With the 253rd overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Baltimore Ravens selected Northwestern guard Evan Beerntsen, the second NU player to hear their name called. He joins a class that includes his former teammate and fellow Midwesterner Caleb Tiernan, who got snatched by the Minnesota Vikings at 97th overall on Friday. Despite the relative strength the program seems to have in terms of developing a pro-ready offensive linemen recently, Beerntsen and Tiernan are the first pair of Wildcats OL to be
drafted in the same year since 1971.
The Green Bay native enrolled at Northwestern in 2025 as a seventh-year senior transfer from South Dakota State, following former SDSU assistant Zach Lujan to Evanston. Unlike Tiernan’s blue-chip pedigree, Beerntsen arrived at college as a no-star recruit who had to scratch and claw for every rep.
After a medical redshirt season and injuries that slowed his early career, Beerntsen would then become a one-year starter at Northwestern (and four-year starter overall), logging 3,360 career offensive snaps between the FCS and Big Ten. He started every game for the Wildcats at right guard in 2025, earning Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors. Prior to his time in Evanston, he was a key piece of back-to-back FCS national championship teams at South Dakota State in 2022 and 2023. He would also be recognized with Second Team All-American and First Team All-MVFC honors after his final season with the Jackrabbits in 2024.
The 6-foot-3, 300-plus pound lineman was viewed as a 5th–6th round grade by some scouts, though InsideNU correctly mocked him to the late 7th round. Beerntsen brings a punishing, nasty demeanor to the field, with functional quickness and brute strength to generate torque on angle-drive blocks and second-level pulls. Clearly, that profile impressed the front office in Baltimore.
He exclusively played right guard (98.3% of his college snaps at that spot) both as a Wildcat and at SDSU, but was notably asked to take snaps at center during the NFL Combine two months ago. It is unclear where in the trenches the Ravens will slot Beerntsen in, but he is seemingly comfortable adjusting as needed, and he’s joining a team that had a lot of rotational flexibility across the interior last season.
Time will tell if the 25-year-old rookie can stick in the league, but his path from a no-star recruit to a seven-year college journeyman to the NFL draft is the kind of story that should have every underdog fan rooting for him.
