With the Ravens undergoing plenty of changes and likely to have a smaller margin for error in 2024, maintaining a healthy roster will be even more critical moving forward.
Baltimore dealt with its share of key injuries last season with top running back J.K. Dobbins suffering a torn Achilles tendon in Week 1, outside linebackers Tyus Bowser (knee) and David Ojabo (knee) combining to appear in just three games, and Pro Bowl talents Marlon Humphrey (foot/calf) and Mark Andrews (ankle) missing significant action. However, 2023 still brought improvement from the previous two seasons when the Ravens saw their championship aspirations hammered by injuries.
For team-by-team comparisons, we often see the number of players on injured reserve cited, but that doesn’t provide much context. How many injuries were to starters and key reserves compared to seldom-used backups or even training camp bodies who never had a real chance of making the team? How many went on IR early in the season compared to late December or early January? And what about individuals playing through ailments compared to teams featuring cleaner injury reports most weeks?
Years ago, Aaron Schatz of FTN Network (and formerly Football Outsiders) put together a metric called adjusted games lost to attempt to quantify the degree to which teams were impacted by injuries. Instead of merely counting the number of games lost for each player on IR, the metric weighs the projected role for each injured player — starter, key reserve, bench-warmer, etc. — and accounts for those listed on weekly injury reports and potentially playing at less than 100%. In other words, the metric doesn’t weigh the loss of an All-Pro talent or reliable starter the same as a developmental player placed on IR at the end of the preseason and also considers those playing through injuries that might impact performance.
The Ravens finished with the 14th-most adjusted games lost last season after finishing with the eighth most in 2022 and leading the NFL in their nightmare 2021 campaign on the injury front. To little surprise, Baltimore endured the most adjusted games lost at the running back position with Dobbins going down in the opener and surprising rookie Keaton Mitchell suffering a torn ACL in Week 15. The Ravens also finished with the most adjusted games lost at edge rusher with Bowser missing the entire season, Ojabo going on IR at the end of September, and Odafe Oweh missing four games with an ankle injury.
The decrease in injuries follows well-documented changes to the strength staff last offseason with Baltimore firing unpopular head strength and conditioning coach Steve Saunders and promoting assistant Scott Elliott to strength and conditioning coordinator. The changes brought an improved grade from players in the latest NFLPA report card released last month.
“It was really an evolution of what we’ve been doing,” head coach John Harbaugh said in mid-January. “We felt we were doing a lot of great things in the weight room. We felt like we had a very good program, and I have a lot of respect for Steve Saunders. He worked really hard and did a heck of a job and made us a strong and in-condition football team. Then Scott, through the circumstances that take place, they are what they are. Scott stepped in — in maybe a little bit of a tough circumstance, right? — and just handled it gracefully and aggressively and did a great job. He’s one of the stars of the season — not just Scott, but the whole group [of strength and conditioning coaches].”
Only two teams — Houston and Cleveland — finishing in the top eight in most adjusted games lost made the postseason in 2023. And despite just three of the eight teams ranking with the fewest adjusted games lost making the playoffs, the Super Bowl LVIII participants were among them with champion Kansas City finishing with the sixth fewest and San Francisco having the fourth fewest.
Below is a look at where the Ravens have finished in the adjusted games lost metric over the years:
2023 — 71.3 (14th most in NFL)
2022 — 102.6 (eighth most in NFL)
2021 — 191.2 (most in NFL)
2020 — 59.6 (eighth fewest in NFL)
2019 — 68.7 (16th fewest in NFL)
2018 — 29.7 (fewest in NFL)
2017 — 101.6 (sixth most in NFL)
2016 — 62.0 (11th fewest in NFL)
2015 — 96.1 (third most in NFL)
2014 — 52.6 (seventh fewest in NFL)
2013 — 49.8 (ninth fewest in NFL)
2012 — 57.4 (13th fewest in NFL)
2011 — 18.8 (fewest in NFL)
2010 — 50.9 (15th fewest in NFL)
2009 — 28.8 (seventh fewest in NFL)
2008 — 95.0 (third most in NFL)
