Ioane Is Moving to Center. He Was Drafted to Play Guard.

Both Ethan Pocic and Jovaughn Gwyn are listed out in the injury report, which means Baltimore has now lost every center it rostered with any meaningful claim to the position. Pocic was signed in the offseason to be the veteran anchor. Gwyn, undrafted, stepped in when Danny Pinter tore his patella tendon in August and started Week 1. Now both are gone, and the Ravens are sliding Vega Ioane — their first-round pick, the No. 14 overall selection, a guard — into the middle of the offensive line before October.

This is not what the offseason blueprint called for. Baltimore spent a top-15 pick on Ioane specifically because the franchise had gone years without investing a first-round selection in the offensive line. The idea was to shore up the interior and give Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry a cleaner pocket and better running lanes. Ioane at guard was the plan. Ioane at center, snapping the ball and handling all the protection calls as a rookie, is a different assignment entirely.

The depth chart at center now lists Adam Redmond at the top, which tells you most of what you need to know about how thin this got. Ronnie Stanley is also out at tackle. The Ravens are asking a lot of whoever lines up in the middle this week, and the player doing it was not trained for the job he's been handed.