Ravens OL Coach Reveals Frontrunners for LG Competition

"He's continued on from [where] he started at the end of the year last year," Warhop said. "I thought the fact that he got to sit when 'Pat' [Patrick Mekari] took over, being a first-year player, it allowed him to kind of develop [throughout] the year. And when he had to play against Cleveland, I thought he played very, very well. And so far this spring, he's done a nice job. So, I'm impressed with what he's done."

Cleveland was originally drafted in the third round by the Ravens in the 2021 NFL Draft out of Georgia and re-signed with them in free agency after being arrested and cited for a DUI this offseason. During his first four seasons in the league, he entered training camp in contention for and was widely expected to earn one of the starting guard spots but ultimately wasn't named the victor of the battles.

However, when Cleveland has been called upon to fill in for injured starters at either spot over his first three seasons before hardly seeing the field as a backup last year, he has played well. In the final two games of the 2023 regular season, he started both contests and dominated, producing an overall Pro Football Focus grade of 85.9 after not giving up a sack while only allowing two pressures on 64 pass-blocking snaps.

Reported concerns about his consistency and other bad habits in practice have been the only obstacle in Cleveland's way thus far in the eyes of many pundits because he is clearly not short on talent or sheer size at 6'6" and 360 pounds, he is one of the biggest players on the team regardless of position.

Since Vorhees opened last season as the starter and the Ravens let Mekari walk in free agency back in March to sign a notable deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars, he is technically the incumbent and the candidate that many expect to win it again and regain his spot in the starting lineup. He spoke to reporters as well on Tuesday and shared how losing his role to injury made him more mentally tough and how much he's looking forward to going through the process of earning it again.

"I always just want to go out there and be the best football player that you could be," Vorhees said "[From] my perspective, it's just an open position out there for grabs, and it's up to somebody. So, why not me? Why not anybody else for that sake? [I] just kind of take it day-by-day. We'll just see what happens when this all settles down, and we get ready for [our] Week 1 opener."

As far as dark horse candidates who could emerge and enter the running for the spot, the Ravens have a handful of young linemen who they've drafted over the past two years who are potential options. There's 2024 seventh-rounder Nick Samac who spent his entire rookie season on the 53-man roster but didn't dress for a game, 2025 third-round rookie Emery Jones Jr. who was a career tackle in college but projects as a possible guard and his former college teammate at LSU, seventh-round rookie Garrett Dellinger.