The Baltimore Ravens went from having 3 starting tight ends to 1 over the course of 1 day — the 1st day of the 2026 free agency cycle.
That was the day the Ravens watched tight end Isaiah Likely (3 years, $45 million) leave for the New York Giants and tight end Charlie Kolar (3 years, $25 million) leave for the Los Angeles Chargers as free agents.
That left the Ravens with just veteran Mark Andrews, meaning they’ll almost certainly reload in the NFL draft, where NFL.com’s Chad Reuter predicts they will draft talented Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers in the 2nd round (No. 45 overall) in his latest mock draft.
“The athleticism needs to be seen, but Stowers isn’t an in-line guy,” Sports Illustrated’s Erick Trickel wrote in February. “He has some serious concerns as a blocker. Stowers could develop enough in the slot to make an impact, but he is a mismatch receiver. What he does at the Combine will likely have a significant effect on his stock.”
Stowers lived up to his end of the bargain at the NFL scouting combine, where he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.51 seconds to go with an incredible 45.5-inch vertical leap and 11-foot, 3-inch broad jump.
Eli Stowers Didn’t Take Straight Line to NFL Draft
In a story we have heard over and over again in the NIL era — dude plays way into NFL draft after making what seems like a stunning amount of moves.
Stowers was a 4-star dual threat quarterback out of Guyer High in Denton, Texas, and played 2 seasons as a backup at Texas A&M in 2021 and 2022 before transferring to New Mexico State for one season in 2023, where he began to play both quarterback and tight end.
He transferred to Vanderbilt in 2024 as a full time tight end, where he’s been a 2-time All-SEC pick and in 2025 was named a unanimous All-American and won the Mackey Award as the nation’s best tight end with 62 receptions for 769 yards and 4 touchdowns.
In 2 seasons at Vanderbilt, Stowers had 111 receptions for 1,407 yards and 9 touchdowns.
“Offers a reliable pair of hands, with just two career drops,” Fantasy Pros’ Matthew Jones wrote in his pre-draft evaluation. “Natural runner with a dual-threat quarterback background, and can make defenders miss in space; yards after the catch account for over half of his career total.”
‘Explosive QB Convert’ Could Jump Start Offense
It’s not hard to understand what the Ravens are looking for in a new tight end — they want someone who can essentially come in and jump start the game like Lively did.
Stowers seems like he has those kinds of capabilities.
“Stowers is an explosive quarterback convert with just three years at the tight end position,” NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote. “He’s an excellent athlete with long arms but needs to keep filling out his frame. He’s a natural pass catcher with an outstanding catch radius and massive run-after-catch talent. While his route-running and contested-catch ability need work, he excels at moving the chains on screens/short catches. He has the speed to threaten downfield against linebackers. His run-blocking ceiling might be low, but his traits create above-average potential as a pass-catching “F” tight end, fitting the growing trend of utilizing two- and three-tight-end sets more heavily.”
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