The Ravens’ rookies reported to Owings Mills Tuesday as the first full-squad practice to kick off training camp is now only a week away.
With expectations again sky high for a team light on January success despite advancing to the playoffs in six of the last seven years and being one of the NFL’s top regular-season teams over that period, below are five questions for the offense as preparations start getting serious for 2025:
1. What’s next for Lamar Jackson and Todd Monken in their third season working together?
Two years ago, Jackson won his second NFL MVP award and Baltimore was a consensus top-5 offense after Monken replaced Greg Roman as offensive coordinator. Last season, Jackson had arguably the best season of his career as he eclipsed 4,000 passing yards for the first time and threw 41 touchdowns to just four interceptions. And that increased passing volume came at no expense of a ground game that remained the league’s best with veteran newcomer Derrick Henry running for more than 1,900 and earning his fifth trip to the Pro Bowl.
Monken was serious in stating his intentions to hand Jackson the keys to the offense two years ago, and the 28-year-old has grown markedly as a pocket passer and pre-snap processor, which should squash any of those old questions about the superstar quarterback’s ability to continue thriving into his 30s when Father Time will start to slow him down athletically. But Jackson remains firmly in his prime physically, which is a terrifying proposition for opposing defenses trying to contain a transcendent athlete who scrambles to pass more often than he does to run at this point of his career.
When you rank first in the NFL in both passing and rushing efficiency as well as yards per play by a wide margin as the Ravens did last year, the more realistic question is about maintaining that elite level of play rather than improving, but this quarterback-coordinator partnership has been a tremendous fit. If Jackson is healthy and upright, Baltimore should remain one of the best offenses in football, regardless of what else transpires on that side of the ball. Of course, all that matters at this point is getting back to the January stage and Jackson, Monken, and the Ravens finally breaking through to get to a Super Bowl.
2. Will Baltimore continue to get by at the guard spots?
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Considering how much oxygen was spent discussing both guard spots last summer, those positions held up well enough for the Ravens to field an explosive and efficient offense, which was a reminder that even the top teams are going to have their questionable spots. Of course, that’s not to say the guard play didn’t have its problems with Patrick Mekari replacing Andrew Vorhees in Week 4 and Daniel Faalele experiencing his ups and downs at right guard despite starting every game and being voted a Pro Bowl alternate.
With Mekari now in Jacksonville, Vorhees is again the favorite to start at left guard, but he’ll be pushed by veteran Ben Cleveland, who faces a possible suspension for an offseason DUI and has failed to win a starting job in multiple position battles over the years. Faalele is entering a contract year, so we’ll see if his play can reach another level with plenty of motivation and a year of starting experience under his belt.
The guard spots don’t need to be a strength, but the weak link on this offense can’t be problematic either.
3. How does the 33-year-old DeAndre Hopkins fit into the passing game?
There’s just one football to go around and the five-time Pro Bowl selection has eclipsed 720 receiving yards just once in the last four years, meaning expectations should be tempered from a statistical standpoint. But this isn’t the Ravens of old signing a past-his-prime veteran to serve as the No. 1 wide receiver, which should make this signing feel like adding Odell Beckham Jr. at a more appropriate price point ($5 million) than the $15 million he was given two years ago.
If there’s more to unlock regarding the passing game, it’s Jackson having another viable option to win on the outside and make contested catches, which are abilities Hopkins still possesses at this late stage of his career. And as the No. 3 receiver behind starters Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman and playing in an offense also sporting two high-quality tight ends, Hopkins is hardly going to be an every-snap player, which should help his health and effectiveness over a long season.
All that being said, it’s tough to ignore the way Hopkins faded down the stretch with Kansas City last year. After making 26 catches for 325 yards and three touchdowns over his first six games with the Chiefs, he saw diminished playing time over the final seven contests including the postseason, making a total of just 18 catches for 141 yards and two touchdowns in an offense that wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders despite advancing all the way to the Super Bowl.
84. Who will be the No. 1 tight end by season’s end?
Less than a week before veterans report, Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely remain unsigned beyond 2025 with most expecting general manager Eric DeCosta to only re-sign one of his top two tight ends for next season and beyond. And while everyone in the tight end room wants to win, this is also a business with the 29-year-old Andrews coming off an offseason filled with trade rumors and Likely, 25, looking to cash in after completing his modest rookie deal as a fourth-round pick.
The age difference and the juxtaposition of Likely’s last-minute sliding touchdown grab compared to Andrews’ critical fourth-quarter mistakes in the playoff loss at Buffalo may make this an easy call on paper, but we’re still talking about the franchise’s all-time touchdown leader and Jackson’s longtime safety net. And considering the way Jackson went out of his way to talk up Andrews at last month’s minicamp as well as the quarterback’s propensity for forcing the ball to his longtime favorite target on occasion, the three-time Pro Bowl selection isn’t simply going to fade to the background in favor of Likely.
None of this is to predict a rift or any kind of a falling out, but future earnings are at stake here, which could lead to some frustration for Andrews or Likely — or both — depending on usage and opportunity. Again, there’s only one ball and so many targets.
5. Is the offensive line deep enough to navigate 17 games and beyond?
The Ravens used only two starting offensive line combinations all last year and the same one from Week 4 through the divisional round, which spoke to the remarkable health they enjoyed as a team. Expecting to duplicate that is unrealistic, which brings the unit’s depth under scrutiny.
Losing the versatile Mekari is a tough blow as he was able to play every offensive line spot at a solid level, which is rare and valuable on game days. The Ravens hope new veteran swing tackle Joseph Noteboom can help fill the void left behind by Mekari and fellow free-agent departure Josh Jones, but the 30-year-old dealt with injuries and saw his play suffer with the Los Angeles Rams over the last few years. In other words, Baltimore needs left tackle Ronnie Stanley to at least come close to duplicating his 2024 in which he started every game in a season for the first time in his career.
Beyond Noteboom and Cleveland, the Ravens are looking at rookies and completely unproven youngsters to fill out the rest of the depth chart. Even 2025 third-round pick Emery Jones Jr. is a big question mark to be able to serve as viable depth since he missed the entire spring recovering from a shoulder injury and will begin camp on the non-football injury list, leaving his status for the start of the season up in the air.
To be clear, few NFL teams have much quality depth behind their starting offensive line, but a dependable piece like Mekari went a long way to ease that reality for Baltimore.
