The Ravens need to get real about their years of failure and how far they have fallen from being close to a contending team.
They need to be willing to embrace a way of thinking they have long avoided - really since Ozzie Newsome tore down their last Super Bowl winner 15 years ago - and start repositioning themselves for the future and riding a wave of youth. They kept 10 of their 11 draft picks on this team, best start finding out what they can do, because many of the highest-paid starters are not replacement-level performers themselves.
Left tackle Ronnie Stanley, who spent his entire distinguished career in Baltimore, must be one of the players the Ravens strongly market this week in hopes of getting back a midround pick in return. He is not playing particularly well but has a real pedigree and is also being further exposed by the lack of talent around him and a rookie offensive player caller who is getting exposed.
He was one of the players who longtime Ravens coordinator Wink Martindale urged to show more fight and leadership when he joined "The Daily Flock Show" last week. "They got a left tackle that's been paid a [crap] ton of money who needs to step up and be a leader, you know, with Ronnie. And I love Ronnie but ..."
On a roster loaded with salary dumps, Stanley is actually one of the more interesting trade candidates and I would move him for a mid-round pick in a heartbeat, especially after failed GM Eric DeCosta just wasted a 2028 second-round pick on struggling offensive lineman Cam Jurgens.
Here is the case for and against it (oh and Derrick Henry absolutely needs to be available for trade as well).
Sep 10, 2023; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens tackle Ronnie Stanley (79) is helped from the field in the fourth quarter against the Houston Texans at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect
Nobody fetishsizes comp picks more than DeCosta (yet he is virtually incapable of turning those picks into real football players). But Stanley is signed for 20287 at about $1M per game, that's not going to make sense for this team whether two-time MVP Lamar Jackson is back or not (if he plays with an $84M cap hit the Ravens are pinching pennies everywhere) and anyone who studies this team could see them drafting a left tackle in the first round.
So you don't get a comp if you cut a guy and Stanley might want to hang 'em up anyway at the end of the season. He gutted through a toe injury, he has a very deep injury history and though he might retire years ago, and after going through all of this, he might be cool with going to a contender to try to get a ring. Either way, it's Baltimore's call.
I asked a few people about his worth, including longtime NFL GM Marty Hurney on "The Daily Flock Show," and given the need for tackles (hello Kansas City), they believe he could bring back maybe a fourth-round pick in return. "He's making the vet minimum, right?" said one exec whose team is not looking for tackle help but is deep in trade talks as a buyer. "That's huge for them."
Indeed, the acquiring team has virtually no cap or salary risk ($650,000-ish) and none of his 2027 salary is guaranteed so it could be a pure rental and if it works out, $16M for a starting left tackle for a Super Bowl contender is not extreme.
Furthermore, without having to worry about protecting Jackson's blindside anymore, sorry to be crass, but you can afford to take some liberties at tackle in the name of player development. Carson Vinson has some promise and it would be silly to head into the 2027 draft having seen precious little of Vinson in games that count in the standing.
It's time to play the kids, right, Marty?
"You have to," Hurney said. "You're right. You're right. You have to. You really do. That's where they are right now."
Oct 26, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley (79) looks on during warm ups before the game against the Chicago Bears at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Yeah, um, I don't have much here. Not buying he is integral to whatever culture they have. He is definitely a declining player and perhaps rapidly. It's not like they don't have other options and if you don't trade him now you damn well he isn't getting benched making this money until maybe with just a few games left ... and what are you really going to find out then?
Hurney explained some of the obstacles involved ... but ultimately he was with me that this is guy they really need to try to maximize return on.
"These are decisions the whole organization's got to be behind," he pointed out, "because it affects the whole organization. It affects the business side. I mean, you're letting go of names that fans have known for years ...
"You're just not talking about trading a player now. You're really talking about a whole rebuild direction that is happening right now ... And that's the right thing to do. That's the right thing to do. But it is very hard sometimes, especially for coaches whose job is, you know, they are evaluated by the number of wins next to them, right? So it it's a hard thing to do, especially when everything happens this fast."
It's also hard for fans to watch a team that is far too old in vital areas of the starting roster and far too young in too many other spots and has no chance of doing anything in 2026. And that has even less chance of making a move in 2027 without using this window to explore the depths of what they have under contract.
If Stanley is still here next Wednesday, that's another huge fail for a failure front office.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/ravens/onsi as The Case For And Against The Ravens Trading Ronnie Stanley .
