If the first few years of the Tom Telesco era, the Chargers regularly on-boarded former Colts to their roster, reuniting the Colts’ former director of player personnel with players he was familiar with. In Joe Hortiz’s first offseason, he deftly navigated a quick roster reload by signing Ravens cast-offs that were looking to reset their markets, and whom he had plenty of familiarity with.

While the Chargers aren’t likely to see the same volume of turnover in future seasons, and the same amount of Ravens migrating west for the spring, there will likely continue to be a reunion or two for Hortiz and Greg Roman in each of the next couple seasons, similar to what was seen at the start of Telesco’s tenure.

Here is the current list of Ravens on an expiring deal, per Spotrac:

• Ronnie Stanley, LT
• Patrick Mekari, T/G
• Nelson Agholor, WR
• Patrick Ricard, FB
• Malik Harrison, LB
• Justice Hill, RB
• Josh Jones, T
• Brent Urban, DE
• Josh Johnson, QB
• Chris Board, LB
• Deonte Harty, WR
• Ben Cleveland, G
• Brandon Stevens, CB
• Josh Tupou, DT
• Deadrin Senat, DT
• Ka’dar Holman, CB
• Tylan Wallace, WR

When trying to predict who the Chargers might target next offseason as a free agent acquisition, it’s important to remember that Joe Hortiz will be hesitant to sign a Compensatory Free Agent unless he envisions the player as a core piece to build around, or if they fall below compensatory value (around $3 million per year), or if Hortiz has enough outgoing Unrestricted Free Agents to budget for a CFA signing or two. Even so, signing top-tier free agents is likely a thing of the past, as Hortiz will attempt to align his signings with his mid-to-low tier outgoing CFA contracts, preserving his highest earning compensatory picks from cancellation.

Ronnie Stanley will certainly be retained, and the Chargers are set in the tackle department. However, there’s another offensive lineman that leaps off the screen as a player Hortiz could decide to add as a true building block on the line, and isn’t currently projected as one of the top players at his position in the 2025 free agent class.

Ben Cleveland was a name Chargers fans were linking to the Bolts in the 2021 draft. Heading into draft season, Cleveland became a folk lore figure with stories of his insane athletic prowess frequently hitting social media. One such claim was that his strength coaches at Georgia had to stop him at 45 reps on the 225-pound bench press. Ben expressed his goal at the NFL Combine was to beat the previous Combine record of 49 reps… but he came very short in the actual drill, posting a still very respectable 30 reps. In the end, his elite size and strength grades were paired with elite speed and acceleration in his drills, decent explosion and a fairly weak shuttle score. He earned an Elite RAS grade of 9.63.

Why would the Ravens let Cleveland walk?

The Ravens are currently over $3,5000,000 in the “red’ with their cap space for 2025, and while they could certainly restructure some contracts to free up room for a Cleveland extension, they still need to figure out how to squeeze a Ronnie Stanley deal into that mix, while budgeting for their rookie class, in-season budget, and whatever other holes they need to address.

The Ravens organization taught Joe Hortiz the compensatory system game; they are very comfortable letting players walk in free agency to refill their compensatory coffers. Just last season, the Ravens had a breakout lineman in John Simpson. Simpson had started one season for the Raiders, but when they released him in December 2022, the Ravens signed him to their practice squad and eventually to a “futures” contract. Simpson ended up winning the job at left guard in 2023, and although his play wasn’t graded high by PFF, was routinely praised by former pros for his tenacity and run blocking skills.

Here, Chris Long points out how John Simpson is a guy that regularly catches his eyes with dominant play in the run game.

While Simpson did a solid job in his one year with the Ravens, Baltimore was content letting him walk with the core they already had established at the offensive line, and likely felt insulated from creating a “need’ with Ben Cleveland waiting in the wings.

Assuming Stanley is retained, they will return four starters at the offensive line again in 2025. Retaining Cleveland isn’t a necessity for Baltimore to maintain continuity on its line with so many returning starters; it’s likely they’ll look to a cast-off vet or a rookie to fill that void at left guard in 2025 or perhaps have an under-the-radar player developing now.

Has Ben Cleveland lived up to his pre-draft hype?

Cleveland might actually have a similar career trajectory as Trey Pipkins, though with a prototypical athletic profile. He’s only played in a reserve role thus far in his career, with a handful of starts to his name. The team is extending a little trust his way in giving him a starting role in his fourth year, with almost no competition brought in despite his limited starting experience.

Ben had some rough moments in games were he filled in for an injured player or spelled a starter, but in the games he started, the consistency in play seemed to help him get in a rhythm. Through weeks 4-16 of 2023, filling in as a reserve, he played 11 pass blocking snaps and allowed one pressure. In his week 14 of 2022, another game where he was tasked with filling in for an injury, he took seven snaps and allowed a sack. Extrapolating those stats to 50 pass-snap games sets an ugly pace of over 5.5 pressures per game, including 2.78 sacks per game. However, in Ben’s three starts in these same seasons, he only allowed three pressures and no sacks on 164 passing snaps, a near unrecognizable improvement.

Even if Cleveland starts a little slow this season, his history suggests with added consistently and starting reps, he’ll settle in a perform very well in both the passing and running game.

In the below video, you’ll see Cleveland dominantly win a rep against new member of the AFC West, Christian Wilkins.

What would the price tag be?

There’s no way of knowing what Ben Cleveland’s market value will be before he’s had a full season as a starter. However, John Simpson provides an excellent barometer for what to expect if Cleveland does a solid job in his first year.

Simpson signed with the Jets on a two year, $12 million deal, with incentives that can get it to $18 million.

Signing Cleveland to a similar $6 million APY deal seems very reasonable for a player that would only have one, not two, starting seasons under his belt. The Chargers have a plethora of players on prove-it deals that could easily reset their values to a similar valuation, giving Hortiz plenty of compensatory picks even after making a couple signings in this range.

This move could allow Joe Hortiz to trade or release Trey Pipkins, and retain Jamaree Salyer has an excellent swing tackle and guard. Cleveland could be the missing piece at right guard that the IOL is searching for, especially if Bradley Bozeman plays to his ceiling and is extended. It’s definitely worth noting that when the Ravens first drafted Ben Cleveland, Bozeman was the starting center in Baltimore, and Greg Roman was the offensive coordinator.

What do you think about Ben Cleveland to LA, StormCloud? Are there any other upcoming Ravens UFA’s you’d like us to highlight?