A Look at Some Ravens with Uncertain Futures – Part 2

Now that the confetti has fallen and the book is closed on the ‘24-’25 season, let’s spend some more time talking about the Ravens free agent group. Last week, I went over a few of the tough decisions the front office will have to make, and if you missed that piece, I’ll link it here.

A Look at Some Ravens with Uncertain Futures – Part 1

There were a few other notable names from the free agent list that I’ve been wringing my hands on, so I can’t imagine how it feels for EDC & Co. as they consider these guys right now. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but I do think the possible outcomes with each of these guys bears discussion, so we’ll get into it below.

Let’s get into A Tale of Two Pats.

Ravens soon to be free agents Pat Ricard and Patrick Mekari when asked yesterday about their future during locker room cleanout.

FB Ricard: Hopes to retire a Raven.

G Mekari: Hopes he showed that he can keep doing it after getting into the starting lineup this season. pic.twitter.com/yN8ETLu24i

— Morgan Adsit (@MorganAdsit) January 21, 2025

OT Patrick Mekari

If He Stays

Patrick Mekari has done a lot of good things for this Ravens offense, chief among them being his ability to fill in at any spot along the O-line. At times when players were banged up along the line and the Ravens needed a 6^th Man up front, Mekari was called upon, and often performed pretty well in those situations. If the Ravens opt to bring him back, they can rest assured that depth will be less of a concern, and even if they’re at full health, they could look at continuing to rotate him in for relief as we saw them do at times with Ronnie Stanley. To that end, though, they’ll have to agree on how much that depth is worth, and they’ll have to see who might depart elsewhere on the O-line unit.

If He Goes

The past two seasons, Mekari has carried a cap number around $6 million, which isn’t an insignificant sum. Sure, it’s significantly lower than Stanley’s cap hit as a fellow OT, but for good reason. If the Ravens decide they just can’t justify the expense, it’ll signal their trust in guys like Andrew Vorhees and Daniel Faalele to be full-timers at their positions, but it creates the question of how they reinforce that depth. They could use a draft selection to develop one of these guys that’s also played multiple positions along the line like NDSU’s Grey Zabel or WVU’s Wyatt Milum…

West Virginia OT Wyatt Milum feels like one of the safer lineman in the 2025 NFL Draft. Possesses tremendous frame (6060v, 314v), nice power, and a bad temperament.

Plays LT for WVU, but prefer Milum inside due to lack of length/hip tightness. + starting upside at guard. pic.twitter.com/KL8BoCZp0G

— Ryan Roberts (@RiseNDraft) January 15, 2025

North Dakota State OL Gray Zabel and West Virginia OL Wyatt Milum snapping the ball at the senior bowl. Both guys arm lengths measured in at under 33 inches. I’m intrigued if they make the move to center. pic.twitter.com/EJ1SNja5rG

— Harrison Graham (@HGrahamNFL) January 28, 2025

…but either guy would necessitate a pretty high draft pick. There are gems along the line late with guys like Wisconsin’s Jack Nelson, but any rookie tackle that feels like a plug and play right now would be reserved as heir-apparent to Stanley. If Stanley moves on, it feels prudent to bring Mekari back.

FB Pat Ricard

If He Stays

Speaking of guys who have had an offensive impact, what can you say about what Pancake Pat has brought to this offense the past few seasons? Fullback is becoming a position of decreasing emphasis in the NFL, and has for some time, but a few teams have found their guy at the position and continue to use him, maybe none more so than Baltimore. Patrick Ricard expressed an interest in playing the remainder of his career in Baltimore, and I think that, combined with the small market for FBs, could work to the front office’s advantage. Ricard had a $5.15 million cap hit last season, but a new contract may be able to kick the can down the road for some of that hit, making it potentially easier in the future for the team and Ricard to negotiate a team-friendly multi-year deal that allows some breathing room as the 30-year-old gets deeper into his career. There may not be many huge destinations for Ricard to land elsewhere, but the Ravens should also recognize that there aren’t any instant replacements for Ricard floating around out there.

Keeping Project Pat Ricard in Baltimore should be one of Eric DeCosta’s top priorities heading into the offseason!

An underrated cog in this Ravens offense, he deserves to get his bag! #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/DO5YQzhB4q

— Nic Mason (@British_Raven19) January 22, 2025

If He Goes

I don’t envy the coaching staff if the front office decides to move on. Todd Monken would have an especially tall order as he reorganizes huge parts of the playbook to run without a fullback, or otherwise, they’re going to have to see if they can develop another offensive Swiss Army knife that gives the offense even a portion of the output you saw with Ricard. In recent seasons, we saw some intriguing guys come through Baltimore’s system like Ben Mason and Travis Vokolek who had the ability to do multiple things throughout the offense, but if the front office had assessed them and felt like they could’ve done the same thing for cheaper than Ricard, I think they would’ve made their move already. The free agent market is bare at the position outside of Reggie Gilliam, and unless they have a ton of faith in a college fullback like Iowa’s Hayden Large (great football name, by the way), I think they figure out a number that works for both the team and Ricard.

LB Malik Harrison

If He Stays

Malik Harrison is another one of those guys that this coaching staff and front office loves because he’s one of theirs, a homegrown drafted talent that earned himself another one-year deal this past season. He’s versatile enough to play inside and outside, and while he struggled at times this year when he was being moved around, he looked much better in the second half of the season when the defensive personnel were able to get situated. It allowed Harrison to play more to his strengths, and if the team thinks they can do that with him in 2025, maybe they broach the idea of another short-term deal, since last year’s cap hit was around $1.3 million. The free agent market is top-heavy, and I think if the team is looking for depth, they could favor going with a familiar name in-house.

If He Goes

Believe it or not, this has been the player whose release I’ve mulled over probably more than anyone else’s on the list. Between cap hits, age, and other factors, the writing is on the wall for a lot of the other free agents, but I just don’t know if I would move on from Harrison. Sure, there are veteran names out there if you feel like he isn’t enough of a difference-maker, but with the profile of a guy like Trenton Simpson being mostly an inside backer, are they confident enough that Simp takes the leap forward we were all expecting this past season? Harrison’s departure could mean an even steeper learning curve, and your targets at inside linebackers in this Draft class are really going to depend on how the Ravens view Harrison, as primarily an inside or outside guy. If they’re looking for a hybrid inside backer that brings a pass-rush arsenal on the outside, it’ll demand a high price tag, so they’d probably be looking at a guy like Alabama’s Jihaad Campbell. If they’re looking for mostly an inside backer that racks up tackles, I’d lean toward one of my draft crushes in Oklahoma’s Danny Stutsman, a first-team All-American who recorded over 100 tackles in each of his last three seasons.

Oklahoma LB Danny Stutsman was menace at OU

Career at Oklahoma:
184 Solo Tackles
8 Sacks
4 Forced Fumbles
3 Interceptions

Stutsman is what you want in a stud Linebacker pic.twitter.com/07EfszMmcT

— SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) February 4, 2025

None of these decisions are going to be made lightly, but if there’s a front office I trust to navigate this and target the right guys, it’s this one. They’ve been known to find the diamonds in the rough in the Draft class, and as we get deeper into the offseason, the RSR crew will dive in and tell you some of those names to watch as well.

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