The Baltimore Ravens have undergone some significant change this offseason. For starters, they're transitioning to the first full year of the Lamar Jackson era, and they've been remaking the team to fit him. Having good protection for Jackson upfront will be of the utmost importance, and the Ravens are hoping the offensive line will again be a strength.

We learned today that they were almost without a very important piece of that offensive line. Starting guard Marshal Yanda stopped by the team's official podcast, and revealed he almost retired after last season.

“Last year, if I did end the season on IR, I probably was going to retire,” Yanda said.

“You don’t want to push your body too much. I love this game and it’s the reason I play it, because I really love doing it. But you don’t want to get to that point where you’re too beat up by the game,” he continued.

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There were very quiet murmurs that Yanda was considering retirement, but this is the first time we've heard it concretely. Yanda ended up signing an extension last month that will run through the 2020 season. Yanda has been one of the league's better guards for a while now, and he's made the Pro Bowl in each of his last seven healthy seasons.

Yanda has been banged up the past few years, and he only played in two games in 2017 before going down with an ankle injury that ended his season. Even though his contract now runs through 2020, he wouldn't commit to playing that long.

“You still have to take it one year at a time, reassess, reevaluate. I don’t know injury-wise and how my body is going to feel. I’m definitely excited about playing this fall. My body feels great,” he said.