By Joe Schiller
Arguably the biggest offseason loss for the Baltimore Ravens came at inside linebacker. C.J. Mosley signed a massive five-year, $85 million deal with the New York Jets in free agency.
It's left the Ravens with a major hole to fill.
General Manager Eric DeCosta and Head Coach John Harbaugh have continually expressed confidence in the team's in-house options. The Ravens didn't draft a linebacker and haven't signed a free-agent up to this point in the offseason. The only linebackers who've been added to the depth chart are undrafted rookies.
But given the Ravens' track record finding and developing undrafted linebacker talent, it may just be their best avenue.
Second-year linebacker Chris Board is among that group and the undrafted product out of North Dakota State is in line step up at weak-side linebacker.
Board rarely saw the field in Wink Martindale's defense as a rookie but was one of Jerry Rosburg's key contributors. Board led the Ravens in special teams snaps (356), a common route undrafted linebackers have followed in carving out a bigger role in Baltimore's defense.