Pundit Says Ronnie Stanley Is on Hot Seat This Season
There has been much talk about this offseason about the Ravens' revamped offensive line which will have three new starters, but it's the unit's well-decorated veteran, left tackle Ronnie Stanley, who is on the hot seat, according to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley.
"Stanley enters the most pivotal season of his nine-year career after taking a 50% pay cut this year -- $7.5 million -- to remain with the Ravens," Hensley wrote. "If Stanley can rebound anywhere close to his 2019 All-Pro form, he could set himself up for another big contract, possibly with Baltimore. If he continues to perform below expectations, Stanley will enter free agency in 2025 as a major question mark."
Stanley, who has been hampered by ankle and knee injuries over the past four seasons, has looked good at practice and said in June that he hasn't felt this good since the start of the 2020 season.
Hensley's comments about Stanley were excerpted from ESPN's latest power rankings. The Ravens are No. 2 (behind the Chiefs), moving up one spot from the post-draft rankings in May.
Which Players' Stock Is Rising and Which Is Falling?
The Athletic's Jeff Zrebiec revealed his latest stock report as the Ravens head into the final preseason game and, staying on theme, it includes two offensive linemen.
Here's a look at some of Zrebiec's risers and fallers:
Stock Up
WR Anthony Miller
"Signed a week ago, Miller initially appeared to be just another fresh and healthy body to get the Ravens through the preseason. However, he's made an instant impression with his speed. He's made a few plays in just about every Ravens practice and had receptions on three consecutive plays against the Atlanta Falcons. Has he done enough to pass Tylan Wallace on the depth chart? Maybe not, but the second-round pick of the Chicago Bears has done enough to at least be in the mix this late in the game."
RT Roger Rosengarten
"Rosengarten played into the third quarter of the second preseason game and handled himself well. It wasn't a perfect outing by any means, but you could see what the Ravens liked about him in the draft and what they believed would allow him to become a plug-and-play starter at right tackle. He plays with toughness, athleticism and awareness. Over the past week, he cashed in on the frontline reps and took a significant step toward winning the starting right tackle job. There might be some inevitable first-year struggles, but Rosengarten should only get better as he gains more experience and gets stronger."
Stock Down
RB Rasheen Ali
"The fifth-round rookie had a quiet start to training camp, struggled in short-yardage situations in the preseason opener and suffered what Coach John Harbaugh called a stinger. He hasn't been on the field since and didn't play Saturday against the Falcons. Meanwhile, his top competitor for the No. 3 running back role (Owen Wright) caught a touchdown pass. If the decision is based solely on practice and game performance over the past four weeks, Ali has a lot of ground to make up on Wright this week. We all know, however, that other things factor. Ali has to first get back on the field. His second order of business will be proving he's worthy of a roster spot. The Ravens have cut or traded rookie fifth-round picks in two of the past three years, so there's nothing guaranteed for Ali."
OL Sala Aumavae-Laulu
"Not only did Aumavae-Laulu never really make a push for one of the starting guard jobs, but he's also seemingly yet to nail down a reserve spot on the 53-man roster either. It feels like the 2023 sixth-round pick is one of the legitimate 'bubble' guys heading into the final week before roster cuts. In his favor is that the Ravens could have as many as two available offensive line spots and there's not a lot of competition to fill them. But Aumavae-Laulu's use at tackle in the second half of the second preseason."
Nick Wright Thinks Lamar Jackson Isn't One of NFL's 20-Best Players
Nick Wright has to be trolling.
That's the only possible explanation for the Fox Sports personality excluding Lamar Jackson from his rankings of the NFL's top 10 players.
Heck, the reigning and two-time league MVP didn't even make Wright's list of 10 players who just missed inclusion in the top 10.
Wright's rankings were inspired by the NFL's Top 100 players list, which had Jackson at No. 2.
Wright's top 10: 1. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes; 2. San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams; 3. Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson; 4. Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett; 5. Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow; 6. 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey; 7. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce; 8. Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones; 9. Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt; 10. Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill.
The only quarterback on Wright's just-missed list was the Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen. Safety Kyle Hamilton was the lone Raven to make it.
It's not the first time Wright has snubbed Jackson. A couple months ago, Wright did not have Jackson in his top five quarterback rankings.
In addition to Mahomes, Burrow, and Allen, Wright had the Houston Texans' C.J. Stroud (who has only played one season and lost twice to Jackson last season), and Los Angeles Rams' Matthew Stafford in his top five.
"I like Lamar, I root for Lamar," Wright said at the time. "If I'm being honest, do I think he's one of the five best quarterbacks in football? I don't."
You know who does think Jackson is one of the five best quarterbacks in football? Tom Brady and Peyton Manning (and just about every other rational NFL observer).
Ravens Trail Chiefs, Bengals at Top in Projected Wins for AFC Teams
The Athletic's Austin Mock's NFL projection model has the Ravens winning 10.2 games this season, putting them a hair behind the Bengals (also 10.2) for the second-most wins in the AFC. The Chiefs are first with 11.3 projected wins.
"You won't find a division race closer at the top than the AFC North," Mock wrote. "My model has the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals separated by just 0.03 wins, favoring the Bengals. While the model acknowledges Baltimore has the better roster, the Ravens have to play a first-place schedule while the Bengals benefit from a fourth-place slate."
The model takes play-by-play data and creates an offensive and defensive projection for each team. From there, Mock simulated every game this season and repeated this process 100,000 times to see how many games a team is likely to win.
