Any analysis of the Ravens’ Super Bowl dreams this season — or any season, really — starts with quarterback Lamar Jackson. So does any ranking of the team’s top players.
After that top spot, though? That’s where it gets complicated. The Ravens, like a lot of teams, have a handful of promising players at important positions, good players at less important positions and potential star players with medical red flags.
Ahead of the start of Ravens training camp this month, The Baltimore Banner ranked the top players on the 2023 roster based on their projected impact. Here are Nos. 20-11, with the top 10 coming Wednesday.
20. Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (tie)
In an Instagram post this month, Beckham shared a message that bookended a series of workout photos: “I owe it to myself to get back to who tf [the f---] I was.” The Ravens owe Beckham $15 million this season in part because they expect a metamorphosis, too. After a year off, though, how far back can Beckham go in his time machine?
The three-time Pro Bowl selection hasn’t had a 1,000-yard season since 2019. A year later, Beckham suffered his first of two torn ACLs. If the 30-year-old’s surgically repaired left knee limits his explosiveness, Beckham could struggle; he was only a tertiary option during the 2021 regular season with the Los Angeles Rams, when he was playing on an already torn ACL. But, if Beckham’s time away proves restorative, he could look more like the resurgent star he was during the Rams’ Super Bowl run.
20. Fullback Patrick Ricard (tie)
Ricard played 698 offensive snaps last season, a career high and only 89 fewer than tight end Mark Andrews, the Ravens’ most active skill position player. Ricard’s heavy workload wasn’t necessarily a reflection of the team’s injury woes at wide receiver, either. He averaged 42.6 offensive snaps per game in eight appearances before Rashod Bateman was placed on injured reserve, and 39.7 snaps in the nine games after.
Former offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s reliance on Ricard, even in obvious passing situations, was a source of frustration for fans and an inconvenience at times for Jackson. But the four-time Pro Bowl selection is a punishing blocker who can wash out inside linebackers and hold off edge rushers. First-year play-caller Todd Monken, who wants the ability to control games with the run, will find a role for him somewhere. Ricard’s recovery from offseason hip surgery, which sidelined him at organized team activities and mandatory minicamp, has made it difficult to imagine how big that role could be.
19. Wide receiver Zay Flowers
Flowers doesn’t have an exceptionally high bar to clear to become the most successful rookie wide receiver in Ravens history. Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, a first-round pick in 2019, had 584 receiving yards. Bateman, a first-rounder in 2021, had 515. The rookie-year record belongs to Torrey Smith, who had 841 yards in 2011.
With this team’s receiving talent, Flowers probably won’t average six targets per game, as Smith did. But the No. 22 overall pick can certainly be as efficient and dynamic, if not more so. Flowers was a bona fide downfield threat at Boston College, where he showed the speed and inside-outside versatility the Ravens covet at the position. If the 5-foot-9 Flowers can withstand the physicality of NFL defenses, he should have a prominent role in the passing game, and perhaps the occasional cameo in the ground game.
18. Defensive lineman Broderick Washington
Washington was a relative no-name when the Ravens took him in the fifth round of the 2020 draft. At Texas Tech, he’d been more of a run stopper than a pass rusher. His NFL career started inconspicuously: two tackles in eight games as a rookie, plus a concussion, a bout with COVID-19 and an offseason arrest.
Ever since, Washington’s been a model of self-improvement. He led all Ravens defensive linemen last season in run stops, according to Pro Football Focus, with 23 tackles leading to unsuccessful carries by an opponent. He had six passes defended, among the most at his position. And he helped anchor one of the NFL’s best run defenses despite playing over 100 snaps as an undersize nose tackle. Entering the final year of his rookie contract, Washington is set to take on the biggest role of his career. With another step forward as a pass rusher (two career sacks), his game could make another big leap.
17. Outside linebacker Tyus Bowser
Bowser’s final three games last season offered a glimpse of what his 2022 could’ve been. From Week 17 to the AFC wild-card round, he had five pressures and one sack against Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (on just 36 pass-rush snaps, according to PFF), blanketed a Pittsburgh Steelers tight end and wide receiver in the red zone and did his usual yeoman’s work on run defense.
Before he tore his Achilles tendon in January 2022, Bowser was a rising star on the Ravens’ defense. The injury, which sidelined him until November, messed with that momentum. But, without a rehabilitation to slow him, Bowser should enter this season as the Ravens’ most well-rounded outside linebacker. His edge-setting power, coverage skills and improved pass-rush toolkit make him an every-down option.
16. Right tackle Morgan Moses
Moses didn’t have the smoothest start in Baltimore. He allowed four sacks over his first seven games, according to PFF, as the Ravens’ usually reliable run game struggled. He left the team’s Week 6 loss to the New York Giants with a heel injury and was limited in the Week 7 win over the Cleveland Browns.
Over the second half of the season, though, things started to turn around. PFF rated him a top-20 tackle in the NFL after the Ravens’ bye week, a stretch during which he allowed just one sack and brought a much-needed swagger to the offensive line. Moses struggled at times against the AFC North’s premier pass rushers, but his emergence as a puller in the Ravens’ power-running attack helped lift the ground game even after Jackson was lost for the year. With another year of continuity along the right side of the line, Moses should be even better.
15. Outside linebacker David Ojabo
Ojabo is talented enough to spearhead the Ravens’ pass rush. Just as important, he’s healthy enough, too. Ojabo’s recovery from a torn Achilles tendon limited him to 23 snaps in three appearances last season, including the playoffs. Aside from a strip-sack in the Ravens’ regular-season finale against the Bengals, he struggled to win as a pass rusher and shed blocks as a run defender.
In May, Ojabo pronounced himself “110%.” And he looked it, too. The burst and bend that had powered his breakout 2021 at Michigan, when he finished with 11 sacks and a program-record five forced fumbles, were on display throughout offseason workouts. So were the five to 10 pounds of muscle he said he added to his 6-4 frame. If Ojabo can stay slippery when the pads come on, he could be the first Raven to reach double-digit sacks in a season since Terrell Suggs, in 2017.
14. Wide receiver Rashod Bateman
The hype is on hold for now. In the months since a Lisfranc (foot) injury ended Bateman’s season after Week 8, his most notable activity has been on Twitter. In March, he lashed out at general manager Eric DeCosta over his comments at the NFL scouting combine about the Ravens’ wide receiver room. (Bateman later deleted the tweet and apologized, and coach John Harbaugh said in March that Bateman is in a “great place” with the organization.)
It might not be long before the focus returns to the 2021 first-round pick’s tantalizing potential. After an overhaul of the wide receiver room, Bateman is still the wideout best positioned for a breakout year. Despite playing at less than full strength last season, he finished 13th in the NFL in yards per route run among wide receivers with at least 25 targets, according to PFF. And, with the screws removed from his surgically repaired left foot, Bateman’s offseason rehabilitation has been promising. If he can stay healthy — a big if, after missing 16 games over his first two years — Bateman projects as a solid WR1.
13. Right guard Kevin Zeitler
Zeitler was as steady as a heartbeat last season. Among regular starters, he graded out as the NFL’s 15th-best run-blocking guard and fifth-best pass-blocking guard, according to PFF. Only four other guards ranked in the top 15 in both. According to Sports Info Solutions, his overall blown-block rate (1.2%) was tied with left guard Ben Powers for the second best in the league at the position.
Even as he enters the final year of his contract, Zeitler remains an offensive cornerstone. The 33-year-old missed two games last year — one because of a minor knee injury, one for rest ahead of the playoffs — for the first time since 2014, but still finished fourth on the offense in total snaps. With another strong season up front, Zeitler could earn his first Pro Bowl nod.
12. Defensive lineman Justin Madubuike
Madubuike’s third year in Baltimore was by far his best. He set career highs in games played (17), starts (16), sacks (5 1/2), tackles (42), tackles for loss (eight), quarterback hits (nine) and passes defended (three), and he led all Ravens defensive linemen in snaps. With the quickness to knife through gaps and the strength to absorb double teams, Madubuike remains a pain for zone-blocking offensive linemen; opposing running backs averaged just 3.6 yards per carry against the Ravens last season on zone concepts, according to SIS.
All that was missing from Madubuike’s 2022 was more pass-rush consistency. Despite his solid sack total, he ranked No. 47 in win rate and No. 34 in total pressures among interior linemen with at least 200 pass-rush snaps, according to PFF. Year 4 has been a launchpad for young defensive linemen, and another step forward from Madubuike would net a big payday.
11. Left tackle Ronnie Stanley
It’s been a while since Stanley’s had an offseason this normal. He said last month he hasn’t felt this healthy since 2020, when he underwent the first of several ankle surgeries that knocked his career off course. That’s promising news for the Ravens. After an All-Pro season in 2019, Stanley led all tackles in pass-block win rate and was fifth in run-block win rate, according to ESPN, at the time of his season-ending ankle injury.
Stanley’s rehab delayed his debut until Week 5 last season, but he impressed in 11 starts at his blind-side post. He allowed just one sack and 16 pressures and was called for one holding penalty over 298 pass-blocking snaps, according to PFF. At Georgia, Monken found creative ways to get left tackle Broderick Jones, a first-round pick in this year’s draft, into space against overmatched defenders. Stanley’s athleticism could open similar doors in 2023.
Honorable mention: Wide receiver-returner Devin Duvernay, running back Gus Edwards, tight end Isaiah Likely, defensive lineman Michael Pierce, outside linebacker Odafe Oweh.
