While many of us are still reeling from Baltimore’s 17-10 loss in the AFC Championship against the Kansas City Chiefs, general manager Eric DeCosta doesn’t have that luxury.
He flew to attend the Senior Bowl — an exhibition game that features the top prospects of the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft going against each other — in Mobile, Alabama just one day after Baltimore’s crushing loss.
For DeCosta and the rest of the front office, there’s no time to dwell on the sting of defeat this time of year. The Ravens have already turned the page and are completely focused on assembling their team for next season.
This is an especially challenging offseason for Baltimore since it has myriad pieces to replace not only on the roster, but on head coach John Harbaugh’s staff as well. The 2023 Ravens were a special group, and it’s going to be hard for the 2024 team to live up to the standard they set last season.
Baltimore has already made a huge acquisition with the signing of running back Derrick Henry, but the Ravens won’t be satisfied until their roster is sufficiently stacked for a deep playoff run.
DeCosta is extremely patient during the offseason, often making significant additions well into June. So it’s hard to evaluate Baltimore’s roster at this point, but the current state of the team can give us an indication of what the Ravens will do with the No. 30 pick of the draft this month.
Baltimore’s top needs heading into the draft
The unpredictability of the draft has worked in favor of the Ravens more often than not, but it’s especially crucial for that trend to continue this year in order for them to maintain their status as a legitimate contender in the AFC.
Safety Kyle Hamilton was touted as a top five prospect heading into the 2022 draft, but he fell to the Ravens at the No. 14 pick because he ran a less-than-stellar 40-yard dash. It’s safe to say that some of the general managers who passed on Hamilton are kicking themselves today, as he just earned first-team All-Pro honors in only his second season.
The Ravens always do a great job of letting the draft board play out without panicking and acquiring elite talent despite consistently picking in the back half of the draft. Hamilton is just one example of that.
Wide receiver Zay Flowers — who racked up 77 catches for 858 yards and five touchdowns in his first season — wasn’t projected to be available when Baltimore selected him with the No. 22 pick of the 2023 draft.
The Ravens must cement this streak of adding impact first-year players to ensure they can break through to the championship level that they’re aiming to reach. There’s more than one way they can improve their team, so let’s run through Baltimore’s biggest holes on its roster heading into the draft…
- Offensive line
DeCosta didn’t mince words when he told reporters at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis in February that “rebuilding” this offensive line is one of Baltimore’s top priorities this offseason.
Having the cheat code that is quarterback Lamar Jackson’s ability to run circles around defenders has masked Baltimore’s inconsistent offensive line play over the past few seasons, but the Ravens understand they can’t rely upon Jackson to make defenders miss in the backfield his entire career.
DeCosta has already gotten to work reconstructing this unit, as guards John Simpson and Kevin Zeitler departed to sign with the New York Jets and Detroit Lions in free agency, respectively. Plus, the Ravens traded right tackle Morgan Moses to the Jets in March as well.
That leaves left tackle Ronnie Stanley and center Tyler Linderbaum as the only remaining starting offensive linemen for Baltimore at this point. Linderbaum looks like he has the potential to be a mainstay for the Ravens for years to come, but he can’t anchor the offensive line alone.
Injuries have plagued Stanley over the past few years so much that he reworked his contract in March to take a nearly $8 million pay cut and shave a year off his deal, making him a free agent after this season.
The Ravens are undergoing a youth movement for their offensive line. And it makes sense to surround Jackson with a group of agile linemen who can help maximize his mobility.
The first step to building this unit is drafting a lineman in the first round who can immediately step in to play. It would be a bonus for the Ravens to select someone who can fill in for Stanley in case injuries come back to haunt him this season.
In typical Baltimore fashion, this rebuilding project is timed well as this draft class has an extremely deep talent pool of offensive linemen.
Most people have a tough time getting behind the idea of using a first round pick on a lineman, but you need to keep in mind that stats can never measure the importance of keeping your franchise quarterback upright.
- Defensive line
The Ravens pride themselves on stopping the run as one of their core defensive philosophies.
Not too much further down the list of key principles for Baltimore is the necessity to apply pressure to the opposing quarterback and exert maximum physicality at all times.
This was especially evident last season as the Ravens led the NFL with 60 sacks and only allowed six rushing touchdowns in 2023. Baltimore’s defensive line is comprised of versatile players who can stuff the run, rush the quarterback, and, at times, drop back in coverage.
DeCosta accomplished the most important task of the offseason by retaining second-team All-Pro defensive tackle Justin Madubuike with a four-year extension in March.
With defensive tackles Michael Pierce, Travis Jones, and Broderick Washington under contract through the next few years as well, Baltimore’s interior defensive line is set up to remain stout for the long haul.
And with defensive coordinator Zach Orr’s scheme giving multiple pass rushers the opportunity to have a clean path to the quarterback, the Ravens have the freedom to choose a developmental player with supreme athletic ability who they can mold into a consistent lineman.
Outside linebacker Odafe Oweh, a 2021 first-round pick, is one of Baltimore’s most recent cases of this kind of project. While he hasn’t flourished as a pass rusher, he has become one of the better run stoppers in the NFL — which is of great value to the Ravens.
In that same vein, outside linebacker David Ojabo was drafted the following year to grow into a pass rusher role. Ojabo faced long-term injuries that robbed him of his first two seasons, but he could prove a lot of people wrong by emerging as a legitimate edge defender this season.
Baltimore can’t bank on its fortunes to change with Oweh and Ojabo, so it would be wise to consider drafting an outside linebacker who can be stashed on the roster while learning how to play multiple positions across the defensive line.
- Wide receiver
That adding receiving talent isn’t the most glaring need for the Ravens can be chalked up as a huge victory heading into the draft.
Wide receiver Zay Flowers racked up 77 catches for 858 yards and five touchdowns in his first season, consistently demonstrating an uncanny ability to elude defenders and pick up extra yardage.
The departure of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. will result in more opportunities for wide receiver Rashod Bateman. He will have extra motivation this season as he plays out the final year of his contract in hopes of putting together a breakout season.
Bateman has struggled with lower body injuries over the past few seasons, but having another offseason to get healthy and build chemistry with Jackson could help him finally put everything together and establish himself as a primary option in Baltimore’s offense.
Offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s system is designed to spread the ball around to multiple targets, but Bateman’s ascension could give Monken a workhorse to help lessen the workload for tight end Mark Andrews.
And that’s not the only missing element to this offense that could elevate it to another level in 2024.
Jackson has never had a possession receiver who can rise up and snag jump balls downfield or in the red zone — within 20 yards of scoring a touchdown. Andrews has the ability to win contested catches, but Baltimore needs a receiver on the perimeter who can stretch defenses and give Jackson a wide catch radius to work with.
Having a big target who can take the pressure off of Jackson to be pinpoint accurate could pay off in a huge way once the playoffs come around. Plus, this would give Monken another way to attack defenses no matter where the Ravens are spotted on the field.
There are several receivers in this draft class who fit that profile such as Keon Coleman, Adonai Mitchell, and many others. The only question for the Ravens is whether the draft board will create the opportunity for them to select one of those dynamic pass catchers.
- Defensive back
Hamilton has already established himself as one of the top defensive players in the NFL, giving this secondary a skeleton key that unlocks endless possibilities for Orr.
The development of cornerback Brandon Stephens as a reliable No. 2 option next to fellow corner Marlon Humphrey was also a huge reason for Baltimore’s ability to execute so many exotic coverage schemes.
But with injuries coming with greater regularity for Humphrey, it’s important for the Ravens to begin looking for a defensive back who can develop behind Baltimore’s experienced secondary.
Remember, DeCosta is famous for his proclamation that you can never have too many corners — and it’s no secret that Baltimore rarely misses when it comes to drafting them.
Still, if the Ravens opt to strengthen a strength by bolstering their secondary, it would most likely have to be for a game changing player like Hamilton.
Who will make a leap in 2024?
Although Baltimore’s needs seem glaring, nothing is ever set in stone when it comes to the NFL Draft.
Every NFL team focuses immense resources and time toward identifying players draft prospects rather than filling every need through free agency, but the reality is that most of those picks won’t end up panning out in the long term. After all, the average NFL career lasts just three years.
Still, drafting and developing homegrown talent pays huge dividends since you can pay to keep your successful draft picks and simply draft new players to replace the ones that didn’t work out.
This is especially crucial for teams with smaller markets like Baltimore, and the Ravens have embraced this process arguably more than all 31 other NFL teams. You see, the randomness of the draft makes draft picks the most treasured asset in the NFL.
That’s why the Ravens have embraced the compensatory pick process, a system that awards teams with draft picks to offset the difference between losses and additions in free agency.
Baltimore has received the most compensatory picks since the system was instituted in 1994 with 56. It added to this total during this free agency cycle by earning four extra picks for next year’s draft.
These will be important as DeCosta looks to stock up on as much cheap talent as possible by hitting on draft picks while Jackson’s contract eats up a sizable portion of the team’s cap space over the next few years.
As important as it is for the annual influx of young players to make an immediate impact, it’s equally crucial for returning players to continue making leaps each year as well. This will be a massive determining factor for Baltimore in 2024 since the team will be missing several pieces from last year’s roster.
While Jackson winning the second MVP of his career in his first year running Monken’s system is an encouraging sign for the potential of this offense, he must come back even sharper if he wants to lead the Ravens to the Super Bowl in New Orleans next year.
He must continue building trust with his receivers and working on maintaining consistent mechanics. Tight end Isaiah Likely is a prime candidate to receive more targets, for instance.
He filled in well for Andrew last season, putting up 411 yards and five touchdowns while rarely being a focal point of the offensive game plan.
If Monken can find a way to use two tight end sets with Andrews and Likely, he’ll be able to create matchup problems for defenses from multiple formations.
When it comes to the defense, Stephens must show that he can replicate a similar performance to his breakout season. His play will be a huge determining factor in how aggressively Orr is able to call this defense.
All eyes are also on linebacker Trenton Simpson to see if he can carry the mantle alongside inside linebacker Roquan Smith. With the departure of inside linebacker Patrick Queen, it’s incumbent on Simpson to rise to the occasion in order for this defense to avoid regressing.
The point is, both sides of the ball will need players across every position to elevate their play if this team has any chance of replicating their run from last season.
We’ll never get a team like we saw in 2023, but that doesn’t mean the 2024 Ravens will suffer a massive drop-off that leaves them wondering if their championship window has closed.
The reality is as long as Jackson remains healthy and DeCosta keeps constructing well-balanced rosters, there’s no reason Baltimore can’t contend for years to come.
