There are plenty of big questions and storylines floating around as the Baltimore Ravens enter training camp this week, with rookies already hard at work and veterans reporting on Wednesday. We’ll begin to find some of the answers as Baltimore takes to the practice field and we see the players truly together for the first time this season.
These seven storylines are the biggest for the Ravens as they enter camp.
1) Can the Ravens build on their momentum from 2018?
Baltimore reached the postseason for the first time since 2014. It helped get coach John Harbaugh a new four-year contract and cement Lamar Jackson as their quarterback of the future. But can they capture the same swagger and physicality that helped them create a 6-1 hot streak at the end of last season? Or are they really the team that got beaten up at home in the wild-card round by the Los Angeles Chargers?
A lot of things have changed this offseason. We’ve seen the departure of impact defensive players like safety Eric Weddle, linebacker C.J. Mosley as well as pass rushers Za’Darius Smith and Terrell Suggs. Marty Mornhinweg is out as offensive coordinator, and Greg Roman is in with a whole new scheme. Safety Earl Thomas and running back Mark Ingram joined the team as free agents to bolster already strong points on the roster.
With a clear design to get younger all around, there’s plenty of optimism for the future. The Ravens have cleared up some cap space for the long haul while developing young and cheap players at key positions. But for all the optimism, the questions the team ended their season with still remain and in some cases have gotten bigger this year.
2) Who will emerge at OLB opposite Matthew Judon?
One of the key questions at training camp has to do with Baltimore’s pass rush. Though the Ravens had a few big games, their pass rush was inconsistent and downright lackluster at times last season. With the loss of two of their most productive pass rushers this offseason, there’s a massive hole at outside linebacker.
Baltimore brought in Shane Ray and Pernell McPhee to add much-needed depth and some experience to the unit. But both players have questions they’ll need to answer at training camp. Tim Williams and Tyus Bowser haven’t panned out, and there are concerns they never will. Rookie Jaylon Ferguson will likely take some time to develop into a three-down outside linebacker and could even be limited as a situational pass rusher immediately.
One of these players needs to step up and bring hope to what looks like an anemic pass rush. Which one will it be? Can Judon become more consistent as well and help the whole unit out? We’ll start to find some answers at training camp.
3) Is this the best secondary the Ravens have ever had?
The Ravens doubled down on their secondary this offseason by signing Thomas, a move that immediately made the entire secondary better. But can this be the best secondary the Ravens have ever had? The outlook is positive.
Weddle was a good safety. His experience, instincts and leadership were utilized well in Baltimore’s secondary. But at 33 years old, he had clearly lost a step in coverage and had too many missed tackles. While Ravens defensive coordinator Don Martindale did a good job incorporating him into the defense, Baltimore really needed a more dynamic and ballhawking safety to take advantage of the talent they have. Steven Ruiz of For The Win did a great job showing just how Thomas can impact a defense in a multitude of ways.
With Thomas roaming the back end of the field, teams are going to be wary of throwing his way. That allows Martindale to be more creative with his coverages and blitzes by lining Thomas up all over the field to take advantage of his range. Thomas’ ability to cover ground and push quarterbacks to throw into tighter windows will allow Baltimore’s cornerbacks to be more aggressive than they were last season.
This secondary has a great opportunity to set themselves apart from the rest of the league and carve out a place in Ravens history. If they stay healthy and play to the caliber each player has already shown, we could be looking at records being broken this season.
4) Can Lamar Jackson become more consistent?
Regardless of how much Baltimore changes their offensive scheme, the true key to production is Jackson’s arm. If he can settle down his mechanics, he’ll become more consistent as a passer. If he becomes more consistent as a passer, he’ll force opposing defenses to not sell out against the run, which will open up far more opportunities for the whole offense.
Luckily for Ravens fans, Jackson has been hard at work this offseason on his mechanics. He’s worked out with his wide receivers and a quarterbacks coach in his off time in an effort to get better. Whether he’s improved enough is the big question.
5) Can the Ravens get and stay healthy?
It has almost felt like Baltimore has been cursed over the last five years. Regardless of what the Ravens did to address it, they just kept seeing injury after injury pile up.
Baltimore has put 93 players on injured reserve since 2014, which comes out to about 19 per season. It’d be considered a tough season to have that kind of number just once, but to average that over that many years is depressingly impressive.
Though the Ravens haven’t had to put anyone on injured reserve this year, they didn’t start training camp out all that strong. Baltimore placed several players on the non-football injury list, including rookies Marquise Brown and Jaylon Ferguson. Ferguson passed his physical over the weekend, and Brown was expected to take a slow start to camp, but it’s not a great sign regardless.
Training camp is when big, nasty injuries begin to pop up all around the league. Just a few hours into the Denver Broncos kicking off the very first training camp of the year, linebacker Todd Davis was carted off the field with a calf injury. Baltimore will have to avoid having too many long-term injuries and any injuries to starters if they wish to begin the regular season on a strong note.
But it’s also important for the Ravens to ensure their players are properly conditioned and ready for the season. Taking things too easy to avoid injuries now could actually cause worse injuries once the games start to count. It’s a fine line coach John Harbaugh has to walk, but just one injury to the wrong player could define the season.
6) What will Greg Roman’s offensive scheme look like?
While Jackson’s consistency is the most important factor to the Ravens’ offense, Roman’s new scheme will play a big part too.
Roman has said he literally redefining everything about the playbook this offseason. While that’s great news to anyone who watched Baltimore’s offense do a fantastic impression of a 1950s team, it comes with some problems of its own, the first being what it’ll look like.
It’s likely we won’t see much of the finer points during training camp and the preseason. Roman could keep everything close to the vest in an effort to throw off the Ravens’ opponents in the regular season. That would mean limiting just how much they run specific plays in training camp and only mixing certain aspects together to test them out.
Changing the whole scheme, the language and the plays themselves takes time for the players to digest. It takes even longer to have them know it all inside out and be able to execute it at a high level. That means we’ll get only a portion of the playbook by Week 1.
Regardless of when we see the offense, how it utilizes Jackson’s strengths and diminishes his weaknesses will be interesting. Jackson is a rare talent as a runner, but now everyone fully recognizes it, which puts Baltimore at a disadvantage if they plan on doing the same thing they did last year. The offense has far more speed at the skill positions this year, but using it to its fullest potential is going to require Roman to be creative.
Roman will also likely incorporate tons of misdirection. Jackson definitely puts the defense’s eyes in the backfield, and if Roman can be inventive, he could create a lot of big-play potential. Of course, Roman could also employ a faster-paced offensive scheme that doesn’t have the same big-play potential but will give Jackson easier, high-percentage throws.
Until we see the fundamentals being set up at training camp and the preseason, Roman’s offense is a complete mystery.
7) Will RB Gus Edwards follow up his impressive 2018 season?
Edwards came off the practice squad and into the starting role for Baltimore last season, surprising everyone. His power and a change in the Ravens’ offensive scheme at midseason helped spark an impressive campaign that saw Edwards take Alex Collins’ starting job. But as Collins’ career arc with Baltimore shows, a single impressive season does not mean a whole lot.
The Ravens brought in Mark Ingram this offseason. While Harbaugh has said Edwards is still the top back, Ingram is going to push for the starting job in training camp. He has more experience and is a better receiver out of the backfield.
But if Edwards hits the practice field strong, looks just as powerful and aggressive as he was last season but with a better handle on receiving duties, he might just be able to keep his starting job.
Of course, the microscope will be on Edwards as he first runs out on to the field. Any gain or loss in muscle will be well noted. His speed will be closely examined. There will be plenty of talk about how hungry he is or isn’t. We’ll see if Edwards can fend off Ingram and begin the task of building on his impressive 2018 season.
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