The Ravens are built to dominate the AFC and win it all in 2020

Last season the Baltimore Ravens were the most electric and entertaining team in the NFL and their 14-2 record was best in both the league and in franchise history. Lamar Jackson had an MVP season for the ages in just his second year and first as a full-time starter. He led the way for an offense that not only led the league in scoring despite mostly keeping the ball on the ground, but they were able to steamroll their way into the record books by setting the single-season rushing record for a team and Jackson shattered the same record for the quarterback position.

Baltimore was the hottest team in the league heading into the 2019 playoffs riding a 12-game winning streak after a 2-2 start to the season and had the top overall seed as well as home-field advantage locked up before the regular-season finale.

Coming off a first-round bye, they faced and equally as hot Tennessee Titans team who had the battle their way back from a 2-4 start to the year and had been fighting for their playoff lives since midway through the season and were shockingly upset 28-12 in their own home.

Heading into the postseason many believed that the Ravens were on a collision course to meet Patrick Mahomes and the eventual champion Kansas City Chiefs in the conference title game for a chance to advance to the Superbowl. It would’ve been the third head to head matchup between the last two league MVPs, the second of the year, and the first in the playoffs. The Ravens narrowly lost to the Chiefs early in the year in Week 3 of the regular season 33-28.

The reigning champions have been a thorn in the Ravens’ side for the past two seasons and the Titans beat them at their own game to the tune of 195 yards from the league’s leading rusher in Derrick Henry, prematurely ending what many believed would be a deep postseason run. Baltimore will get their chance for rematches with both the Titans and the Chiefs this fall since they will host both teams at M&T Bank Stadium this season. They’ll play the Chiefs in primetime on Monday Night Football in another Week 3 showdown and they’ll take on Titans in Week 11.

After closing watching how the rest of the playoffs unfolded for those two teams and reflecting on what went wrong in their own short-lived campaign, the Ravens didn’t exactly go back to the drawing board. They recognized what they believe they needed to do to achieve their ultimate goal in 2020 and addressed them in the offseason via the draft and in free agency where they picked up some rookie and veteran talent to improve their team and fill their needs.

This year’s team is equipped with the personnel to counteract and overcome anything that their conference or non-conference opponents have to throw at them on either side of the ball. After watching their own front seven get bullied and pushed around against the Titans and the San Francisco 49ers’ loaded first and second levels of their defense give Mahomes fits for the first three-plus quarters of the Superbowl and nearly had them on the ropes, General Manager went back to the Ravens’ old roots and reshaped the interior of the defense.

The team had allocated a significant amount of resources to their secondary in recent years even before DeCosta took over as general manager and following the events that transpired in then playoffs, he decided it was time to turn his attention towards foundational pieces of the defense which is the interior defensive line and the inside linebacker position.

Baltimore has a rich history of finding highly successful, Pro Bowl and even Hall-of-Fame caliber players at those positions and while they had the league’s best run-stuffing duo clogging up the middle in Brandon Williams and Michael Pierce, they have been missing a consistent pocket collapsing pass rush presence ever since they traded Haloti Ngata to the Detroit Lions following the 2014 season.

Their first move and most impressive move as well as potentially most impactful was the acquisition of veteran defensive end Calais Campbell from the Jacksonville Jaguars via trade. The five-time Pro Bowler who is having the best production of his career in its perceived twilight has amassed 31.5 sacks in the last three seasons and vastly upgrades the defense’s ability to apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks up the belly of the offense. At 6-foot-8 and 300 pounds, he’s a physical freak of nature with the athleticism to lineup anywhere along the defensive front that includes three-technique or five-technique in the base defense and nose tackle or on the edge to the outside shoulder of an offensive tackle in sub-packages.

That move alone could have been all they were missing to tilt the scales in favor heading into the 2020 season when playing the elite offenses and their quarterbacks but the Ravens never rest on their laurels, not plan for every contingency or not plan for the future. That smart way of thinking prompted them to double down at upgrading the defensive end position and sign Derek Wolfe after their deal with Rams defensive tackle Michael Brockers fell though.

In the draft, DeCosta double-dipped at several positions including at defensive tackle with the selections of Justin Madubuike (Texas A&M) in the third round and Broderick Washington (Texas Tech) in the fifth. The former Aggie has a similar build and possesses position versatility like Campbell. He has the potential to develop into a great interior pass rusher at the next level and he’ll be learning from one of the best in the game to start his career.

As rich as the Ravens tradition of drafting and collecting great defensive talent, their track record of drafting and unearthing inside and outside linebackers is just as good if not better. They’ve had a high hit rate throughout the draft from the early to later rounds and no other team is better at finding and developing undrafted middle linebackers like the Baltimore Ravens.

While the Ravens didn’t draft a player at the outside linebacker position this year, inside linebacker was one of the other positions along with defensive tackle, offensive linemen and wide receiver that they doubled down on. They selected an inside linebacker in the first round for just the third time in franchise history in Patrick Queen (LSU) and in the third round, they selected Malik Harrison (Ohio State). Both players could emerge as starters as rookies and be the future at the position for the team and one of the best inside linebacker tandems in the league.

Even though the Ravens finished as the best rushing and scoring offense in the league, there is always room for improvement. The Ravens’ prolific unit from a year ago needed to add additional depth at a few positions and find a replacement at right guard after future Hall of Famer Marshal Yanda retired this offseason.

DeCosta and company brought in plenty of candidates both through the draft and via free agency to duke it out at right guard in what will be perhaps the fiercest battle in training camp. In addition to last year’s fourth-round pick Ben Powers who made one start at right guard as a rookie, the Ravens drafted Tyre Philipps (Mississippi State) and Ben Bredesen (Michigan) and brought in veteran DJ Fluker after the draft to compete for the starting job.

Powers was considered the early front runner following the draft since Phillips primarily played tackle in college but project to guard at the next level and Bredeson is a quality depth guy with upside. However, Fluker is a former first-round pick and has the most experience and pedigree of the bunch with 88 career starts and at 6-foot-5 and 342 pounds, he’s an absolute mauler in the running game which along with the other aforementioned attributes bodes well for his chances of emerging as the starter in this COVID condensed offseason.

Despite drafting a pair of receivers in last year’s draft with speed and complementary skillsets and playing styles in Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown in the first and Miles Boykin in the third bot of which made contributions as rookies, the receiver position was one that still needed to be addressed. It was the third position that the Ravens doubled dipped on in the draft with the selection of Devin Duvernay (Texas) in the third round and James Proche (SMU) in the sixth. The Ravens want their young and speedy receiving core to grow up and develop with Jackson and help him take his already vastly improving passing acumen to the next level. He led the NFL in passing touchdowns 36, including a league-high 25 from the pocket…not bad for a running back.

Even without Hayden Hurst rounding out the tight end group, they still remain one of the best in the league with 2019 breakout star Mark Andrews leading the pack and veteran Nick Boyle dominating in the run game as one of the best blocking tight ends in the league. Undrafted free agents Jacob Breeland (Oregon) and Eli Wolf (Georgia) will battle for the Hurst’s spot on the roster as the third player on the depth chart. Breeland is a pass-catching specialist like Andrews and Wolf is a powerful blocker like Boyle.

With all of the notable difference-making additions to a team that is already returning plenty of young talent, the Ravens are loaded on both sides of the ball and are poised to have one of if not the top overall offense in the league and if their beefed up interior pass rush can help them get more pressure by just rushing four, they could have a top-ranked defense as well. The 2020 Ravens are equipped with the personnel to keep up with and slow down any team in the league not just in the AFC but across both conferences.