Preseason openers can be boring, harmful and generally unpleasant. They can also be clarifying. The Ravens’ 16-13 loss Friday night to the Philadelphia Eagles, for instance, revealed not only which starters were too important to risk playing, but also where certain players might fall in the team’s pecking order.
There are not just starting jobs to be claimed in training camp, after all, but key reserve spots as well. As the Ravens’ Sept. 5 season opener against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs looms on the not-too-distant horizon, here’s a look at who’s winning the team’s most important roster battles.
Starting left guard: Andrew Vorhees
Vorhees was more competent than dominant against Philadelphia, a reasonable starting point for a player whose last game came for USC in 2022. In pass coverage, he got walked back on a bull rush and likely shared some blame for poor blitz pickups on the left side of the line. In the run game, Vorhees flashed his trademark strength and moved well as a puller. “Very consistent,” was how coach John Harbaugh described his performance.
Vorhees played the entire first half for the Ravens, and it’s unclear who his closest competition for the starting job even is. His replacement at left guard in the third quarter was Tashawn Manning, a practice squad lineman last year. Harbaugh wasn’t ready Sunday to name Vorhees the starter, but he’s a near lock.
Starting right guard: Daniel Faalele
Faalele opened camp as the Ravens’ first-string right guard, and his uneven performance against the Eagles didn’t seem to have Harbaugh reconsidering the depth chart. Faalele gave up one quarterback pressure in 18 drop-backs, according to Pro Football Focus, and graded out as an average pass blocker, but Harbaugh said the converted tackle had “made a jump” there.
“Really good with his feet, punched well, stayed square, stayed in front of people — I thought he played well,” Harbaugh said. “Run game, he was good, too, so that was kind of a ... I’d say he passed the test, passed the first test. Keep building from there and get to the next game.”
With Ben Cleveland playing exclusively at center Friday, Faalele’s replacement at right guard was Corey Bullock, an undrafted rookie lineman from Maryland who’s likely a long shot to make the 53-man roster.
Starting right tackle: Roger Rosengarten
Unlike Vorhees and Faalele, Rosengarten didn’t start Friday’s game, nor did he even get the majority of the Ravens’ first-half snaps. Patrick Mekari started the first, third and fourth drives at right tackle; Rosengarten got the second and fifth drives, and took over as the starter for the first two possessions of the second half.
But the Ravens are clearly ramping up Rosengarten’s workload. In early August, he earned first-team reps in practice for the first time out wide. After Friday’s performance, in which Rosengarten was clean in pass protection and unspectacular as a run blocker, Harbaugh said he felt more confident that the second-round pick could be ready for the season opener.
“Pat played well, and Josh [Jones] played well at left tackle, so Roger’s reps were a little less,” Harbaugh said. “We’ll get Roger some more reps next week [in Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons] and in practice this week.”
Backup center: Ben Cleveland
When the Ravens drafted center Nick Samac in April, the seventh-round pick was widely expected to slot right in behind Tyler Linderbaum on the season-opening roster. But with Linderbaum sidelined in camp by a soft-tissue injury, it’s Cleveland who’s emerged as his backup. The hulking guard’s blocking has been steady, and his shotgun snaps have been accurate.
Samac, meanwhile, was the third center to enter Friday’s game, coming in after undrafted rookie Darrian Dalcourt. Cleveland’s experience at guard makes him doubly valuable, even if he’s not projected to start in Week 1. That could squeeze Samac out of the roster picture.
“I thought Ben played well at center,” Harbaugh said. “Maybe he’s a center. But he can also play guard, so there was a lot of good things.”
Third running back: Owen Wright
Until Keaton Mitchell looks like his old self again — the speedster’s not expected to complete his knee rehabilitation until midway through the season — this spot is up for grabs. The early edge goes to Wright, a former undrafted free agent who spent his rookie season last year on the Ravens’ practice squad and has impressed in camp. The Bethesda native not only started over rookie Rasheen Ali on Friday but outplayed the fifth-round pick, too. He had seven carries for 33 yards, added one catch for 17 yards and did not have the ball security troubles that have nagged at Ali.
“I think Owen has been one of those guys — he’s an explosive guy,” Harbaugh said Sunday. “I thought he ran the ball hard north and south, hit it up in there, explosive, pretty solid in pass protection, ran the routes well. I thought he made a case for himself, so we’ll see going forward.”
Derrick Henry and Justice Hill are shoo-ins to make the Ravens’ 53-man roster. Ali, as a draft pick, figures to make the cut, too. But if the Ravens want to guarantee a spot for Wright, a four-back room would cut into the team’s flexibility elsewhere.
Sixth wide receiver: Too close to call
Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, Nelson Agholor and rookie Devontez Walker all have job security. A healthy Deonte Harty should, too. But how will the Ravens fill their sixth, and presumably final, wide receiver spot? Tylan Wallace entered the summer as the favorite. He’s shown a good connection with quarterback Lamar Jackson in camp and played well Friday, making two catches on two targets for 26 yards. He also has special teams experience, finishing 10th on the team in snaps last season despite missing about a third of the season with injuries.
But the Ravens have added competition in recent days. Last week, they signed Russell Gage to a relatively cheap one-year deal. The 28-year-old, who missed all of last year after tearing his patellar tendon in training camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has finished with at least 426 receiving yards in each of his four previous seasons. (Wallace, meanwhile, has 67 yards total over three years in Baltimore.) Gage played just five offensive snaps against Philadelphia but should earn more playing time over the next two games.
“It was an opportunity for us,” Harbaugh said last week of signing Gage, who has little special teams experience in recent years. “He’s a guy that’s proven, a proven player. … [He] catches, a tough player, physical player, great hands, just a proven NFL veteran-type player. Just starting today, he looked good, but just starting to ramp him up a little bit.”
Third safety: Too close to call
Given the number of moving parts in play, this is probably the hardest battle to unpack. Ar’Darius Washington has shined over the past week in both camp and the preseason, and he’s versatile enough to play as either a deep safety or a nickel back. But his best position is probably in the slot, a spot where the Ravens, even with cornerback Arthur Maulet sidelined by arthroscopic knee surgery, might prefer other options — namely safety Kyle Hamilton and cornerback Marlon Humphrey.
Free-agent signing Eddie Jackson has had a solid camp, and he profiles as the kind of safety the Ravens lost when Geno Stone left in free agency. Over his seven-year Chicago Bears career, Jackson played the overwhelming majority of his snaps as a free safety, according to PFF, just as Stone did next to Marcus Williams last season.
So will the Ravens have to pick one by Week 1? Will they deploy them both situationally? Or could defensive coordinator Zach Orr lean more on the team’s cornerback room to fill the gaps in the secondary? Both Washington and Jackson started Friday, so the next two weeks could be revealing.
Returners: Deonte Harty
The Ravens had four players line up for kickoff returns Friday — wide receiver Dayton Wade (twice) and running backs Chris Collier (twice), Wright (once) and Ali (once) — and two players go back for punt returns — cornerback Damarion “Pepe” Williams (three times) and Wade (twice). Ali had the Ravens’ best kickoff return, but he also nearly fumbled at the end of his 31-yard run. Williams had an 18-yard punt return.
Williams and Ali have the best chances of making the roster, but neither is a sure thing. Harty, who’s dealt with a lower leg injury throughout training camp and missed Friday’s game, is a likely starter somewhere. But the Ravens could also have other options in play as they look for Devin Duvernay’s replacement(s). Hill has 13 kickoff returns over the past two years, and Wallace combined for seven total returns last season, including the game-winning 76-yard punt return score against the Los Angeles Rams.
