Realistic Ravens free agent targets: Offensive Guard

The Ravens can still add veteran talent at positions of need with limited cap space

With the new league year quickly approaching and an increased salary cap for all 32 teams, some fanbases hope their team will be active in unrestricted free agency. They anticipate at least one or multiple big swings to put them over the top.

However, fans of the Baltimore Ravens shouldn’t get their hopes up in that regard. The Ravens likely won’t have an abundance of cap space to work with even after extending Pro Bowl defensive tackle Justin Madubuike. General Manager Eric DeCosta probably won’t try to land a top-of-the-market free agent, barring contract restructures or releasing of some veteran players.

Nevertheless, there will still be veteran players at the team’s top positions of need who can be had for affordable-to-moderate annual salaries. They will be able fill vacancies or at least contribute on a rotational basis.

The second position where realistic free agent options will be broken down is not as sexy as wide receiver. However, it’s integral to the team’s success on that side of the ball all the same — offensive guard.

Both of the Ravens’ starting guards from the 2023 season — Kevin Zeitler and John Simpson — are slated to be unrestricted free agents. All signs are pointing to neither of them being brought back. The team opted not to re-sign Zeitler despite it meaning that they’d have to eat $4.2 million in dead cap. Simpson won the starting left guard job in training camp and brought a welcomed edge to the unit as a whole.

Head Coach John Harbaugh said that the Ravens plan to “rebuild” the offensive line this offseason. That appears to be leading to an overhaul of the interior and possibly edges as well. The Ravens have several young, recently drafted in-house candidates that to fill one of those vacancies. That includes 2021 third-rounder Ben Cleveland and 2023 late-round picks Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu and Andrew Vorhees. However, they’ll likely want to bring in a veteran presence and contingency plan as well. Here are some guards that could be in the Ravens’ price range in the first, second, and third waves of free agency, who could get signed before the 2024 NFL Draft.

---

Dalton Risner

Photo by Bailey Hillesheim/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The five-year veteran last played for the Minnesota Vikings, where he spent the 2023 season. Risner was drafted in the second round of 2019 out of Kansas State by the Denver Broncos. He sat on the open market until last season got underway and signed with the Vikings in mid-September. It only took him four weeks to learn the offense and supplant Ezra Cleveland as the team’s starting left guard. He went on to start the next 11 games to close out the year.

In his career, Risner has started all 73 of the 77 regular season games he has appeared. His presence on the Vikings resulted in Cleveland getting traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars at the midseason deadline. According to Pro Football Focus, he earned an overall grade of 57.1, a passing-blocking grade of 67.4, and a run-blocking grade of 50. He allowed no sacks and 11 quarterback hits on 485 pass-blocking snaps with 30 total pressures allowed.

Cleveland raised his level of play after getting traded and was recently re-signed by the Jaguars to a three-year deal worth $28.5 million. Last season, the Vikings were able to get Risner on a one-year deal worth just $3 million. While the Ravens can’t get the 28-year-old on that much of a discount, signing him to a deal similar to Cleveland’s with a low cap hit in 2024 would make sense.

Damien Lewis

Photo by Ryan Kang/Getty Images

The four-year veteran last played for the Seattle Seahawks and was originally a 2020 third-round pick out of LSU. Lewis has started all 61 regular season game appearances, including 16-of-17 in 2023 and two in the playoffs. According to Pro Football Focus, he earned an overall grade of 59.6, a passing-blocking grade of 63, and a run-blocking grade of 57.9. He allowed three sacks and one quarterback hit on 610 pass-blocking snaps, with 29 total pressures allowed.

Lewis can be a mauler in the ground game, even if his most recent PFF grade doesn’t reflect that fact. At 6-foot-2 and 327 pounds, the 26-year-old first-time free agent is built to dominate in the trenches. According to Spotrac, he is projected to garner a two-year contract worth $14.8 million with an average of $7.4 million per year. That’s just below what Cleveland got and what Risner will likely get on the open market.

Nick Allegretti

Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images

The five-year veteran most recently played for the Kansas City Chiefs. He was originally a 2019 seventh-round pick out of Illinois. Allegretti has spent most of his career to-date providing depth as a primary backup with only 13 starts in 74 regular season appearances. In 2023, he made just one regular season start but played well in two postseason starts. Those came in the AFC championship against the Ravens and in the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers.

According to Pro Football Focus, he earned an overall grade of 68.7, a passing-blocking grade of 75.7, and a run-blocking grade of 64.9. He didn’t allow a sack or quarterback hit on 47 pass-blocking snaps and gave up just one pressure.

Allegretti has extensive playoff experience having appeared in four Super Bowls and winning three with the Chiefs since entering the league. He started the entire 2020 playoffs during the team’s title run. He’s expressed a desire to become a full-time starter as the leader of his own unit elsewhere.

Kansas City was able to bring him back last offseason on a one-year deal worth just $2.5 million. He will certainly command more than that on the open market this year, especially given the proliferation in interior offensive linemen’ salaries that has already begun. However, he should still be within the Ravens’ price range as he lacks extensive experience as a full-time starter.

Andrus Peat

Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images

The nine-year veteran most recently played for the New Orleans, who drafted him in the first round out of Stanford in 2015. Peat has started 102 of 111 career regular season appearances including 12-of-16 in 2023, with six career playoff games as well. Last season, according to Pro Football Focus, he earned an overall grade of 60.2, a passing-blocking grade of 54.5, and a run-blocking grade of 62.1. Peat allowed two sacks and eight quarterback hits on 476 pass-blocking snaps with 30 total pressures allowed.

While Peat played the majority of snaps for the Saints at left tackle last season (715-89), he has extensive experience playing left guard. He made three straight Pro Bowls from 2018 to 2020. The positional versatility to play both spots on the left side, where the Ravens could potentially be looking for two new starters, is a highly valued trait. At just 30 years old and with extensive starting experience, Peat would likely be the most expensive option on this list. However, getting a potential starting left tackle on a guard’s salary would be a steal and would give them more flexibility in both free agency and the draft.

Laken Tomlinson

Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images

The nine-year veteran most recently played for the New York Jets where he spent the past two seasons. He was originally drafted out of Duke by the Detroit Lions as a first-round pick. Tomlinson has started 102 of his 111 career regular season appearances including all 17 in 2023, hasn’t missed a game since 2018, and has seven career playoff starts under his belt. Last season, according to Pro Football Focus, he earned an overall grade of 55, a passing-blocking grade of 60.6, and a run-blocking grade of 49.6. He allowed seven sacks and 10 quarterback hits on 733 pass-blocking snaps with 51 total pressures allowed.

The 32-year-old is the exact type of experienced veteran coming off a down year that the Ravens could get for a discount. He wouldn’t affect the compensatory pick formula since he was released as a salary cap casualty late last month. Even if he couldn’t beat out the young in-house options or a potential high draft pick for the starting left guard spot, Tomlinson would provide a strong veteran insurance policy for the position group.