John Harbaugh knows the Baltimore Ravens need solutions along an offensive line still in a state of flux, but the head coach also knows his team has limited cap space to retool in 2025 NFL free agency, meaning it’s a good thing third-year pro Andrew Vorhees is ready to start.
Harbaugh believes “Vorhees looked great late in the season after getting healthy and will have a good shot at starting this year,” per Ravens.com Editorial Director Ryan Mink.
That’s high praise for a player taken in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL draft. A lineman who lost his rookie campaign to a torn ACL.
Vorhees bounced back to appear in 15 games for the Ravens last season and clearly showed Harbaugh enough to prove he merits a bigger role. That sample size is timely when key players like left tackle Ronnie Stanley and left guard Patrick Mekari are both free agents.
Meanwhile, Daniel Faalele has yet to fully convince at right guard, so Vorhees could be primed to help out at any one of three positions.
Andrew Vorhees Ready for More
Vorhees made the Ravens wait, but the 26-year-old delivered when he finally saw the field last season. Like when the beefy guard was flawless on pass-blocking duty against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3, according to Ravens Nation LIVE.
The game was one of Vorhees’ three starts and part of the 268 snaps he played at left guard, per Pro Football Focus. Vorhees didn’t allow a single sack and only yielded four pressures.
Keeping quarterback Lamar Jackson clean proved 6-foot-6, 320-pound Vorhees has the footwork, hands technique and play strength to make a habit out of mirroring and engulfing pro-level pass-rushers.
Those qualities make the former USC standout an obvious in-house upgrade over a key free agent.
John Harbaugh Must Continue Revamping Ravens’ Offensive Line
Mekari is somebody the Ravens will struggle to keep when they are projected by Spotrac.com to have just $8,728,872 under the salary cap. Mekari, by contrast, has a market value of $10.3 million annually across three years.
The numbers don’t add up to the Ravens being able to re-sign Mekari. Nor to replacing him with either a five-time Pro Bowler or even a Super Bowl winner.
It means Harbaugh, offensive coordinator Todd Monken and general manager Eric DeCosta will be best served reshuffling the deck with existing options. Vorhees is among the best of those options, and his promotion would save money and perhaps give the Ravens leeway to try and work out a way to bring back Stanley.
The All-Pro is somebody DeCosta is optimistic about getting a “deal done” with, based on what he told reporters at the annual Scouting Combine on Tuesday, February 25.
Making Stanley a priority is smart since he’s Jackson’s blindside protector. There are options in this year’s draft class to replace Stanley, but none with his ability to dominate one-on-one matchups.
Shunning the draft for an alternative to Stanley would be a tough call. Especially when looking to their own roster could lead to the Ravens moving a solid starter from last season to a new spot.
Pairing returning Stanley with a player on the rise, in the form of Vorhees, would boost the left side and allow the Ravens to draft an upgrade for Faalele.
