{"id":834938,"date":"2026-03-26T14:24:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/834938\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T14:24:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:24:24","slug":"two-reasons-for-optimism-about-a-new-look-interior-offensive-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/834938\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Reasons for Optimism About a New-Look Interior Offensive Line"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Two Reasons for Optimism About a New-Look Interior Offensive Line<\/p>\n<p>Upgrading the interior offensive line was a top priority for the Ravens this offseason, even before three-time Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum departed in free agency.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, this year&#8217;s draft has a deep interior offensive line class.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There hasn&#8217;t been a draft with four full rounds worth of quality interior offensive linemen in quite some time. This year&#8217;s prospect pool offers just that,&#8221; <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/ranking-11-position-groups-in-2026-nfl-draft-from-strongest-to-weakest-edge-rusher-linebacker-loaded\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote<\/a>. &#8220;Furthermore, this draft is filled with potential tackle-to-guard converts who bolster the position group even more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Ravens have already signed guard John Simpson and return guards Emery Jones Jr. and Andrew Vorhees. The Ravens are also fortunate to have one of the league&#8217;s most respected offensive line coaches in Dwayne Ledford, who was hired by new Head Coach Jesse Minter as Offensive Line Coach\/Run Game Coordinator.<\/p>\n<p>Offensive line coach hires don&#8217;t get splashy headlines, but FanDuel Sports Network&#8217;s and former pro offensive guard Mike Golic Jr. said the impact of the Ravens bringing in Ledford shouldn&#8217;t be overlooked.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They this offseason pulled in one of my favorite O-line coaches in the NFL in Dwayne Ledford,&#8221; Golic Jr. said on <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/minakimes\/status\/2036926949826969675?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">ESPN\u2019s \u201cThe Mina Kimes Show.\u201d<\/a> &#8220;He is, for my money, maybe the best pure outside zone coach in the NFL. So we&#8217;ll see if they&#8217;ll let him kind of major in that with that group. It&#8217;s a scheme that can cover up for some of your issues at times, just based on what it affords you.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you sold me on the idea of them taking a guy that needs a little bit of seasoning there, I trust him to try and help get that group right to go along with the tackle tandem they have there.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two Reasons for Optimism About a New-Look Interior Offensive Line Upgrading the interior offensive line was a top&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,65737,7,781,786,888,6,169],"class_list":["post-834938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-ravens","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-baltimoreravens","tag-dwayne-ledford","tag-football","tag-general","tag-homepage-centerpiece","tag-late-for-work","tag-nfl","tag-ravens"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116295937376665970","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}