First-round selection Tyler Linderbaum fills ‘huge need’ for Baltimore Ravens

The last time the Baltimore Ravens drafted an Iowa offensive lineman — Marshal Yanda in 2007 — the Hawkeye alum went to eight Pro Bowls and played 177 games for them.

Fast forward 15 years, and the Ravens have similarly high expectations for Tyler Linderbaum after drafting the Iowa center with the 25th overall pick in the NFL Draft.

“I think this guy that we drafted is going to be in Pro Bowls,” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said.

Linderbaum’s next head coach, John Harbaugh, envisions him being an immediate starter in Baltimore.

“I’m assuming Tyler is going to come in and start at center for sure,” Harbaugh said. “The thing we're trying to do is be a physical, punishing offensive line. We want that kind of mindset in our group, and that’s what Tyler Linderbaum brings to us.”

Joe Hortiz, the Ravens’ director of player personnel, was especially complimentary of Linderbaum’s “core strength.”

"He’s not the biggest guy, but he gets on guys,” Hortiz said. “Big guys don’t affect him. He can leverage guys.”

Before the draft, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz told scouts “there's really not a lot to tell you because everything he is, it's on film.”

It’s safe to say the Ravens liked what they saw on film. Hortiz said Linderbaum is “a lot of fun to watch.”

“He just is a really tremendous athlete, knows how to play the position, knows how to get his body in the right spot and then he just consistently works at maintaining his blocks,” Hortiz said. “He’ll block three guys in one play.”

It wasn’t exactly a controversial pick in the Ravens’ war room.

Hortiz described Linderbaum as a “consensus guy with all the scouts and coaches.”

“Everyone saw him the same way,” Hortiz said.

It didn’t hurt that Linderbaum got a glowing reference from a former Hawkeye who’s very familiar with the Ravens. Yanda visited his old team and “couldn’t talk enough about his guy,” Harbaugh said.

Linderbaum's NFL Combine measurements — 6-foot-2 and 296 pounds with an arm length of 31 1/8 inches — likely allowed the unanimous All-American to fall further in the draft than an offensive lineman with his athleticism should’ve fallen.

“If he was an inch taller and if his arms were a half-inch longer he'd have been a top-five pick,” DeCosta said.

Drafting Linderbaum “filled a huge need” for the Ravens, DeCosta said.

The Ravens lost their starting center Bradley Bozeman, who signed with the Carolina Panthers in free agency.

Aside from Patrick Mekari, who now can move over to guard, Baltimore’s two other options at center have played in a combined 16 NFL games since going pro in 2018 and 2020, respectively.

“If you add a really good player — like a top player — into the top of the depth chart, the whole depth chart kind of filters out in a great way,” Harbaugh said.

Now, the Solon native is "trying to get on the same path“ as Yanda in Baltimore.

“Just seeing his work ethic as a young guy, it’s like, ‘That’s the guy you want to be like,’” Linderbaum said Friday after arriving in his new city.

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