You’ve undoubtedly heard this NFL Draft cliche before: “he’s a day-one starter.”
Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com certainly believes this is the case with Baltimore Ravens rookie Roger Rosengarten. The NFL’s official website made season opener starting lineup predictions for all 32 teams, and the Ravens projection has Rosengarten (62nd overall, Washington) slotted in at right tackle.
This is certainly not a stretch or a reach by any means, but it is still kind of rare to see a second-round pick predicted to be an opening-day starter while the first-round pick is not.
Nate Wiggins (30th overall, Clemson) did not crack the first team in this projected lineup despite the formation being a 4-2-5. Arthur Maulet, not Wiggins, gets the nickel back position, while the two corners are precisely who you would expect- Marlon Humphrey and Brandon Stephens.
On offense, there are no real surprises, but this lineup is in a double-tight set instead of Baltimore’s standard three-wide formation.
Rosenthal doesn’t seem very impressed, however, by Baltimore’s 22 first-team players as a whole. As he wrote, “The Ravens are one of the few teams that look worse on paper after the offseason.”
Any pundit who would say something like that probably doesn’t think highly of the Derrick Henry signing. Or believes that the decision not to find an established replacement for Patrick Queen will have a greater impact on the roster.