Predicting Result of Ravens' Center Battle Before Training Camp

The Ravens are going to play it out at the center position. At least into training camp, it seems.

They won’t wave the white flag easily on the one starting roster spot that is glaringly incomplete. They staged a “battle” in shorts and no pads, through the spring between Jovaughn Gwyn and Danny Pinter – neither of whom has an NFL snapping pedigree. They haven’t signed a free agent like Ethan Pocic yet (who our buddy Brian Baldinger has pushed them to sign) and they used 11 draft picks without putting one towards someone who has snapped a football in college with any success.’

But we are still aren’t buying what they are selling in Owings Mills. Neither are rival front offices. And, I suspect, despite what he would say publicly during OATS, after watching star center walk out the door for a mega-deal with the Raiders, neither is two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson. So the result of this center battle is pretty simple for us – the guy who wins it isn’t on their roster yet.

What Comes Next?

Our resident GM at “The Daily Flock Show,” longtime NFL GM and exec Marty Hurney, raised a red flag about this position right after the draft and said, ideally, the Ravens would address it before the start of spring practices … Those practices are now over, and you simply cannot evaluate line play in glorified two-hand touch faux practices.

The Ravens didn’t learn anything real about this group – recent undrafted center Bullock (Maryland) is allegedly in the mix but was not able to take part in most practices - and Jackson won’t be playing in pre-season games. So there’s that. The idea they will wing it into the preseason, after just signifying how important this position can be by how much they say they offered for Linderbaum, doesn’t pass muster.

When I probed Hurney about this lingering situation again on the show last week, here’s what he said:

“We don’t play games ‘til September,” Hurney reminded me. “be patient. Be patient. Weve got waiver wires, we’ve got cuts at the end. Let’s just take our time. And we will get you a veteran center to protect Lamar. And there will be guys out there – maybe it won’t be ‘til late and until the last cuts – but we’re going to get a guy to play that spot. We just don’t want to reach right now. There’s no need to panic.”

Good enough.

Just consider he isn’t advocating for talking yourself into a guy who couldn’t get close to this role for the Falcons or the Colts in recent years working the exchange with Jackson in what could be his walk year. No one bought that general manager Eric DeCosta was going to be able to deal for a legit center after the draft, as he floated it, and no one is buying the situation is any better now.

We’ll also just remind everyone in Owings Mills (who read all of this), the first-team All-ACC center who is from Annapolis and played at Gonzaga High School down the road and has NFL bloodlines, is almost all the way back from the shoulder procedure that kept him from getting drafted. We hear Luke Petitbon will be cleared June 22; he’s a prospect well worth exploring considering what’s on this roster at center right now.

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