He played some of the best football of his career this season, but Ronnie Stanley is still 30 and eligible for free agency, so the Baltimore Ravens should plan for a future without their standout left tackle.
That future will easier to navigate if the Ravens use the 27th pick in the 2025 NFL draft to replace Stanley with Aireontae Ersery. He’s the choice in the latest mock draft from CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso, who rates Ersery as “a thick but balanced left tackle.”
Selecting Ersery would also mean the Ravens “adding another huge blocker from the University of Minnesota to the offensive line,” to go with 2022 fourth-rounder, 380-pound guard Daniel Faalele. Ersery passes the eye test as a physical specimen, one who’d fit how the Ravens build their huge offensive line.
Yet, some erratic moments at this year’s Senior Bowl provide a note of caution about making him a first-round selection.
Aireontae Ersery Not a Slam-Dunk 1st-Round Draft Pick
He’s 6-foot-6, 330 pounds and able to dominate, but Ersery also shows weaknesses with footwork and balance on the edge. Both the good and the bad of his game have shown up in Mobile.
The good can be summed up with this rep against Arkansas edge-rusher Landon Jackson, highlighted by Brian Hines of SB Nation’s Pats Pulpit.
This is what Ersery looks like when he clamps his hands on an opponent early and keeps his feet moving. Not many pass-rushers can overcome such a heady combination of athleticism and power.
Ersery put more good reps on film against other highly-touted pressure specialists at the Senior Bowl. Notably, this protection against Boston College rush end Donovan Ezeiruaku, showcased by Bleacher Report’s Josh Taylor.
Reps like these could have the Ravens envisaging a new blindside protector for franchise quarterback Lamar Jackson. At least they would if there wasn’t another side to Ersery’s game.
It’s a side defined by “concerns” about whether “he can stick at tackle,” per Ryan Roberts of AtoZ Sports. Those concerns probably stem from how “significant variance exists within Ersery’s footwork, strike-timing and hand placement that has exposed shaky recovery skills,” according to Taylor’s colleague Brandon Thorn.
A rough second day in Alabama saw Thorn notice Ersery “being late with his hands and allowing rushers to work inside his frame and through both edges with relative ease. He was also on the ground a few times after being forced into scramble mode once initially beat.”
There’s no denying Ersery’s raw potential, but the Ravens might prefer a proven commodity at arguably the second-most important position on the team. Even if it meant paying up to bring back Stanley.
Ronnie Stanley Deserves New Deal
The Ravens have gotten used to trusting young linemen in recent seasons. Faalele, Roger Rosengarten and Patrick Mekari, another free agent, all joined center Tyler Linderbaum as starters in 2024, but Stanley remained the senior figure of the group.
He’s still able to keep Jackson clean when healthy. Stanley allowed just two sacks and four hits across 575 pass-blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus.
It helped the All-Pro was healthy enough to play a full season for the first time in his career after missing “36 of Baltimore’s 67 reg.-season games” from 2020 to 2023, according to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic.
As Zrebiec put it, Stanley’s availability was a “huge development” this season. A development significant enough to justify handing Stanley a new deal.
That won’t be easy because ESPN’s Matt Bowen pointed out Stanley “has the high-end tape to get paid.” Stanley’s tape might yield something like “$20 million or more per year,” according to Bradley Locker of Pro Football Focus.
Perhaps the Ravens can work something out, provided general manager Eric DeCosta gets creative with what Spotrac.com projects as $9,310,872 worth of space under the salary cap.
Working out a way to keep Stanley might be less risky than trusting a rookie with inconsistent tape to man Jackson’s blindside.
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