OWINGS MILLS — The business of football is busy being conducted in Indianapolis this week, site of the NFL Scouting Combine. When it comes to the Ravens there is plenty to address even before the draft-eligible players hit the field for workouts.
General manager Eric DeCosta fielded questions on Tuesday morning. He said he plans on using the franchise tag on defensive tackle Justin Madubuike if the two sides can’t work out a deal before the March 5 deadline.
"I probably will, yes," said DeCosta.
Madubuike is a pending free agent. He just completed the best season of his four-year career - 13 sacks, 12 tackles for loss, 56 total tackles, 33 quarterback hits, two forced fumbles. He was named to the Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro.
"We’re trying to get a deal done. We’ve had discussions with Justin. He’s a guy that obviously has put himself in a fortuitous position this year by the way that he played. [He] had a great season for us. He’s a valued player on the team, and we’re hopeful that we can get a long-term deal done," said DeCosta.
Another area the Ravens need to remake is the running back room. Baltimore has only two running backs under contract - Justice Hill and Keaton Mitchell, who is recovering from knee surgery.
"We need more than two running backs," said DeCosta. "So, certainly, I think you’ll see us make a couple acquisitions along the way."
What about the guys blocking? The offensive line will be addressed. There are openings at both guard positions, while tackles Ronnie Stanley and Morgan Moses are both up there in age.
"This year we are going to have, probably some change on the offensive line in different ways. It remains to be seen exactly what that looks like," said DeCosta.
"Eric tells me it’s a good O-line draft," added head coach John Harbaugh. "We’ve got some question marks in our offensive line. So, there is going to be some rebuilding that is going to have to be done in there. We are getting to it already. It is going to be really probably the most important thing we do on offense."
As for the offense as a whole, Harbaugh said there was a staff meeting the day after the AFC Championship game loss in which they talked about the direction the offense needs to go.
"We want to do right by our players. We want to do right by Lamar and build the best operation that we can for him so his talents can really shine," said Harbaugh. "I think we are just starting with that."
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