The Ravens' search for their center has been a long and arduous process.
They wanted to re-sign three-time Pro Bowler Tyler Linderbaum, but the Las Vegas Raiders gave him a market-shattering contract.
The Ravens wanted to draft a plug-and-play replacement, but the two prospects they had penciled in were drafted earlier than they expected.
They signed two veteran backups, Danny Pinter and Jovaughn Gwyn, in March. They added another more experienced backup, Ethan Pocic, in July, and gave him time to get back up to speed following a torn Achilles in December.
Pinter was in line to become the starter before he suffered a season-ending knee injury in mid-August joint practices with the Minnesota Vikings. Gwyn took over as the Week 1 starter and played well through the first two games.
Then, he suffered an ankle injury in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys in Rio de Janeiro. Pocic stepped in but after just 10 snaps, he went down with a knee injury. Both are "long-term type" of injuries, Head Coach Jesse Minter said Monday.
So where do the Ravens go from here?
After just taking some practice snaps for a couple weeks, rookie first-round pick Vega Ioane stepped into the role for the remainder of Sunday's victory. The Ravens scored a touchdown with him snapping to Lamar Jackson late in the fourth quarter, who also hit the 27-yard pass to Zay Flowers that set up Tyler Loop's game-winning 56-yard field goal.
Minter said Ioane "will prepare to potentially play that position" moving forward.
"We will figure out the best five guys to put out there for this particular week as we may add a piece or two, obviously, from losing a couple of guys," Minter said.
Here are the Ravens' options:
Keep Ioane at center and plug in Andrew Vorhees at guard.
The Ravens selected Ioane at No. 14 because they viewed him as the best pure guard in the draft. Other first-round prospects have moved from college tackle to guard, but Ioane was a guard, through and through.
Ioane played 17 total snaps at center during his four years at Penn State. But just because he hasn't done it doesn't mean he can't do it.
Well-known offensive line trainer Duke Manyweather said Ioane trains at all three interior offensive line positions in the offseason and has the mental makeup for the job.
Ioane played just eight snaps at center against the Cowboys, but Minter was pleased with how he performed. And there's good reason to believe that Ioane will only get better with more practice.
The same attributes that make him an excellent guard – athleticism, toughness, attitude – translate to center. The in-depth mental side of playing center, including making checks and calls at the line of scrimmage, would likely be the biggest adjustment.
"I think [Ioane] was up to speed enough to be able to do everything that we ask our centers to do, which was really cool," Minter said.
Vorhees was a 17-game starter at left guard last season and could flip to the right side, as he did to finish out the game in Brazil. Emery Jones Jr. is the Ravens' top backup at left guard on the depth chart.
Keep Ioane at center and add backup centers.
This option could be made in conjunction with the first. The Ravens currently don't have another healthy centers on their roster, so they need to add at least one if only for depth.
Baltimore likely was hoping to keep Corey Bullock on the practice squad after he served as Linderbaum's backup last year, but he was claimed by the Carolina Panthers off waivers following 53-man roster cutdowns. Bullock currently sits as a backup right guard on their depth chart.
The Ravens kept undrafted rookie center Nick Dawkins on their initial practice squad but released him three days later. The 6-foot-4 Dawkins was the Nittany Lions' starter for his final two seasons, where he played next to Ioane. He's currently a free agent.
Dawkins knows the Ravens' offensive system and Offensive Line Coach Dwayne Ledford's scheme and style of play, and he could be a resource for Ioane. Perhaps he could also develop into a starter. Dawkins played 46 snaps during the Ravens' three preseason games and got high marks from Pro Football Focus for his run blocking.
The Ravens' pro scouting department is also likely pouring over tape from other teams, both in previous regular seasons and the preseason, to determine what other free agent centers could provide depth.
Keep Ioane at center and sign a starting right guard.
If the Ravens keep Ioane at center, that leaves them short-handed at guard. Vorhees could be the starter, as mentioned above, but Baltimore could also look for a different starting guard.
Some of the top guards on the free-agent market are Shaq Mason, Jon Feliciano, Cody Whitehair, Mark Glowinski, and a familiar name, Kevin Zeitler. All are in their early-to-mid 30s and have years of starting experience.
Zeitler spent last season with the Tennessee Titans, the Ravens' opponent Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium. He was with the Ravens for three seasons (2021-23) and went to the Pro Bowl in his final year in Baltimore.
Sign a veteran free agent center.
As mentioned earlier, the Ravens' front office is likely watching a lot of tape of free agent centers.
The list of top veterans includes James Daniels, Graham Glasgow, Ryan Bates, Daniel Brunskill, and Nick Harris.
The Ravens inked Pocic instead of any of them when looking at this market earlier this offseason, but perhaps Baltimore returns to it now.
Here's a more in-depth look at the veteran free agent center options.
With the Ravens' top three centers out with long-term injuries, who could the Ravens bring in?
A second-round pick by the Chicago Bears in 2018, Daniels has actually spent most of his NFL career at guard despite playing center in college at Iowa. He's only played in five games over the past two seasons, though, as he suffered a torn Achilles in 2024 and a season-ending pectoral injury in Week 1 of last season. After signing Daniels to a three-year, $24 million contract in 2025, the Dolphins released Daniels in February.
Glasgow, a 10-year veteran who's played seven with the Detroit Lions and three with the Denver Broncos, has also spent most of his professional career at guard. But after Frank Ragnow retired in June 2025, Glasgow assumed the Lions' starting center role and started 14 games that fall. He was released in March.
Bates has only been a regular starter in one of his seven NFL seasons since being signed as an undrafted free agent by the Buffalo Bills in 2019, which came in 2022. He was most recently with the Chicago Bears and now Ravens Offensive Coordinator Declan Doyle, where Bates appeared in 16 regular-season games and two playoff games last season.
Brunskill, who has 71 career starts across stints with the San Francisco 49ers, Tennessee Titans, and Miami Dolphins, hasn't appeared in a regular-season game since 2025. He signed with the Washington Commanders on Aug. 8, but he was waived on Aug. 30.
Harris' last regular-season appearance came in 2024 when he was with the Cleveland Browns. A fifth-round pick by the Browns in 2020, Harris has six career starts.
Scour other teams' practice squads for a hidden young gem.
Free agents aren't the only vehicle for getting more centers. The Ravens will also likely scour other teams' practice squad looking for potential diamonds in the rough.
Teams can agree to a deal with a player on any other team's practice squad, so long as they're signing them to their 53-man roster.
That means going through preseason tape and/or previous seasons to find standouts who could emerge when given the opportunity.
The Ravens seemed to have found good options with Pinter and Gwyn, who had previously been career backups. Can they find someone else with perhaps not much (or any) starting experience who is ready to thrive?
Trade for a center.
Teams aren't typically looking to trade away starting centers, especially not in Week 4 when there's so much season left to play. But perhaps there are backups that could make sense.
One name that has been mentioned consistently by Baltimore media members over the offseason has been the Chicago Bears' Garrett Bradbury, and that is being brought up again by The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec.
Bradbury was a 17-game starter for the AFC champion New England Patriots last year. He also played for Ledford at N.C. State, when he won the Rimington Trophy as college football's best center in 2018.
In March, the Bears traded a conditional 2027 fifth-round draft pick to the Patriots for Bradbury. In April, the Bears drafted one of the prospects the Ravens liked, Logan Jones, in the second round. However, Bradbury beat out Jones for the starting job.
Bradbury is currently ranked as the 27th-best center in the league so far through the first three weeks, according to Pro Football Focus. At some point, perhaps Chicago could decide to switch to Jones. But for now, Bradbury is their starter.
The Detroit Lions are another team with an excess of center talent. They signed Cade Mays to a three-year, $25 million contract this offseason, but he suffered a fractured wrist in training camp and was placed on injured reserve. Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell said Monday that the target for his return was after their bye, which is on Oct. 18.
In his place, backup Juice Scruggs has been one of the NFL's best centers so far this season. Scruggs' PFF grade ranks him No. 4, and the Lions have scored 31 points in each of their first three games.
The Houston Texans' Jake Andrews could be another option. He started 16 games for them last season but is currently backing up Evan Brown, who the Texans signed to a one-year deal in March. Andrews was originally a New England Patriots fourth-round pick in 2023 out of Troy.
