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If there was a lesson to be learned from last season’s Baltimore Ravens campaign, I’m going to believe that they took it to heart. The Ravens made the playoffs as a Wild Card and put up a solid battle against the defending AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals before losing by a touchdown. A touchdown that they, themselves, gave up on a goal line fumble from backup quarterback Tyler Huntly on the Ciny one yard line that Sam Hubbard got his mitts on and scampered for a 98-yard touchdown score.
While Ravens fans will kick rocks and claim that they should have won that game and that one play cost them, I know that Cincinnati calls its offense completely different if they’re down by a touchdown in the fourth quarter or the game is even tied. The fact that Baltimore kept them from scoring after the Bengals were up by a touchdown means absolutely nothing.
What does mean something is Lamar Jackson didn’t play in that game because he was banged up. The word then was that he could have. And Jackson, even running a pathetic, high school Greg Roman offense, would have made a real difference. You can’t play these games in your head, though. You can “what if” in every contest since the NFL began. Jackson was hurt and, without a long-term contract (that he had more than earned) was not willing to risk permanent injury for a team that hadn’t proven, either in contract offer or in its coaching personnel decisions, that they valued him. With Jackson under center, the Ravens went 7-4. Without him, they went 3-4, with those three victories coming over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons. Their season ended on a three-game losing streak, including back-to-back losses to the Bengals.
So, Jackson, my No. 5 ranked QB in the AFC and probably the sixth best in all the NFL, entered the offseason on a non-exclusive franchise tag, made his demands pretty much known and let the chips fall where they may.
BALTIMORE RAVENS
2022-23 Record: 10-7
Playoffs: Lost 24-17 to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Wild Card Round
2023 AFC Championship Odds: +1000
NOW WHAT?
Well, the chips fell and the Ravens got lucky. The teams that should have gone after Lamar Jackson for a measly two first round picks didn’t because either they’d already stupidly spent them (I’m giving you the stink eye, San Francisco 49ers) or are actively trying to tank (Washington Commanders). As for the Falcons? I still don’t understand their reluctance to get involved, unless there’s a tank plan there as well. I can’t imagine there is, because another sub .500 finish will absolutely get that coaching staff and front office cleaned out.
Baltimore ended up winning the day, not only getting Jackson on a good (and fair) five-year, $260 million contract with $135 million guaranteed, but they fired Greg Roman. In his place, Baltimore brought in two-time national champion offensive coordinator Todd Monkin from the Georgia Bulldogs. Monken has been one of the best, and obviously, most successful play callers in college football over the past three seasons. He even has a couple of years as an NFL offensive coordinator under his belt with the 2018 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the 2019 Cleveland Browns. We’ll try not to hold that against him.
The team was smart to keep Tyler Huntley as its back up and continues to boast one of the better offensive lines and defensive units in the league.
Flipping through their schedule, they get a gift right out of the gate, drawing the Houston Texans at home. The difficulty in Week 2 ramps up significantly as they travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals. I can easily see an 8-4 start to the season before they take their bye in Week 13.
THE DRAFT
After trading their second-round pick to the Chicago Bears for linebacker Roquan Smith (a fantastic deal, by the way), Baltimore had just two picks in the first three rounds. If you read my draft grades, then you know that picks through rounds 1-3 should all be viewed as starting caliber players on the day you select them, with the exception of quarterbacks. The Ravens earned a B+ with their draft, showing a commitment to implementing an actual NFL offense by selecting wide receiver Zay Flowers out of Boston College in the first round. They grabbed linebacker Trenton Simpson out of Clemson in the third. Flowers is already listed as a starter and Simpson will probably take over as their full time right inside linebacker before Halloween. It looks like they also got some value in the later rounds with edge rusher Tavius Robinson out of Ole Miss and offensive lineman Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu from Oregon.
FREE AGENCY
Baltimore, right before signing Jackson to his deal, proved they were in it to win it with a professional offensive attack by signing Odell Beckham, Jr. to a one-year agreement. In addition to that, they brought in Nelzon Agholor from the New England Patriots to add another weapon to their passing attack. For some reason, Josh Johnson continues to be employed by the NFL as the Ravens’ No. 3 QB, but I’m thinking he gets cut in training camp and placed on the practice team as an emergency third quarterback. On the offensive line, the team added Sam Mustipher at center from the Bears. Defensively, they brought in Rock Ya-Sin at corner from the Las Vegas Raiders and defensive end Angelo Blackmon from the aforementioned Bears. They didn’t spend a lot of money outside of OBJ’s deal, because of Jackson’s contract.
AFC NORTH
There’s this idea out there that the AFC East will be the best division in football this year and I disagree. The Patriots are going to suck. Get ready for it and for their Hard Knocks debut next summer. The AFC North, on the other hand, has four teams that could legitimately vie for a playoff spot. The Pittsburgh Steelers have never finished with a losing record under Mike Tomlin. The Browns will have a full offseason with an unsuspended Deshaun Watson and one of the better rosters in the league and the Bengals are, at worst, the second-best team in the NFL. It’s going to be a battle and these teams will all beat each other up, but, for the first time since Jackson was tossed the keys, he won’t be entering the fray with Greg Roman tied around his neck like an albatross.
Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.
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