This is a series looking at some of the players on the Baltimore roster with less than 500 career offensive or defensive snaps who weren’t drafted in 2020.

Ben Powers simultaneously might be the leader in the clubhouse to start at right guard this year and also could be swept away in an undertow of 2020 picks. That is the life of an unestablished NFL player with fringe draft position. The Ravens hit interior linemen hard in this year’s draft class, walking away with Tyre Phillips in the third round, Ben Bredeson in the fourth, and no less than four undrafted free agents at the spot. They also signed mauler D.J. Fluker, formerly of the Seahawks, in free agency. 

(You can discuss on the BSL Board here.)

Marshal Yanda’s retirement had the Ravens cast a wide net in their search for stability replacing him. There’s a small secondary matter in that Matt Skura is a free-agent-to-be that the Ravens are unlikely to retain if he has a great season — being healthy would be a good start — but it’s hard to see how many players Baltimore brought in and not be at least a little concerned about how ready they think Powers is. It’s worth noting that the Eric DeCosta publicly presented the idea of Bradley Bozeman moving to center, which might make it a little easier for Powers to get on to the field. 

Powers played just 30 regular season snaps last season, all against Pittsburgh in a finale that was meaningless to the Ravens. However, it was pretty meaningful for the Steelers, and Powers played a pretty solid first game against a tough front seven. He showed push in one-on-one situations, and played fairly well as a pass blocker.

 

I make a list of players in similar situations to Powers every year for the Football Outsiders Almanac: only players with less than 500 snaps, only players drafted in the third round or later (or not drafted at all), and only players that are under 27. It’s the Top 25 Prospects list, and Powers was one of my toughest debates of the entire list. Ultimately, I wound up making him an honorable mention and instead the last spot went to Dallas’ Connor McGovern. It had almost nothing to do with Powers’ NFL looks, because McGovern didn’t play at all in the regular season last year.

Because I’ve studied this particular class of players so much, I think there are five major things I look at in trying to weigh them against each other:

— College pedigree and video

— NFL video (plus preseason work)

— Opportunity

— Injury history

— Coaching situation

Ultimately in comparing the two players, I found McGovern ahead on most of the draft boards that I trust — he went higher in the draft as well. A lot of that happened because McGovern performed well at the combine, whereas a hamstring injury that dogged Powers throughout the pre-draft process kept him from doing much at the combine besides a sub-par bench press score:

Connor McGovern:
https://www.mockdraftable.com/embed/connor-mcgovern-2019

Ben Powers:
https://www.mockdraftable.com/embed/ben-powers

Powers did do vertical jump, broad jump, and 20-yard shuttle drills at his Pro Day, but even those lagged behind McGovern. 

I think Powers had the better first season. McGovern loses on injury history but didn’t have much of a history before the pectoral injury that ended his rookie year. They are similar players as far as the distribution of talent — strength first, agility second. Ultimately, the big difference to me was the opportunity. The Ravens are well-run enough to understand that you bring in a lot of players when you are uncertain about something. The Cowboys added just a single player to their interior line potentials list: 2020 fourth-rounder Tyler Biadasz. 

The tricky thing is I still would not at all be surprised if Powers becomes a good NFL guard. I just see less certainty that he plays this year than I would want to see to put him on the list. If I had to bet on one of them to play well this year knowing that both of them would play? I might even side with Powers just because of the extra experience, which means a lot this year especially given the lack of joint practices and how shortened training camp may be. But between how well Patrick Mekari played last year, Fluker’s obvious and easy power, and Bozeman, there are just so many ways for Powers to wind up picking splinters on the bench again this year. That’s before we even get to the idea of one of the many rookies making a real play for the job sooner or later. 

Rivers McCown
Rivers McCown

Ravens Analyst

Rivers McCown is a writer and editor who has written for ESPN.com, Bleacher Report, USA Today, and Deadspin, among other places. He’s edited for Football Outsiders, Rookie Scouting Portfolio, and Pre-Snap Reads Quarterback Catalogue.

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