If the Baltimore Ravens want to defend as AFC North championship, they need to settle their offensive line, and Andrew Vorhees may help them do that. Once viewed as a high-pedigree draft prospect, he fell to the seventh round after tearing his ACL during pre-draft activities.
The Ravens liked him enough to use a draft pick on him anyway, however, viewing the long game. The USC standout, according to the team’s website, is the clear favorite to start at left guard. Vorhees is now fully healthy and looking the part of a starter.
“I’m very impressed with how fast he’s learning things, how fast he’s getting up to the speed of the game, how good of a shape he’s in”, Pro Bowl LT Ronnie Stanley said of Vorhees. “Everything is moving really fast for him, but he’s also adjusting really fast, and he’s getting better and better every day”.
The Ravens parted with three starters along the offensive line from last season. They traded RT Morgan Moses and allowed guards Kevin Zeitler and John Simpson to leave in free agency. But Andrew Vorhees is one of the reasons they felt comfortable making just that move.
Our own scouting report on Vorhees last year listed him as a mid-day-two prospect and a future quality starter. This was before he tore his ACL during the pre-draft process, of course, but the Steelers met with him.
While the Ravens shouldn’t get their hopes up that Vorhees is the second coming of Marshal Yanda, hitting on him would solve a major problem. It’s not easy to make three changes to an offensive line in one year—just ask the Steelers.
Pittsburgh is shooting for two this offseason, hoping to get rookies Troy Fautanu and Zach Frazier in the starting lineup. The Ravens have more experienced veteran options for right guard and right tackle, but Vorhees is obviously fresh. He isn’t a rookie, but he couldn’t practice during the 2023 season.
For his part, Andrew Vorhees told the Ravens’ website that his knee “feels like a million bucks”. About a year and a half out from the injury, he should be feeling pretty good by now. That is the timeline on which the Ravens were operating when they decided to draft him.
“I made the most of my last year given the situation I was in, and I couldn’t be more thankful for the commitment that I put in and our coaching staff and strength staff and training staff all put in and poured into me”, he said.
Now the Ravens are nearing the point at which their plan is bearing fruit. They still need to get him in a game and see how he looks, but right now, Vorhees is leading the pack in terms of their candidates to take over the left guard position.
