Practice Report: Ronnie Stanley Makes Like a Wide Receiver After Catching Deflected Pass
Clifton Brown, BaltimoreRavens.com
Not only was Jackson in attendance, starting safety Marcus Williams participated in his first OTA session open to the media. Williams was doing plenty of communicating with teammates, and his range and athleticism remains a major ingredient in Baltimore’s secondary.
Jackson threw the ball crisply all day, showing accuracy from various arm angles. His best toss was a pinpoint spiral to Zay Flowers in the end zone for a touchdown late in practice.
Tavius Robinson flashed into the backfield quickly on several plays, and the outside linebacker’s mobility continues to impress for someone listed at 6-foot-6, 258 pounds. Robinson looks ready to press for more reps this summer.
Malik Cunningham continued to get open and was one of the favorite targets for Jackson and Josh Johnson. Rookie Devontez Walker also caught a pair of deep balls.
Mark Andrews made a nice diving catch over the middle, saving Jackson from a rare incompletion on the day. Whether he’s wearing a helmet or not, Andrews is all about maximum effort.
Fifth-round running back Rasheen Ali displayed nice hands making a downfield catch. Ali had 75 catches during his career at Marshall and has potential as a target in the passing game.
2024 NFL offseason: Seven teams that significantly helped their quarterbacks — and a few that didn’t
Judy Battista, NFL.com
Showing the love
Yes, their offensive line is being rebuilt after losing both starting guards and their starting right tackle, but the Ravens drafted two O-linemen and have a proven track record of developing young players. Why is Lamar Jackson really smiling this summer? Because Derrick Henry can be the bulldozer at the goal line, and offensive coordinator Todd Monken said he wants the prolific running back to be the closer. For the past five seasons, Jackson has been the Ravens’ leading rusher. In that time, Baltimore led the league in rushing three times, including in 2023. The Ravens fielded a top-five scoring offense last season, and Henry should allow them to bleed the clock and shorten games, a boon for a team with championship aspirations.
AFC North burning questions for 2024 NFL season: Is this Bengals’ year? Russell Wilson Steelers’ answer?
Bryan DeArdo, CBS Sports
Ravens: Will Lamar Jackson exorcise his playoff demons?
I’ve always been a fan of Jackson, who in my opinion is carving out a Hall of Fame career. But I don’t feel good about his chances of getting the Ravens over the hump this year.
Once again, the Ravens have supplied him with a receiving corps that is lacking a premier talent. Zay Flowers showed promise as a rookie, and fourth-round pick Devontez Walker will bring something to the table this year. But the group as a whole is still lacking.
Baltimore is slated to have three new starters on its offensive line, furthering my lack of faith in the Ravens’ Super Bowl hopes. The Ravens still have Mark Andrews and made a splash this offseason with the signing of Henry. Andrews should be back at full strength after suffering a major ankle injury, and Henry is fresh off of his second straight Pro Bowl nod and fourth in the last five years. Baltimore is surely hoping that Henry, now 30, can continue to play at a high level while taking some of the pressure off of Jackson. That’s quite the ask, though, for a running back who has led the NFL in carries each of the past two years and four of the previous five.
Let’s quickly circle back to Jackson, who enters the 2024 season with a 2-4 playoff record. Jackson recently made headlines for the wrong reasons; he reportedly forfeited nearly $750,000 in workout bonuses as the resulting of skipping most of Baltimore’s OTAs. Yes, OTAs are voluntary. But tell that to the division’s other starting quarterbacks who have been present at their respective team’s OTAs. Jackson’s no-show is yet another reason why I’m not high on the 2024 Ravens, who own the NFL’s second-toughest strength of schedule.
PFF Safety Rankings: Top 32 ahead of the 2024 NFL season
Zoltan Buday, PFF
2. KYLE HAMILTON, BALTIMORE RAVENS
Hamilton was the NFL’s highest-graded safety as a rookie in 2022 (87.6), and he nearly replicated that in his second season, earning an 86.4 PFF overall grade.
While Hamilton led all safeties in pass-rush grade and was the only player at the position to earn pass-rush and coverage grades over 90.0 in 2023, he could stand to improve in run defense, which keeps him out of this list’s top spot.
5. MARCUS WILLIAMS, BALTIMORE RAVENS
After playing at least 999 snaps in all five of his seasons with the Saints, Williams has failed to log more than 800 snaps in either of his first two years in Baltimore. But when he is on the field, he is still among the best safeties in the league, especially in coverage.
Williams’ 76.4 PFF coverage grade in 2023 ranked 16th among safeties, and he places sixth among 94 qualifying safeties in coverage grade (92.5) since entering the league in 2017.
‘It’s terrible’: Players, coaches, execs react to NFLPA’s proposal to reshape offseason
Jeff Howe, The Athletic
The new proposal, which is still being crafted by the NFLPA’s executive board, would wipe out the entirety of spring ball. Players would then have to report for a ramp-up stretch at the end of June or the beginning of July before training camp kicks off at the typical time.
“For the NFLPA, they ask everybody in the league and they ask all the guys, and (hopefully) they will make sure that’s a consensus that guys would want to (change the schedule),” Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said. “I really don’t have a problem with the way it’s set up right now.”
Despite the news of the proposal last week, this concept has been discussed for several years, so there are coaches, executives and players who have debated the merits of the idea and how it could all work. They would need to nail down the timing and get total buy-in, though.
“If the players were going to skip the spring or not go with enough intensity, then I would rather have a lead-in to training camp,” a former head coach said. “But they would need to basically report around July 4 to do it right. I’d rather have spring ball, but it’s trending the way of not doing it at all.”
The longer offseason layoff has generated most of the attention, but that comes with a consequence: A longer, uninterrupted grind.