ESPN Analyst Says Ravens Have to Retain Ronnie Stanley
General Manager Eric DeCosta and Head Coach John Harbaugh expressed optimism Tuesday at the Combine about re-signing left tackle Ronnie Stanley, and ESPN analyst Booger McFarland said keeping the two-time Pro Bowler is imperative for a team poised to make another run at a Super Bowl.
"I would be very leery before I let a guy like Ronnie Stanley just walk out of my building," McFarland said on “Glenn Clark Radio.”
The challenge facing the Ravens in retaining Stanley is that he is the top pending free agent at a premium position and the team is tight against the salary cap.
There's also Stanley's age (he turns 31 next month) and injury history (ankle injuries limited him to seven games over the 2020-2021 seasons) to consider. However, Stanley played all 17 games last season for the first time in his career and appeared in 13 games in 2023.
"If he can play 14 or 15 games, I'd definitely take that before I take what I saw with the Kansas City Chiefs when they tried to move a left guard to left tackle," McFarland said. "I think it also takes Ronnie Stanley saying, 'OK, where else do I want to go?'
"I think if that powers that be went to Ronnie Stanley and said, 'Hey, we'll give you a three-year deal.' I would tie the guaranteed money maybe to a couple of play-time incentives in Year 2 or Year 3. There's a way to do the deal where you reward the player but you also protect yourself a little bit. But he's played 30 out of 34 games the last two years. That's pretty good in the NFL for a premium position."
Pundit Analyzes Eric DeCosta's Comments About Mark Andrews' Future
Tight end Mark Andrews' future with the Ravens is one of the talking points coming out of DeCosta's press conference. DeCosta praised Andrews while noting that the team will "figure out all of the roster machinations over the coming weeks."
"DeCosta says nothing by accident. And sometimes what he doesn't say is notable," The Athletic's Jeff Zrebiec wrote. "DeCosta had a lengthy response when asked about Andrews' future with the team. Yet, nowhere during his near-150-word response did he make any assurances that the three-time Pro Bowler and the franchise's all-time leader in touchdown receptions will remain in Baltimore."
Andrews has the Ravens' fourth-highest salary cap hit in 2025, per OvertheCap, at $16.9 million, making him a player some pundits have pointed to as a potential candidate to free up cap space. Zrebiec noted that waiving or trading Andrews would create $11 million of space.
Andrews, 29, and fellow tight ends Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar are all entering the final year of their contracts.
"Likely is viewed as an ascending player, and he doesn't turn 25 until April. If the Ravens don't feel like they have the money to extend both Andrews and Likely, it certainly would be understandable if they went with the younger option," Zrebiec wrote. "But it also seems unlikely that Baltimore would lose a popular and still productive player like Andrews for nothing this offseason.
"However, if another team was interested in trading for him, that could impact its plans."
Pundit Says It's Paramount for Ravens to Add an Edge Rusher
Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame looked at one move each AFC North team should make this offseason. For the Ravens, it's adding an edge rusher.
"The Ravens have a pair of quality edge rushers, but they don't have much in the way of depth and more long-term security," Verderame wrote. "Baltimore got 22.5 sacks from the combination of Odafe Oweh and Kyle Van Noy last season, one of the better totals in the league for any tandem. However, the Ravens have each of them under contract for only one more year, with Oweh playing out his fifth-year option while Van Noy will turn 34 years old in March.
"For General Manager Eric DeCosta, it's paramount he starts looking for Van Noy's replacement and maybe even a secondary edge rusher, whether Oweh comes back on a long-term deal. Baltimore has long been one of the better pass defenses in the league, but struggled in 2024 by ranking 31st, better than only the Jacksonville Jaguars. Oweh and Van Noy give the Ravens some time to develop young pass rushers off the edge, but DeCosta should start investing now."
DeCosta acknowledged that bolstering the pass rush by adding young talent is a priority.
"It's an important position," DeCosta said Tuesday. "We were maybe second in the league in sacks last year, but having a continuous influx of young pass rush talent – guys that can set the edge and play the run, guys that play like Ravens, physical players who can get to the quarterback – that's a priority for us, for sure."
Van Noy Recalls Nearly Breaking His Arm at 2014 Combine
It's been 11 years since Van Noy performed at the NFL Scouting Combine, but the outside linebacker still vividly remembers how his draft process was nearly derailed there.
"I almost broke my [left] arm on a camera," Van Noy told ESPN.com. "I was doing linebacker drills, and I was in the catching segment and was coming across, and the ball was thrown a little out of reach. I went for it, missed it, and then slid on the turf into the camera and jammed my arm. The camera was moved after, of course.
"I kept going. I probably should have stopped, but kept going."
The Detroit Lions drafted Van Noy in the second round with the 40th-overall pick.
