It was inevitable that both Simpson and Zeitler was gone this season to me. Part of me thought Moses would stay but I get it.
Sure, but I trust Joe D with our OL. Early struggles, growing pains, etc. but I'm confident that there'll be improvement as the season progresses. That's why I'm not too worried about the OL.
I look at it this way... even at the beginning of last season, there's just no version of reality where Moses, Zeitler or Simpson were Ravens beyond '24. And Stanley was less than 50% to be.
So you either rip off the band aid this year or next year. By doing it this year, you basically have two seasons to get the Oline the way you want it. We're not going to get three high quality Olineman via FA/draft this year (or at least highly unlikely we do). But we may get one or two.
Guard I expect they'll sign a veteran at some point + draft at least one more. That'll give you guy like 3-4 guys to compete for two spots. Tackle we'll add somebody in the draft, and that'll give you four Tackles on the roster.
My takes on the Oline, league-wide, are simple:
a) you don't need a good one. You just can't have a bad one. There are plenty of teams that win heaps of games in this league with average or slightly above average Olines.
b) depth on the Oline is critical. Having five good starters is great, but if you have no depth, it won't matter. If you get 50% of your games with your entire Oline on the field at the same time, that's like super elite level durability. Many teams are lucky to get a month in a season where your whole Oline is on the field together. Depth is critical.
That's what makes guys like Mekari so valuable to us. Same with Hurst before him. Most people would be hard pressed to find teams that have a third Tackle as good as him.
