Ravens OL Named Candidate for New NFL Award

Lamar Jackson first burst onto the scene with his legs, juking out defenders and getting the scoring done himself on the ground. He made for a memorable MVP in his first win in 2019, immediately jumping up to the top quarterback tier where he's stayed ever since.

As entertaining as he is, he only started convincing some of his harshest critics of his status as a regular season winning machine by demonstrating more traditional quarterback traits like the 41/4 touchdown to interception ratio he posted last year with a stabilizing pocket presence. He now leads a no-doubt contender, and one of the team's quiet MVPs may end the season receiving an accolade for helping the ship run just like Jackson has multiple times before.

Tyler Linderbaum, the team's ascending star at center, is already considered a candidate to look out for in the inaugural race for Protector of the Year, an award meant to recognize the NFL's top blocker.

NFL.com's Nick Shook ranked him ninth on his preseason ballot, crediting him as a potentially-franchise altering draft pick who walked into the league as a pocket-protecting great. "The Ravens needed to solidify the center spot after a few years of instability and received exactly what they wanted in Linderbaum, who was just a top-three player at the position, according to PFF, in only his third professional season," Shook wrote.

"Linderbaum was the pivot of the NFL's most explosive offense in 2024 and returns to a group that is expected to produce a sequel that is just as good, if not better. Baltimore will be in the spotlight, and Linderbaum should receive recognition for it."

He's one of several Ravens who still await their deserved contract extensions, and he's plenty worthy of whatever the organization has to throw at him. He's made Jackson's job a lot easier, with the quarterback racking up another MVP award and multiple First Team All-Pro finishes since his new center took over, and helped cover up some of the team's remaining questions at guard.

Work along the line, especially on the offensive side, has historically gone underappreciated, with their relative lack of statistics to point to often taking away from the importance of their job. The Ravens don't survive on a possession-to-possession basis if the quarterback isn't granted a window of time to operate in, for which players like Linderbaum may finally get their recognition.