Every NFL team, no matter how successful, has moments they wish they could have again, and the Baltimore Ravens are no exception.
If anything, one of his recent mistakes looks even worse given recent developments in the league.
In the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft, the Ravens selected Georgia guard Ben Cleveland with the 94th overall pick. It’s no secret that Cleveland hasn’t made much of an impact in his first three seasons in Baltimore, starting just seven of 37 games and doing nothing special in those starts. He should get a much bigger chance to shine this season as he’s on pace to fill the vacant starting right guard spot, but his performance thus far hasn’t been what the Ravens expected from a third-round pick.
It’s one thing that the pick wasn’t a great one, but the fact that a better guard came off the board just a few picks later makes it that much worse. At No. 98 overall, the Denver Broncos selected Wisconsin-Whitewater guard Quinn Meinerz, who has not only started 39 of 45 games but has performed much better than Cleveland’s in that larger sample size. He even earned an outstanding 83.7 grade from Pro Football Focus last season, third-highest among guards.
On Tuesday night, the Broncos gave Meinerz a four-year, $80 million contract extension, making him one of the highest-paid guards in the league. In the process, they also reminded the Ravens of their past mistake.
Anyone who followed the Ravens during the offseason knows that the biggest question mark on the roster is the offensive line, which saw three starters leave in free agency. If they had a lineman of Meinerz’s caliber, there wouldn’t be as many questions surrounding the offensive line as there are now.
Of course, the problem with this hypothesis is that Meinerz’s career could have taken a completely different path in Baltimore. The Ravens had the luxury of a Pro Bowl right guard in Kevin Zeitler until his departure this offseason, which likely would have prevented Meinerz from being a starter at his natural position. Maybe he could have unseated left guard Ben Powers, who ironically left to sign with the Broncos last offseason, but no one can say for sure.
The point is, the fact that Meinerz was selected only a handful of times after Cleveland makes Baltimore’s pick look even worse, and those comparisons will persist until the latter proves he can be a consistent starter.
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