It may be only the third day of Ravens training camp, but the roster math is already shaping up to be complicated, especially on the offensive side of the ball. In contrast to recent years, Baltimore feels like it has more offensive talent than it can keep on the roster, and that’s on a day without Ronnie Stanley and Zay Flowers on the field, not to mention the already-absent J.K. Dobbins and Rashod Bateman.
Let’s start at quarterback, where Lamar Jackson is still leaps and bounds ahead of any other passer on the field. It’s hard to gauge his comfort in Todd Monken’s new offense on the field, but comments from his teammates and coaches indicate that he is “locked in” and thriving with more control at the line of scrimmage.
Tyler Huntley, on the other hand, is noticeably improving his timing and anticipation in Monken’s system. He struggled to hit receivers in rhythm on the first few days – perhaps because of his slower release – but found several targets in stride today.
It’s not surprising that Huntley is taking longer to adjust to the new offense than, say, Josh Johnson, who’s played in just about every offensive scheme known to the NFL at this point. Huntley is a gamer – at his best when he’s flying by the seat of his pants – which made him look great in a Greg Roman offense that relied too much on quarterbacks to make plays. There’s always value in Huntley’s gritty play-style and scrambling ability, but Monken wants his quarterbacks making the most of their reads and decisions before the snap, not after.
Johnson is already quite comfortable in that mode, and the Ravens seem to love the experience and leadership he brings to the quarterback room. The new rule allowing an extra active quarterback on game days provides a double-boost to his roster chances, too. Not only does it make him more valuable to the Ravens, it also makes him more likely to get poached from the Ravens practice squad by another team looking for their third quarterback.
In the backfield, it’s clear that Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins and Justice Hill will all be on the 53, with Melvin Gordon and Keaton Mitchell competing for the last spot.
Gordon looks as mobile and shifty as he can without any competitive running plays, but he is making plenty of catches out of the backfield. Mitchell, meanwhile, alternates between getting stuck in the pile at the line of scrimmage and showing off his afterburners, both on offense and special teams. (Mitchell can “flat-out run,” according to ST coach Chris Horton, who has seen his fair share of speedsters during his tenure in Baltimore.)
Even with Jackson and Monken insisting the Ravens are going to throw the ball a lot this season, they’ll still want to take advantage of the rushing lanes opened by Jackson’s dual threat ability. Eric DeCosta and John Harbaugh are also all too familiar with the issue of not having enough RBs to carry the football, so four backs making the roster is certainly in play.
Patrick Ricard adds another wrinkle into the backfield math. He’s a huge part of the run game, but it’ll be tough to carry him and a fourth running back unless Ricard finds a clearer way to contribute to the passing game. That’s not even mentioning Ben Mason, who needs to clean up the drops – two today – if he wants to have any chance of pushing Ricard this summer.
Tight end is perhaps the easiest position to predict: Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar are roster locks, and no other TE will make the team. Andrews and Likely made the majority of the highlight plays today, and Kolar feels like he can contribute, but there’s too much talent ahead of him. Undrafted rookie Travis Vokolek has the size to hang on the practice squad as the classic Ravens blocking TE – think Eric Tomlinson – but he needs to diversify his skillset to last in the NFL.
Three QBs, four RBs, three TEs plus Ricard would take up 11 roster spots, before getting to the most populated offensive positions: wide receiver and offensive line.
At receiver, Bateman, Odell Beckham Jr., Zay Flowers and Nelson Agholor feel like the absolute roster locks. Bateman is sidelined at the moment, and Beckham, Flowers and Agholor have gotten plenty of attention since the spring, so I’m more interested in the fate of Devin Duvernay.
Duv has been touted as a cap-saving cut since his All-Pro escalators kicked in, but a team with Super Bowl hopes should want to keep him around. In past years, Duvernay has felt somewhat disappointing as a Day 2 pick for his boom-or-bust contributions, but with depth in front of him, he can carve out a playmaking role for Monken and remain a solid kick returner for Chris Horton.
That alone is valuable to a serious championship contender, but that’s not all Duvernay can be, either. He’s learning that the threat of his speed is sometimes just as effective as his speed itself in winning routes. For example, Duvernay failed to win a route with a double-move during one rep today, but his defender still had to bail out to keep him from taking the top off the defense. That allowed Duvernay to work back to the sidelines and reel in a nicely thrown ball from Jackson. It’s a small development, but a sign that the former Texas standout is starting to harness his natural athleticism into some more productive route-running chops.
That’s five locks at WR, and I’d even throw 2021 fifth-rounder Tylan Wallace in that group as well. He may not be racking up the highlights, but his consistency in multiple roles on offense and special teams will be noted by Baltimore’s decision-makers over the course of training camp. I’d be surprised if he missed out on a roster spot in just his third year in the league, especially when he received little opportunity to prove himself in his first two seasons.
With six wide receivers seemingly in line to make the roster spot, is there even room for one more? Again, this is where Monken’s desired run-pass balance is going to come into play.
On the one hand, more passing means there are more snaps and targets to go around and a correspondingly higher injury risk, so the Ravens may need to carry seven receivers.
On the other hand, the receiver room is well-rounded already, so what more does a guy like James Proche really add? He draws a ton of targets every practice and does his best to reel them all in, but the majority of his success comes against the second- and third-team defense. That’s the knock on Proche – he has the technical know-how and the alpha attitude of an NFL receiver, but lacks a difference-making trait to separate (literally) from the pack.
There are other young receivers who could make some noise, all of whom are at least 6-foot-2, which would fill a void in the current room. However, none of them stand out on a consistent enough basis to merit a roster spot.
Sean Ryan is the most consistent, with few miscues and a highlight catch every now and then. But the rest – Shemar Bridges, Tarik Black, Makai Polk and Dontay Demus Jr. – flash on occasion without a role or skill they can hang their hat on. They’re all at least 6-foot-2, which complements the receiving corps, but that’s only if those guys are fully trusted in the red zone, and that’s certainly not the case thus far.
Is that seventh wide receiver – be it Proche or a young big-body – more valuable than running back depth or a fullback who can essentially operate as a more mobile sixth offensive lineman? That’s not even mentioning the offensive line itself, which has at least seven locks with at least three more players with strong cases for roster spots.
Ronnie Stanley, Tyler Linderbaum, Kevin Zeitler and Morgan Moses are all-but locked-in as four-fifths of the starting offensive line, and even if Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu can’t hold onto the starting LG job, he’ll be on the 53-man roster. So will Patrick Mekari and Daniel Faalele, leaving John Simpson, Sam Mustipher and Ben Cleveland to compete for interior backup spots.
Simpson and Mustipher offer proven veteran depth at guard and center respectively, and though his stock certainly fell throughout the summer, it still might be tough for the Ravens to quit on Cleveland, a highly-touted 2021 Day 2 pick. He’s bounced around a bit, playing guard and tackle to improve his versatility, making him more valuable to Baltimore or potentially another team.
That makes 10 offensive lineman, to go with (potentially) three quarterbacks, four running backs, three tight ends, six wide receivers and a fullback. That’s 27 offensive players, out of a 53-man roster that requires three spots for the special teams core, not to mention a very talented defense.
That math is just not going to work out, and the answers to the questions I’ve posed are going to come down to what kind of team the Ravens want to be this year.
It’s not just about run-pass balance, either. This is a team with the clear, stated goal of winning a Super Bowl this year, but at the same time, they envision being competitive for the Lombardi Trophy for at least the next five years with Jackson under contract.
To do that, the Ravens will need to not just hit on their draft picks, but develop those young players into starters and key contributors while they’re still on their inexpensive rookie contracts. That’s hard when you want to keep reliable veterans on the roster to maintain the high-level of play required to make a playoff run.
Ultimately, this is a good problem to have. It heightens the competition in training camp and gives EDC opportunities to accrue additional draft picks by trading away his excess talent, something he did to great effect in 2021. But last year, the final roster cuts seemed a little less coherent and organized, and it certainly didn’t feel like everything shook out the way the Ravens wanted.
The front office and coaching staff will need to work together carefully over the course of training camp to evaluate players and possibilities to give Baltimore the best chance of bringing home a ring this year and at least one more over the course of Jackson’s contract.
