ExtremeRavens Posted March 25 Posted March 25 ORLANDO, Fla. — As Ravens coach John Harbaugh sat down with reporters Monday morning at this week’s NFL owners meetings, he checked his phone and texted quarterback Lamar Jackson. By the time the 35-minute session was over, he still hadn’t heard back from the NFL’s two-time Most Valuable Player. Harbaugh just smiled — there was no need to fret, unlike during last year’s gathering when Jackson revealed in a tweet just as the coach arrived that he’d asked Baltimore to trade him after he said the organization failed to meet his value during contract negotiations. With Jackson’s future in Baltimore ensured in the form of a $260 million extension signed in April and the Ravens coming off an NFL-best 13-4 record with an appearance in the AFC championship game, there is far less drama swirling around the team this time around. Still, there was plenty to discuss, most notably an offense that figures to be revamped again with the splash free agent addition of four-time Pro Bowl running back and two-time NFL rushing leader Derrick Henry, an offensive line that will feature three new starters, several players lost to free agency and multiple coaching changes. Asked how different things could look with Henry — easily the best back of Jackson’s tenure and one of the game’s all-time greats who was the centerpiece of the Tennessee Titans his first eight years in the NFL — the coach said he wasn’t sure. Then he used an anecdote about a book on snipers that his wife, Ingrid, was reading on their flight to Florida, in which the subject talked about being able to take advantage of patterns the enemy had fallen into during war. “It’ll look different, there’s no doubt about that,” Harbaugh said. “That’s the one thing we believe in is keeping it moving. You can never keep it the same. “No patterns. We don’t want patterns. We don’t want to be predictable in what we’re doing.” In that unpredictability, however, also comes some uncertainty — at least for now. Jackson has never played with a dominant feature back of Henry’s ilk, and his arrival comes just one season after offensive coordinator Todd Monken was hired to transform Baltimore from a heavy, ground-and-pound scheme to a more wide-open, spread attack. The change last year resulted in career highs for Jackson in passing yards (3,678) and completion percentage (67.2) and Baltimore came within a game of its first Super Bowl appearance in more than a decade. But in its AFC title game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Ravens running backs strangely accounted for just six carries. Who will block for Henry is also a question. Guards Kevin Zeitler and John Simpson both departed in free agency to the Detroit Lions and New York Jets, respectively, while right tackle Morgan Moses became essentially a salary cap casualty and was traded to the Jets in a pick swap that also cleared $5.5 million in cap space. The only returning starters are Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum and left tackle Ronnie Stanley, who reportedly took a pay cut in restructuring his contract that now features various performance-based incentives after the 30-year-old missed four games because of injury last season and was rotated in a late in the year. One of the keys to the Ravens’ offense in 2024 with Derrick Henry will be unpredictability. (Kevin Richardson/Staff) Who will fill the openings remains to be seen, but Baltimore has some potential in-house options between tackle Daniel Faalele, whom Harbaugh said Monday will get a shot to start, along with recently signed guard Josh Jones, Andrew Vorhees, who is a “full go” after suffering a torn ACL at last year’s NFL scouting combine, and Sala Aumavae-Laulu as well as Ben Cleveland. “I expect it to be better than last year,” Harbaugh said of the line. “That’s always the goal, to improve.” Whether the Ravens can improve, or even come close to matching, the kind of success they had on defense and, in particular, getting to the quarterback is also uncertain. Former defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald is now the coach of the Seattle Seahawks, while Ravens inside linebackers coach Zach Orr, 31, was promoted to the role. Former defensive line coach Anthony Weaver and former defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson are now the defensive coordinators for the Miami Dolphins and Titans, with Dennis Johnson and Doug Mallory replacing them. And outside linebackers Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy, who were second and third on the team in sacks last season, are both free agents. But Harbaugh did not rule out the possibility of Clowney or Van Noy returning. “There’s optimism about both,” he said. “Been texting with J.D. and Kyle here and there the last [few] weeks. I’m hopeful we get there.” Asked about a potential timetable for re-signing them, Harbaugh wasn’t sure, saying, “I think it’s just business.” The Ravens’ wide receiver group is also undergoing something of a smaller overhaul after Odell Beckham Jr. was released earlier this month in a salary-related move. Though he is still a free agent, he is not expected to return. For now, Baltimore’s top three receivers are Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Nelson Agholor, who re-signed last month. “We drafted two great players in the last three years the first round,” Harbaugh said about Flowers, a rookie last season who led the team in catches and yards, and Bateman. “I would think Rashod and Zay would be excited to step to the front together. That’s where it begins. Then we get a veteran player back in Nelly who did such a great job last year. … He played at a high level, he’s a real versatile player.” From there, however, things get murky with Tylan Wallace and Sean Ryan the only other receivers currently on the roster, though free agents Michael Gallup and Josh Reynolds visited Baltimore recently and there’s always the draft. Jackson has his wish list of potential additions, too. Of course, Jackson and the quarterback position isn’t one Harbaugh has to worry about, unlike this time a year ago. Now it’s about the two of them taking that next step: getting to a Super Bowl. “He’s looking at every aspect of his game,” Harbaugh said. “He starts with himself. That’s what I love about him.” View the full article Quote
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