ExtremeRavens Posted 11 hours ago Posted 11 hours ago On Thursday, the Ravens celebrated defensive tackle Travis Jones, a 2022 third-round draft pick who signed a three-year extension worth up to $40.5 million with $25 million in guaranteed salary. Jones’ new deal is considered relatively team-friendly for a productive interior lineman with respectable numbers this season. Solid work, Eric DeCosta. Let’s not escape reality, though. Too often this season, the Ravens’ offensive and defensive lines have been pushed around. The lack of beef is perhaps Baltimore’s most glaring flaw. Quarterback Lamar Jackson already has surpassed his 2024 season sack total, up to 29 from 23, despite playing in seven fewer games. During the team’s recent two-game skid, Baltimore defensive linemen have produced zero sacks and a measly 11 pressures over 85 combined dropbacks (12.9% pressure rate) by quarterbacks Joe Burrow and Aaron Rodgers. Yikes. Here comes Burrow again on Sunday. “We know that when you’re playing a quarterback of this caliber, any misstep, any wrong hesitation, [Burrow] is going to make you pay more times than not,” defensive coordinator Zach Orr said. “We have to execute, and then we have to get the football…we have to execute better on third down and then we have to get more takeaways.” All fine teaching points. The Ravens, though, desperately need help in the trenches. It’s difficult to imagine them correcting their season-long issues over the next month. Let’s play the hypothetical game for a second. What if the Ravens reel off four consecutive wins to close the season and clinch the AFC North title, along with a playoff berth? What if the Steelers collapse, and provide a postseason path for Baltimore? What if? Can you really trust the defensive and offensive lines in high-stakes January football? Behind Jones, the Ravens rely on 36-year-old John Jenkins (4,464 career defensive snaps), 34-year-old Brent Urban (2,655 snaps), and rookie CJ Okoye as primary depth. The lack of pressure up front has forced safety Kyle Hamilton into a three-level defender. Super Bowl-winning teams often have elite offensive and defensive lines, armed with pass-rush dominance. The Ravens have an outside shot at making the playoffs, but if they somehow reach that stage, will it be because of elite trench play? It’s OK to be realistic. The Zach Orr-led defense, at least, deserves slight grace. Losing pressure leader Nnamdi Madubuike, a $98 million defensive tackle, in Week 2 was gut-wrenching. His season-ending neck injury has caused an assortment of personnel issues with Baltimore consistently struggling to generate pressure, especially from the interior. There were more than a handful of options, albeit at hefty price tags, available around the trade deadline to help with Madubuike’s loss, but Baltimore only added safety Alohi Gilman and defensive end Dre’Mont Jones. Both have been productive pieces, but the defense still lacks game-wrecking pressure. Once touted as the NFL’s best roster, DeCosta’s group has been exposed. Elite pass rush and pass protection requires hardcore investment. Since taking over Ozzie Newsome’s post as general manager in 2019, DeCosta has overseen seven NFL drafts. During that span, DeCosta has made 13 premium selections (first- or second-round picks), with five (38.4%) of those picks dedicated to the offensive and defensive lines: defensive end Odafe Oweh (2021 first round), center Tyler Linderbaum (2022 first round), outside linebacker David Ojabo (2022 second round), right tackle Roger Rosengarten (2024 second round) and outside linebacker Mike Green (2025 second round). Among that group, only Linderbaum and Rosengarten have developed into full-time starters still with the team. Oweh started and produced a career-high 10 sacks in 2024, but he had zero sacks through his first five games this season, and the Ravens bid him farewell in an Oct. 7 trade that sent Oweh to the Chargers in exchange for Gilman. Ojabo has just 4 1/2 career sacks, including just a 1/2 sack in 2025 over 554 defensive snaps across four seasons. The jury is still deliberating on Green, who leads the team with 2 1/2 sacks as a rookie. The 2024 FBS leader in sacks (17 at Marshall) experienced a quick accession into the starting lineup because of Oweh’s trade, plus a midseason injury to fellow pass rusher Tavius Robinson. DeCosta has hit on a couple of mid-round selections dedicated to the trenches such as Jones and Madubuike, a 2020 third-round pick, but he’s also whiffed on plenty others. Newsome, meanwhile, often struck gold with finding productive pass rushers in the middle of the draft (see: Pernell McPhee, Za’Darius Smith, Matthew Judon, Paul Kruger, etc.) At some point in the near future, it’ll be time for DeCosta and company to get back to the drawing board. Free agency and the NFL draft will present opportunities to rebound once more. The Ravens on Thursday at least secured one important piece to the future. Extending Jones was sensible business. He’s earned it, and he’s one of the few interior linemen investments that has paid off. But Sunday’s matchup against Burrow in Cincinnati, along with the month ahead against consecutive above-average passers, will more than likely continue to expose the truth Baltimore currently faces. No matter how this wild season concludes, the Ravens need help and more beef in the trenches. Have a news tip? Contact Josh Tolentino at jtolentino@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, x.com/JCTSports and instagram.com/JCTSports. 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