Ravens Down to Fifth-String Center as Rookie Vega Ioane Forced into Action

The Baltimore Ravens are officially out of centers. First-round rookie guard Vega Ioane is being forced to make his first career NFL start at the position today against the Tennessee Titans, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Being down a starter is normal NFL adversity. Being down to a guy who has to change positions just to snap the ball means your depth chart has turned into an active crime scene.

"Adam Schefter reported the string of injuries leading to Ioane's start."

To understand how Baltimore got here, you have to do some grim football math. First, they lost starter Tyler Linderbaum to the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency. That is just the business of the league. What happened next is a curse.

Danny Pinter went down with a season-ending knee injury. Jovaughn Gwyn fractured his lower leg. Then Ethan Pocic suffered a knee injury of his own. That is four centers gone before the leaves have even finished changing colors.

Throwing a rookie guard into the middle of the offensive line is the kind of chaos that ruins game plans. The center makes the protection calls and handles the ball on every single play. If you are looking at the lines for today's matchup, factoring in a makeshift snap exchange is mandatory homework.

Baltimore managed to put up 34 points in a shootout win over the Dallas Cowboys last week, but moving the ball gets exponentially harder when the interior of your line is held together by duct tape and a prayer.

The Titans are coming off an ugly 12-7 loss to the New York Giants, but their defensive front has to be salivating at this injury report. Ioane is about to get a trial by fire, and the Ravens just have to hope he can get the ball out of his hands before the pocket completely collapses.