Baltimore Ravens meeting with center Nick Mangold
By Ben Palmer
The Baltimore Ravens are meeting with center Nick Mangold, likely in an effort to sign him to the team. Mangold last played for the New York Jets.
The Baltimore Ravens are meeting with center Nick Mangold, per Jamison Hensley on Twitter. Mangold arrived with the team on Tuesday and will be staying through Wednesday.
Mangold last played for the New York Jets, who cut him in February after he missed half of the 2016 season. At one point and time, Mangold was considered one of the best, if not the best, centers in all of football.
Now 33 years old and entering his 12th season in the NFL, the seven-time Pro Bowler is no longer the elite center he used to be, but still a solid one, and someone the Ravens could certainly use.
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The Ravens are in need of a center now, as they traded Jeremy Zuttah and a sixth-round draft pick to the San Francisco 49ers for their sixth-round pick.
The only other options the Ravens really have at the center position are John Urschel and Ryan Jensen, both of whom are either unproven, or not particularly good.
While Mangold missed half of the 2016 season due to injury, he rarely missed time before that, missing only four games for the Jets in nine seasons with the team.
Mangold is the best center left on the market aside from, perhaps, John Sullivan, and was ranked by Pro Football Focus as the 25th best center in the league last year (again, an injury-plagued year).
Signing someone like Mangold would give the Ravens a solid piece of their offensive line, likely at not too expensive of a price considering his age, and allows them to focus on filling other holes on the team in the NFL Draft this year.
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The Ravens are in desperate need of a pass rusher, and could also use to draft an offensive tackle, so signing Mangold would fill one more hole with a well-respected player who will bring a lot of experience to the team.