It was pretty clear to anyone who watched the Baltimore Ravens play in 2025 that the biggest weakness on the roster was the interior offensive line, where defenses turned starting guards Andrew Vorhees and Daniel Faalele into human turnstiles week after week.
That’s why it was no surprise when the Ravens selected a plug-and-play guard in the 1st round with 6-foot-4, 320-pound Penn State star Vega Ioane at No. 14 overall.
It was the 2nd round, however, where the Ravens may have screwed things up.
Sitting at the No. 45 overall pick in the 2nd round, the Ravens could have swooped up Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers, but instead went with troubled Mizzou edge rusher Zion Young.
Stowers eventually went to the Eagles at No. 54 overall, and according to NFL insider Jason La Canfora, Philadelphia’s draft war room couldn’t believe the Ravens passed on the John Mackey Award winner.
“I don’t know why (the Ravens) didn’t take him, but we were happy as (heck) they didn’t,” one anonymous Eagles source told La Canfora. “I’d rather have Stowers where (Eagles general manager) Howie (Roseman) got him than (Kenyon) Sadiq where he went.”
Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq was the lone tight end selected in the 1st round, going to the New York Jets at No. 16 overall.
Ravens Lost Highly-Valued TE in Free Agency
Probably the most surprising part about the Ravens deciding to pass on Stowers was that he seemed like a perfect replacement for tight end Isaiah Likely, who left for a 3-year, $40 milion free-agent contract with the New York Giants.
It’s hard to think of 2 players with closer skill sets than the 6-foot-4, 241-pound Likely and the 6-foot-4, 239-pound Stowers.
Stowers was a fringe 1st-round prospect and drew comparisons to NFL All-Pro wide receivers Mike Evans and D.K. Metcalf as well as NFL All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers in the pre-draft process.
Stowers was called the “Steal of the Draft” by Fox Sports NFL reporter Ben Arthur after he drew pre-draft comparisons to NFL All-Pro wide receivers Mike Evans and D.K. Metcalf as well as NFL All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers.
“The athletic Stowers broke the vertical jump record for tight ends at the combine,” Arthur wrote. “Last season at Vanderbilt, he won the John Mackey Award as college football’s top tight end — in just his third year playing the position. His growth could be exponential in Philly, where he’s positioned to be Dallas Goedert’s successor.”
Not Everyone Loves Eli Stowers’ Pro Prospects
Just because the Eagles are happy about landing Stowers, it doesn’t mean they’re right … even if they do have a pretty incredible history of landing star tight ends outside of the 1st round with Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert, who were both cornerstones on Super Bowl-winning teams.
Bleacher Report’s Brent Solbeski handed the Eagles a “C” grade for drafting Stowers.
“The reigning John Mackey Award winner would have been rated higher throughout this process if he had contributed anything as an inline option,” Sobleski wrote. “To be clear, Stowers has experience working in-line, but he’s not much of a blocker and lacks the strength and technique to excel in that area at the next level … provides little to nothing as a blocker, functional strength is limiting, can improve route-running.”
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