Ravens top five position battles to watch for in training camp: Center edition

The Baltimore Ravens are among the teams with most continuity in the entire league with the immense amount of carryover on both the roster and the coaching staff from last year’s squad that finished with a franchise-record 14-2 record in the regular season. They will be returning nearly all of their starters on offense and defense from 2019, yet there will be a handful of starting spots and key roles up for grabs in training camp that is set to being at the end of the month.

With the offseason having been condensed by the COVID-19 pandemic, veteran players with a year or more of experience in the Baltimore’s system or the league, in general, might have the early advantage over some of the rookies that they will be competing against.

However, several Ravens coaches have been raving about the incredible metal aptitude of their rookies both drafted and undrafted in virtual meetings and can’t wait to get them on the field so nobody should be counted out at this point and there could be some first-year players that close the gap and pull ahead quicker than anticipated even given the abnormally adverse circumstances that have proceeded their inaugural seasons in the league.

Here is the second edition of a five-part series breaking down the top five position battles that will take place in training camp and the preseason—if there is one:

Center

With both offensive tackle spots solidified by All-Pro Ronnie Stanley protecting Lamar Jackson’s blindside on the left and 2019 Pro Bowler Orlando ‘Zeus’ Brown Jr as the other bookend on the right, the interior of the offensive line of the top rushing team in the league could be in for a major model or at least some reshuffling.

I already broke down the contingency plan for replacing recently retired right guard Marshal Yanda in part one of this series. In this edition, I’ll be breaking down the top candidates that will be battling in training camp and hopefully the preseason to be the Ravens starting center this season.

The top three options include veteran Matt Skura, third-year player Bradley Bozeman, and rising sophomore Patrick Mekari. All three have experience at center, have started games for the Ravens on the interior, and are viable options to win the job at center or either guard spots this year.

Skura has started 39 games for the Ravens since making the team as an undrafted free agent out of Duke in 2017. As a rookie he started 12 games at right guard, he won the starting center job the following year and started all 16 games and the playoffs, and last season he fended off the competition again and started the first 11 games of the year before suffering a season-ending knee injury that knocked him out of commission for the rest of the year and the playoffs.

He was having his best season to date before he went down with a dislocated knee and torn ACL, PCL, and MCL. Skura was leading all centers in Pro Bowl voting and the anchor in the middle of the Ravens’ offensive line that paved the way for their record-breaking rushing attack. According to Head Coach John Harbaugh, he’s ahead of schedule in his recovery and the progress he has made is remarkable.

Bozeman started all 16 games at left guard last season after coming into training camp as a dark horse candidate to emerge as the starter before beating out rookie Ben Powers and pair of veterans that were drafted higher than him in previous years but were ultimately traded before the season began because he had already secured the spot.

General Manager Eric DeCosta brought up his name as a potential option to compete at center with Skura and Mekari in a conference call with season ticket holders back in May. The 2018 sixth-round pick out of Alabama is natural center by trade after having started at the position for the Crimson Tide for two years. He performed well at left guard last season and improved significantly as the season progressed.

His positional versatility gives the Ravens great flexibility when deciding which interior combination works best. He’ll get work and rotate between both spots during training camp and in the preseason—once again if there is one. In the event that Skura isn’t ready to go to start the season and Mekari struggles to pull away from the pack, sliding the former Academic All-American has both the experience and the intelligence to help Jackson diagnose defenses and call out pressures in case there is a need to change a protection assignment.

When Skura went down, instead of sliding Bozeman over to guard, the team opted to turn Mekari, an undrafted rookie out of San Diego State, to start at center. He went on to start the final five games of the regular season and the playoff loss to the Titans. For a rookie thrust into action, he played above expectations against some of the top competition in the league down the stretch. The experience he gained in those starts and the other six games he appeared in during the regular season serving as a primary back up is a priceless experience and will give him confidence heading into his sophomore season that he can compete with and play at a high level in this league.

Skura is the incumbent and the most experienced at the position at the NFL level of the trio. He will want to regain his starting spot and fend off the opposition once he’s cleared to practice and play. However, Mekari shouldn’t be counted in the running since he showed that he could do more than just hold down the fort in Skura’s absence and the fact that he isn’t coming off major knee surgery and spent the offseason improving instead of rehabbing could give him a slight edge as well.

Bozeman seems destined to be a starter somewhere in the interior of the offensive line but one thing is for certain and that is that the Ravens will play the starting five that gives them the best chance to succeed and build off of last year’s success. Only time will tell who will get the final nod at one of the most vital yet nationally underrated positions on the team.

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