BALTIMORE RAVENS 2021 WIN PREDICTION

BY ADAM GREENE

It’s early summer, and just as the swallows return yearly to the Mission of San Juan Capistrano, so does NFL punditry envision an imaginary scenario where Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens passing offense is unleashed to its full potential.

Unfortunately, much like Bigfoot and Loch Ness Monster, this figment created wholly out of the person’s brain writing it will once again meet with reality come September, when Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman inevitably turns his team’s offense into a predictable Pop Warner clone that will undoubtedly shorten Jackson’s career and land him repeatedly on the NFL’s concussion protocol.

The fact that Baltimore has decided to employ Roman once again, when this is what he does, be it in San Francisco or Buffalo, will finally blow up in their face this season. 

BALTIMORE RAVENS

Last season: 11-5, second place AFC North, AFC Wild Card team

2021 odds: over 10.5 wins -150, under 10.5 wins +120

2021 NFL Draft: Rashod Bateman, WR, Minnesota – Round 1, Odafe Oweh, LB, Penn State – Round 1, Ben Cleveland, OG, Georgia – Round 3, Brandon Stephens, CB, SMU – Round 3, Tylan Wallace, WR, Oklahoma State – Round 4, Shaune Wade, CB, Ohio State – Round 5, Daelin Hayes, DE, Notre Dame – Round 5, Ben Mason, FB, Michigan – Round 5

UDFAs: Ar’Darius Washington, Safety – TCU, Adrian Ealy, OL – Oklahoma, Tony Poljan, TE – Virginia, Sam Cooper, OL – Merrimack College, Xavier Kelly, DT – Arkansas, Foster Sarrell, OT – Stanford, Blake Gallager, LB – Northwestern, Nate McCrary, RB – Saginaw Valley State, Donte Sylencieux, WR – Graceland University

Acquisitions: Ju’Waun James, RT – Free Agent, Kevin Zeitler, RG – Free Agent, Sammy Watkins, WR – Free Agent, Alejandro Villanueva, RT – Free Agent, Michael Chofield, RG – Free Agent, Josh Oliver, TE – Free Agent, Geno Stone, Safety – Free Agent, Greg Mancz, Center – Free Agent, Chris Westry, CB – Free Agent

Key Losses: Matt Judon – Edge, Yannick Ngakoue – Edge, Willie Snead – WR, Mark Ingram – RB, Matt Skura – Center, Robert Griffin III – QB, Chris Moore – WR, Dez Bryant – WR, Tramon Williams – CB, Jihad Ward – DL, De’Anhony Thomas – WR, Orlando Brown – LT, Geno Stone – Safety

PRESUMED STARTERS

QB: Lamar Jackson

RB: J.K. Dobbins

WR: Marquis Brown

WR: Sammy Watkins

WR: Rashod Bateman

TE: Mark Andrews

FB: Patrick Ricard

LT: Ronnie Stanley

LG: Ben Cleveland

C: Bradley Bozeman

RG: Kevin Zeitler

RT: Alejandro Villanueva

LDE: Derek Wolfe

NT: Brandon Williams

RDE: Calais Campbell.

OLB: Tyus Bowser

ILB: L.J. Fort

ILB: Patrick Queen

OLB: Pernell McPhee

CB: Marlon Humphrey

CB: Marcus Peter

SS: Chuck Clark

FS: DeShon Elliott

K: Justin Tucker

P: Sam Koch

FORECAST

Before I dive in, let me be clear that this forecast is based solely on the hope that Lamar Jackson remains healthy this season, something I’m not feeling great about. Jackson suffered his first NFL concussion (that we know about) in Baltimore’s humiliating divisional round loss to the Buffalo Bills. In the pros, those start to stack up and the whole idea with an NFL quarterback is that you want to keep him from getting hit. Not in Greg Roman’s offense. Roman fires Jackson right into the shark’s mouth every other play because he is incapable of doing it as I spelled out with video evidence after that 17-3 playoff loss.

Because Roman remains employed in Baltimore, their offense is predictable and any NFL defensive coordinator worth his job should be able to stop it if he has the personnel and at least slow it down if he doesn’t. The Ravens enjoyed one of the easiest schedules in the league in 2020 and still won three fewer games than the year before. This time, they don’t get that lucky. They not only play in the second toughest division in the league, but draw the Los Angeles Rams as their 17^th game to go with some brutal match ups in the AFC West. I say they drop down three more games this year and ONLY if Jackson remains healthy. If he goes down, this team can’t win a game.

Final Record Prediction: 8-9, will miss the playoffs.

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