(Photo courtesy of Iowa Athletics)
The lasting memory of the 2019 Ravens is wondering what could have been after that stunning home playoff loss to Tennessee, their first defeat in more than three months.
Whether fatally flawed to win in the postseason or simply choking at the worst possible time, that team was easily the NFL’s best overall in the 2019 regular season and the best in Ravens history in terms of record, points scored, point differential, and DVOA. Had they won the third Super Bowl championship in franchise history, we would speak of those Ravens as one of best teams of the last quarter-century. Instead, they’re remembered in a similar light to the 2006 Ravens, a great regular-season team with the kind of legacy largely forgotten in the end.
Three years later, however, it’s interesting to see some reminders of that 2019 team come together, making you wonder if the Lamar Jackson-era Ravens are attempting a return to their roots after being derailed in 2021.
Eight-time Pro Bowl guard Marshal Yanda may not be coming out of retirement, but the Ravens did receive his endorsement in drafting first-round center Tyler Linderbaum, another star offensive lineman for former Baltimore assistant Kirk Ferentz at the University of Iowa. No rookie can be held to Yanda’s standard, but general manager Eric DeCosta didn’t make such a meaningful investment at the position without expecting Linderbaum to be a dynamic interior presence. His selection and the March signing of veteran right tackle Morgan Moses — not to mention drafting fourth-round tackle Daniel Faalele for the future — mark a renewed commitment to building the kind of offensive line Jackson hasn’t played behind since that MVP season when Yanda still anchored the interior. Of course, the health of former Pro Bowl left tackle Ronnie Stanley’s left ankle remains paramount in projecting how good this offensive line can be, and the Ravens will also need running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards to return to pre-injury form to make their schemed ground attack special once again.
Selected 11 spots prior to Linderbaum, Notre Dame product Kyle Hamilton became just the third safety selected by the Ravens in the first round — joining Ed Reed in 2002 and Matt Elam in 2013 — and represented the second major investment in the secondary this offseason, the other being a five-year, $70 million deal for former New Orleans safety Marcus Williams. Cries for pass-rushing help were just as loud three years ago as they are now, but DeCosta signed six-time Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas in free agency and later acquired two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Peters before the trade deadline that October.
It’s not that the pass rush doesn’t matter — Baltimore just used a second-round pick on talented Michigan edge rusher David Ojabo after all — but the Ravens continue to subscribe to their roster-building philosophy of valuing coverage before pressure. How this safety-heavy secondary shakes out remains to be seen, but Peters’ arrival in October of 2019 prompted a move of veteran cornerback Brandon Carr to safety and greater use of a dime package — 41% of the time overall that season and even more than that down the stretch, per Football Outsiders — featuring three safeties. Such an alignment hid the coverage deficiency at inside linebacker that’s continued for the last few years. With Thomas being released for conduct detrimental to the team the following summer, dime usage fell to 16% in 2020, and the pass defense fell to 10th in DVOA after finishing fourth the previous year.
You can imagine how much fun defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald could have using any combination of Hamilton, Williams, Chuck Clark, and Brandon Stephens in various sub packages.
Still, no reminder of 2019 was more evident during the draft than the fourth-round selections of tight ends Charlie Kolar and Isaiah Likely. Enjoying the three-headed monster of Mark Andrews, Hayden Hurst, and Nick Boyle that routinely compromised defenses trying to anticipate run or pass three years ago, the Ravens were a one-man show at the position last year — an outstanding one, mind you — with Andrews catching a franchise-record 107 passes for 1,361 yards and nine touchdowns. Other Baltimore tight ends accounted for just 19 receptions, which includes Pro Bowl fullback Patrick Ricard in the accounting.
According to Sharp Football, the Ravens used at least two tight ends roughly 40% of the time in 2019, a number that’s declined with the trade of Hurst to Atlanta that offseason and the serious knee injury suffered by Boyle midway through the 2020 campaign. And while Ricard has played more and more as a blocking tight end since Boyle’s injury, the Ravens offense has missed having that dynamic trio that combined for 125 catches 1,522 yards, and 14 touchdowns in 2019.
Andrews, a 2021 All-Pro selection, will continue to lead the way by an overwhelming margin, but Kolar and Likely combined for 301 catches for 4,231 yards and 50 touchdowns in their collegiate careers. That production should have offensive coordinator Greg Roman salivating to use more 12 and 13 personnel, especially in the wake of the Marquise Brown trade to Arizona and the questions at wide receiver. Head coach John Harbaugh left open the possibility of the undersized Likely even being used as a wide receiver, but deploying multiple pass-catching tight ends augments Jackson’s biggest passing strength — the middle of the field — and forces defensive coordinators to respect both the run and pass when matching up against heavy packages.
Time will tell whether the Ravens ultimately play a brand of football more reminiscent of the 2019 team this coming season, but a more formidable offensive line complete with the healthy returns of Dobbins and Edwards, the possibility — if not the likelihood — of more three-safety looks, and a collection of pass-catching tight ends sound like a return to some principles of that franchise-best 14-2 season. If such changes result in the Ravens sitting atop the AFC come the postseason, they’ll try to avoid that last part of 2019 history repeating itself.
