When Eric DeCosta and the Ravens made the decision to rebuild their offensive line, they knew there would be some growing pains.

After watching training camp and the preseason, where a group of young offensive linemen have competed to step into three open starting positions, the Ravens general manager's outlook hasn't changed.

"I'm excited for the future," DeCosta said Thursday. "We may have a couple of hiccups along the way, but I think we've started to build from the bottom up, and I think a year from now, we'll be in a great place." 

DeCosta noted that he's excited about second-round rookie Roger Rosengarten and left guard Andrew Vorhees. Rosengarten started the team's final two preseason games at right tackle and could get the nod there to open the season in Kansas City. Vorhees, who had a redshirt rookie season as he recovered from a torn ACL, has consistently led the competition at left guard.

"I think there's still a little bit of an unknown, because we haven't played as a unit in games – we've [only] seen it in practice," DeCosta said.

Head Coach John Harbaugh has his starting five set but isn’t going to reveal it before facing the Chiefs. There could be a rotation at some positions, as veteran Patrick Mekari is a versatile and trusted piece of the line and Ben Cleveland also has starting experience.

On top of trying to replace three starters (Morgan Moses, Kevin Zeitler and John Simpson), the Ravens' offensive line has had additional challenges this offseason with the tragic passing of offensive line coach Joe D'Alessandris and the loss of Tyler Linderbaum for weeks of practice due to a neck injury. Linderbaum returned to practice Monday with a red non-contact jersey.

"Tyler getting hurt early on in camp probably wasn't ideal," DeCosta said. "We're very excited to get him back, but not having a Pro Bowl center out there, that's kind of the guy that drives the car, in a lot of ways, on the offensive line. He's the guy that will typically adjust the offensive line and works hand in hand with the quarterback on things like protections and stuff."

The Ravens surrendered 41 sacks last season, tied for 15th in the league (middle of the pack). Lamar Jackson is very adept at escaping pressure and making plays with his arm and legs, but he said on "The Lounge" podcast that he's been harping on the offensive linemen during training camp.

DeCosta Likes QB Room, Leaves Door Open to Addition

The Ravens opted to keep just two quarterbacks, Jackson and Josh Johnson, on their 53-man roster even after the NFLPA vetoed a rule change to allow a third emergency quarterback for games to reside on teams' practice squads.

Rookie sixth-round draft pick Devin Leary was waived but signed back onto the practice squad.

"We have three QBs, so heaven forbid we get an injury, and if that happens, then we'll have to adjust the roster if we get a long-term injury at quarterback," DeCosta said.

Former Ravens backup quarterback Tyler Huntley will reportedly be released by the Cleveland Browns, but it does not appear that Baltimore is on the immediate lookout for help, especially after Johnson went a perfect 11-of-11 for 120 yards and a touchdown in the team's second preseason game.

"He's like having another coach, and he's great with Lamar, the players love him, he's highly respected, [and] he's a talented player. So, we love Josh," DeCosta said.

"And with Devin, we have a young player, and he had his moments. As we've seen with quarterbacks, there's a lot of things that he can improve on and get better at, and we believe he will. We like the room, but it doesn't mean that we won't add another guy, which we could do at some point. It's like any position on the team; we'll continue to evaluate and look at players that become available and make decisions based off of that."

A Few Teams Called DeCosta About Trading for Defensive Backs

The Ravens are stacked in their secondary, evidenced by the fact that they kept six safeties and five cornerbacks (plus Arthur Maulet on IR) on their 53-man roster.

That led to phone calls from a few teams as they tried to pry a defensive back away from Baltimore, DeCosta said.

"My mentality is, 'If you're strong, stay strong,'" DeCosta said.

"In some years, we've traded players, and then you get a couple of injuries and then you look at it and kind of regret it, now you're happy at draft time, but it makes for some challenges in-season. We just decided this year that we liked our team, and we were going to stand put with the players that we had."

The Ravens ended up releasing 2022 fourth-round cornerback Damarion "Pepe" Williams, and DeCosta said the decisions would've been even more difficult had Trayvon Mullen (shoulder) and Maulet (knee) not suffered injuries.

The Ravens ended up keeping both rookie safeties, seventh-round pick Sanoussi Kane and undrafted rookie Beau Brade.

"The reality is, Beau just played great, and he did it consistently," DeCosta said. "He won the job. He took the job. And in the end, he deserved being on the team."

Ravens Have a Plan to Clear More Salary-Cap Space

DeCosta said the Ravens are probably currently over the salary cap after inking their 15-man initial practice squad, which is one spot short of the maximum allowed.

The Ravens general manager also likes to go into every season with some breathing room that allows him to make trades at the deadline if desired.

Thus, Baltimore will clear some salary-cap space in the days to come. The Ravens do have some options via contract restructures.

"We've been planning for all of that," DeCosta said. "There's a lot of things that we will be able to do. We will be cap compliant, and we will have at least some money to spend if a player is available that we think will help us be the best team that we can be."