One of the Ravens' biggest questions heading into this year's draft is whether they will have Orlando Brown Jr. on the team or not.
Brown Jr. has made it clear that he wants to be traded so he can play left tackle, but a move hasn't happened yet and it's still very much a question whether it will.
"I'm not going to talk about any ongoing discussions with Orlando and whatever that might be," General Manager Eric DeCosta said Monday. "There's always a lot of moving parts in any offseason."
One thing DeCosta did make clear is that the possibility of Brown being traded will not affect the Ravens' draft plan for the offensive line. Baltimore could draft an offensive tackle at No. 27 – or in subsequent rounds – either way.
If Brown is traded, the Ravens could use a high draft pick to immediately replace him at left tackle.
If Brown isn't traded, the Ravens could potentially use whatever offensive lineman they draft at left guard and shift Bradley Bozeman to center for the 2021 season.
Bozeman has locked down left guard the past two seasons, but he was drafted as a center (where he played at Alabama) and Head Coach John Harbaugh confirmed that Bozeman is "in the conversation" for both left guard and center.
If the Ravens draft an offensive tackle, that player could presumably step in at Brown's right tackle spot if he departs after next season.
"If there's a really good player there, we're going to pick him. That's going to give us the best chance to win, it's going to help our offense succeed, and it's going to make us a tough team to play against," DeCosta said.
"If you go back to the early press conferences that John has had and when I've spoken this offseason, we've talked about the importance of the offensive line. That's a constant. When you play the type of football that we play, offensive line is always going to be a priority for us. We want to build the best offensive line we can in the short term, in the long term, looking out and making sure that we have adequate depth at every spot."
Oklahoma State's Teven Jenkins, a big-bodied mauler, has been a popular mock draft projection to Baltimore. Some potential Day 2 picks at offensive tackle include Samuel Cosmi of Texas, Liam Eichenberg of Notre Dame, Alex Leatherwood of Alabama, Jaylen Mayfield of Michigan and Dillon Radunz of North Dakota State.
The Ravens could also look to draft a center early, such as Alabama's Landon Dickerson or Oklahoma's Creed Humphrey, to address that position head-on, but that wouldn't solve the potential issue at right tackle. Baltimore currently has Patrick Mekari and Trystan Colon as potential starters at center, with Bozeman as the other possibility.
"We drafted him as a center, quite honestly, because that was the position he played at Alabama," DeCosta said of Bozeman. "He came in and we had a center. We liked our depth at center. Bradley, to his credit, came in right away and he played well. He's a smart guy, he's pretty versatile, he's strong and he's tough, he's a very diligent player. He just adapted to that left guard spot, surprisingly, at an early age."
Harbaugh said the Ravens, who inked veteran Kevin Zeitler in free agency to play right guard, are still in the process of building their offensive line.
"I'm very confident we're going to have a great offensive line next year," Harbaugh said.
