Jovaughn Gwyn

As Baltimore prepared to take on the contracts of both Maxx Crosby and Trey Hendrickson before ultimately reneging on Crosby’s trade agreement, the Ravens were forced to let several starters walk in free agency.

The biggest surprise came when Tyler Linderbaum — the team’s starting center who made the Pro Bowl three times over his four-year rookie deal — signed a record contract sending him to Las Vegas. Linderbaum’s successor has not officially been named, but free agent addition Danny Pinter appears to getting the first-team reps early on, per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic..

There’s a decent chance that the Ravens wouldn’t have been able to retain Linderbaum even if the Crosby situation hadn’t been a distraction. Linderbaum’s new deal raised the ceiling for center contracts by 50 percent, topping Creed Humphrey‘s $18MM annual average by $9MM. Absent their starting center of the past four seasons, Baltimore has been tasked with finding a replacement. In the days after Linderbaum’s departure, the team brought in Pinter and Jovaughn Gwyn on free agent deals.

Pinter has been a backup interior offensive lineman in Indianapolis since 2020, when the Colts drafted him in the fifth round out of Ball State. Over five seasons with the team — he missed the entire 2023 season on injured reserve — he appeared in 77 games, serving mostly on special teams. He did get some action as an injury replacement, making 10 starts over that period — seven at center and three at right guard. In the opportunities provided to him, Pinter has generally shown strong run blocking abilities but struggles in pass pro.

Gwyn is a former seventh-round guard out of South Carolina that was drafted by the Falcons in 2023. He only appeared in two games over his first two years in the league and didn’t appear on offense until this past season, seeing at least one snap at guard in five games. He didn’t play center in college, but he’s been identified as a candidate for the job in Baltimore.

There was an expectation the Ravens would address the position in the 2026 NFL Draft as a number of prospects at the position were expected to go on Day 2. Ultimately, even when several of those top prospects at the position fell to Day 3, Baltimore never seemed to find enough value to draft one when its picks came around. There’s been speculation that the team could still pursue a veteran free agent at the position with options like Ethan Pocic, Sam Mustipher, and Andre James available, but nothing has moved on that front lately. The Ravens also roster Corey Bullock, who made their roster as an undrafted rookie last year and appears to be in consideration, as well.

Per Zrebiec, new head coach Jesse Minter claims that “Pinter has done a great job” but that they still “might rotate first-team center reps in Organized Team Activities. Unless the team does, in fact, make an outside addition soon, it appears Pinter has an inside track to his first full-time starting job in Year 7 of his career, though he’ll be challenged by the seventh-rounder, Gwyn, and the undrafted Bullock.