Baltimore Ravens open preseason with plenty of competition, including offensive line

BALTIMORE -- It comes as no surprise that Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson won't be playing in Friday's preseason opener against the Philadelphia Eagles at M&T Bank Stadium.

But, for many on the team, the competition is wide open.

For rookies like Roger Rosengarten, a second-round draft pick from Washington, this is an opportunity they've been waiting on.

"It feels amazing, you know, kind of just going through rookie minicamp, OTAs, and now you finally get to training camp," Rosengarten said. "It's a feeling I've dreamt of since I was a little kid. Now, I'm going to play in my first NFL game coming up."

Quarterback Josh Johnson will likely get the bulk of the playing time on Friday with the Jackson, last year's MVP, sitting out.

But, one of the question marks heading into the season is how the offensive protection is going to look like.

The first depth chart of the preseason has Ronnie Stanley, Andrew Voorhees, Tyler Linderbaum, Daniel Faalele and Patrick Mekari starting, with Rosengarten, Ben Cleveland, Josh Jones, Nick Samac and Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu in backup roles.

"The preseason is kind of our first look at who we are going to be as a team and who we are going to be as an offense," Cleveland said. "It's going to be fun to go out there and play different spots for myself and see how we all fit in to make this offense work."

With Linderbaum, a second-year Pro Bowl center, missing practices and not expected to return for a couple of weeks, Cleveland has been taking snaps at center.

The Ravens are looking to rill the void left by three starters from last year's offensive line -- Morgan Moses, Kevin Zeitler and John Simpson.

Head coach John Harbaugh said it's likely we will see a mix and match of all of this year's potential starting offensive linemen, but it may not in Friday's opener.

"We'll see most of those guys out there," Harbaugh said. "I don't know if everyone will be out there for this game. I'm not sure about the offensive line completely yet but they probably won't be out there with Lamar."

The Ravens, who made it to the AFC Championship Game last season, have a bunch of young players who will see action in the preseason, including rookie defensive back Nate Wiggins and linebacker Trenton Simpson.

Kickoff on Friday is at 7:30 p.m.

The Ravens host the Atlanta Falcons next week in their second preseason game.