderbaum.
“I think we’ve always been a team that has valued the importance of ‘the trenches’ and being (strong) up front,” DeCosta said Tuesday. “Just one of the reasons why we want to bring Tyler back, if we can. … When you look at your roster, you see the ebbs and flows. We’ve lost some offensive linemen the last couple of years, and we’ve lost some defensive linemen. We’ve got 11 draft picks, I think, and we should have a good opportunity to add players.”
DeCosta said Tuesday that the process of beefing up the offensive line actually started last year when they used third-, fifth-, and seventh-round picks on guard/tackle Emery Jones Jr., tackle Carson Vinson and guard Garrett Dellinger, respectively.
Emery Jones missed most of his rookie season as he recovered from offseason shoulder surgery, but he’s a candidate to start at guard this year with Faalele potentially departing in free agency. Vinson was inactive for 10 games as a rookie, but he could be a candidate for the swing tackle role behind starters Ronnie Stanley and Roger Rosengarten in 2026. Dellinger was cut at the end of his first NFL training camp.
The Ravens certainly haven’t neglected the offensive line in the draft. Stanley was the sixth overall pick in 2016, and the three-year, $60 million pact he signed with Baltimore last year was his third contract with the team. Rosengarten was a second-round pick in 2024. Linderbaum was a first-round pick in 2022, and DeCosta said Tuesday that the Ravens are willing to make him the highest-paid center in football (over $18 million per year).
Beyond Stanley, the Ravens haven’t spent a ton of money on veteran offensive linemen, which has put pressure on their young draft picks to develop — and that’s been hit-or-miss with guard Ben Cleveland, a third-round pick in 2021, heading the list of recent misses.
The issues along the defensive front have been a little more widespread. There’s been key injuries, none bigger than Madubuike’s mysterious neck issue, which occurred roughly six months after the Ravens signed him to a four-year, $98 million deal. There have been early-to-mid-round draft misses with Ojabo heading that list. There has also been an avoidance of taking big swings on defensive tackles early in drafts.
A third-round pick in 2022, nose tackle Travis Jones has developed nicely and was rewarded with a three-year, $40.5 million contract extension in December. However, Travis Jones and Madubuike mark the only Day 1 or Day 2 interior defensive line investments over the past eight drafts.
“I think if we have the chance to draft a great defensive tackle, of course we will,” DeCosta said. “It is one of the most important positions in football.”
That’s ultimately shown on the sport’s biggest stage. Three weeks ago, the Seattle Seahawks rode a dominant defense to a resounding win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX. A year earlier, the Philadelphia Eagles, dominant at the line of scrimmage and able to consistently get a pass rush with their front four, flummoxed Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
“How have these teams won that final game?” Minter asked on Tuesday. “Two years ago, it was the Eagles’ O-line, D-line-driven. This year, Seattle same deal. I think that’s an area that you’re always looking to get better. I think there are some good pieces there, and so it’ll be about coaching them up, developing them more and then adding some pieces to help us get to that level.”
The Ravens certainly aren’t alone in the quest to get bigger, stronger and deeper in the trenches.
“I think about last year with us and then in Baltimore, some of our worst years are when we had some struggles on the O-line or got beat up,” said Joe Hortiz, who spent 26 years in the Baltimore organization before being hired as the Los Angeles Chargers’ general manager in January 2024. “Last year was a rare year for us. It’s a testament to the players because we had a lot of injuries in Los Angeles on the O-line, so a testament to all the guys to overcome it.
“But yeah, you control the line, you’re going to have a good chance to win the game at the end.”
Teams, like the Ravens, may have to get creative to get significantly better in the trenches this offseason. There are high-end pass rushers available in free agency and through the draft, and there are talented offensive tackles to be had if you’re picking early in April’s first round.
However, the impactful offensive and defensive line options are limited in free agency. The draft is said to offer solid interior depth, but not a plethora of high-end options. The Athletic’s lead draft analyst, Dane Brugler, has only seven interior defensive linemen ranked among his top 90 players in the draft. None of them are ranked in the top 20 (the Ravens pick No. 14). Many of the draft’s highest-rated interior defensive linemen are nose tackles, a position the Ravens have covered with Travis Jones, John Jenkins and C.J. Okoye.
Brugler also has just one guard ranked among his top 40 players and two among his top 75. The Ravens, though, will have as many as 11 picks at their disposal in the draft, so they can afford to take several swings at offensive and defensive linemen. Their roster situation may require them to do just that.
“When they are at their best, they are big,” NFL Network’s lead draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah, a former Ravens scout, said Wednesday. “They’re big everywhere. It’s not just only they like big DTs. They have big edge-setting guys, big corners, big linebackers. They want to be kind of a bully. I think that they got away from that a little bit, and there were some finesse players, some speed players that they brought in. I look for them to get back to that tenacity and that style.”