OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- It has taken six months, but the Baltimore Ravens have officially named their replacement for three-time Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum.
On Monday, Ravens coach Jesse Minter announced that Jovaughn Gwyn will be Baltimore's starting center for its season opener at the Indianapolis Colts. This will mark the first start of Gwyn's four-year career.
"I have a lot of confidence in him," Minter said. "This is a guy that I think that when opportunity knocks, [he is] ready to take advantage, and he's done a really good job. He's obviously repped a lot with our starters over the last couple weeks, and I would say that's a Week 1 decision -- not necessarily a permanent decision."
In March, the Ravens lost Linderbaum in free agency when he signed a three-year, $81 million contract with the Las Vegas Raiders to become the NFL's highest-paid center. Baltimore held an open competition at center in the spring and summer, and it looked like Danny Pinter was closing in on Baltimore's starting job before he suffered a season-ending right leg injury Aug. 20.
Gwyn, who has played 11 offensive snaps since being a seventh-round pick in 2023, then started the last two preseason games. He has familiarity with Ravens offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford, who coached him for three seasons when they were with the Atlanta Falcons.
The Ravens went with Gwyn over Ethan Pocic, who has 97 career starts but is nine months removed from tearing an Achilles.
"Obviously, we know what Ethan's capable of," Minter said. "He's still coming back from the injury, but we have a lot of confidence as a staff in Jovaughn -- [and] as a team -- and [we are] excited to see him get this first opportunity."
In other news, Minter has not ruled out Pro Bowl defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike for Sunday. Madubuike is looking to come back from a neck injury that sidelined him for the last 15 games of last season and required surgery in April.
"He's been involved more and more just about every day," Minter said. "So, he'll be involved in practice this week, he'll be in team [drills]. We'll kind of see how it shakes out as we get closer to see if it's even possible for Week 1."
