ESPN Pundit Says Ravens Could Take Step Back This Season
The Ravens fell one game short of making the Super Bowl last season, but instead of them getting over the hump this season, ESPN's Dan Graziano said they could take a step back.
"To me, there are enough questions that I go into the season with the Ravens thinking, yes, they're the Ravens, they deserve the benefit of the doubt. But are they one of the playoff teams from last year that you look at and say they're a candidate to maybe take a step back? Sure," Graziano said on “Glenn Clark Radio” last week.
Graziano, who was at a recent Ravens training camp practice, cited an offensive line that will have three new starters and a defense that lost several key players in free agency as reasons the Ravens might regress.
"So, the question is, are they going to be as good as last year? And I think there are enough questions to at least make you wonder," Graziano said. "Especially in [the AFC North], where everybody had a winning record last year and the Bengals are going to get a fourth-place schedule and maybe [Joe] Burrow healthy."
Graziano made some valid points and it's not unreasonable to question whether the Ravens can duplicate or top last season's league-best 13-4 mark. As he said, however, the Ravens deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Lamar Jackson is 58-19 as a starter, and now the two-time NFL MVP will share a backfield with four-time Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry. On defense, the Ravens have All-Pros at every level and arguably the best secondary in the league.
Ravens Offense Ranked in The Athletic's Top 10, But Just Barely
Speaking of taking a step back, even though the 2023 Ravens offense was No. 4 in scoring and No. 6 in yards in Todd Monken's first season as offensive coordinator, The Athletic's Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen don't think the unit will necessarily be better this season.
The co-hosts of “The Athletic Football Show” podcast predicted the top 10 offenses in 2024, and the Ravens were No. 10.
"I wanted to put them higher because obviously when your quarterback wins the MVP and you still have some really interesting pieces on offense — like Zay Flowers for a rookie looked awesome, Mark Andrews when he's healthy is obviously incredible," Klassen said. "It's just the stuff about the offensive line, losing so many pieces, and then even one of the pieces that you're keeping around in Ronnie Stanley, not being the player that he was maybe three years ago and also consistently hurt, I just think even if you have a quarterback like Lamar, who is kind of a pressure-fixer by himself because of the way that he can play the position, I think there's just too much unknown on the offensive line for me to have put them any higher."
Mays contended that concerns about the offensive line might be overstated.
"This feels like one of those things that we hem and haul about all throughout July and into August, and then we get to the season and we're like, 'Oh, they're fine. They found five guys,'" Mays said.
Klassen acknowledged that the offense has a high ceiling.
"That being said, you're going to get Year 2 of Todd Monken and Lamar in a more sophisticated passing offense," Klassen said. "So, the fact that he's going to get another year in that type of offense is huge. I think Zay Flowers will probably take another step. … So, there's still a lot of reason for optimism. I think they will be a good unit, especially when you have probably one of the coolest thunder and lightning type of backfields ever, with Lamar being your lightning and then Derrick Henry being your thunder. Just the crazy, crazy duo that they have concocted. So, there's a lot to like."
Jackson Outside Top Five in Rich Eisen's Top 10 Player Rankings
The top 10 players on the NFL Top 100 list will be revealed on NFL Network tonight, and it will be interesting to see where Jackson lands.
Jackson has been as high as No. 1 (2020) and as low as No. 72 (2023) in the annual rankings, which are determined by votes from NFL players.
By process of elimination, it seems obvious which players will be in the top 10. With that in mind, NFL Network's Rich Eisen revealed how he would rank them. He put Jackson at No. 6.
"I'm putting Lamar here because now I'm gonna start to say, 'What are we doing in the playoffs?'" Eisen said on "The Rich Eisen Show."
The five players Eisen ranked ahead of the reigning MVP were (in order from one to five): Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones, Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt, and Browns defensive end Myles Garrett.
Since a lack of playoff success impacted where Eisen ranked Jackson, it's worth noting that Watt and Garrett are a combined 1-5 in the postseason. Just saying.
