Predicting which seven Ravens made the NFL Network’s Top 100 list
The Baltimore Ravens were the best team in the league in the regular season last year. They finished with not only a league-best and franchise-record 14 wins to just two losses, but they also had their second straight AFC division title and the AFC’s No.1 seed locked up before the last week of the season. The Ravens sent the more players to the Pro Bowl than any other team so it shouldn’t be a shock that they have a large contingent of players make the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players list this year.
The list is voted on by the players and according to league post via Reddit, the Ravens are tied with the New Orleans Saints for the most players on the list, at seven apiece. That’s a significant increase from last season when they had just two players that suited up for them in 2018 make the list—CJ Mosley and Eric Weddle—and one player that is currently on the roster in running back Mark Ingram but he had earned his spot on the list from his play as a member of the Saints.
While being tied for the most is impressive, the fact that only seven made the list means that almost half of the franchise record 13 players that went to the Pro Bowl will be left off the list. Every year there are always debates about who got snubbed and who was ranked too high or too low and this year won’t be any different.
The program will be a four-night event premiering on July 26 and concluding on July 29 and while we still have to wait and see who made the list and where they land on it, I’ll give an educated guess as to who the seven Ravens will be below:
QB Lamar Jackson: unranked in 2019
The Ravens franchise quarterback set the league ablaze in his breakout sophomore season by leading the league passing touchdowns with 36 and finishing sixth in rushing—first among quarterbacks— with 1,206 yards and seven touchdowns rushing which also broke the single-season record for his position.
Jackson was absolutely memorizing in 2019 with the way he racked up highlight plays with both his arm and his legs. Every week he left the ankles of embarrassed would be tacklers concave in his wake with his stop on a dime jukes, cuts and spin moves in the open field that looked like something straight out of a video game.
Speaking off video games, Jackson’s historic season not only earned him just the second-ever unanimous league MVP award, but it also earned him the honor of being the cover athlete for the popular sports video game franchise Madden for the 2020 edition. Any top players list without him on it is a complete joke and any ranking outside of the top three or five is still a travesty because he was without a doubt the most dominant player in the league last season.
RB Mark Ingram: ranked No.80 in 2019
The former Heisman Trophy-winning running back and first-round pick exceeded every expectation that the Ravens had in mind when they signed him in unrestricted free agency. They signed the former Saint to a three-year deal worth just $15 million but his impact on the 2019 Ravens was priceless.
He not only made his third career Pro Bowl and become the team’s most productive back from a statistical standpoint with over 1,200 yards and 15 touchdowns from scrimmage that included over 1,000 on the ground, but he was also a smashing hit with his teammates both on the field and in the locker room. He became an instant fan favorite and the self-appointed hype man for Jackson and the rest of the team with entertaining soundbites that he churned out on a seemingly weekly basis.
Ingram was just as dynamic on the field as he was humorous and fun-loving off of it last year. He was the thunder to Jackson’s lightening and often served as the tone-setter early on in games as the Ravens unleashed their revolutionary rushing attack that shattered single-season records. In addition to being a powerful runner of the football, he was a deceptively good catcher of it as well that would make opposing defenses pay for sleeping on his underrated hands and route-running ability.
CB Marlon Humphrey: unranked in 2019
The 2017 first-round pick has been an ascending talent for years and as his role grew on defense, he became more and more of a factor. Last year was his first season as a full-time starter and he did not disappoint by not only getting voted to his first career Pro Bowl but also by receiving First-Team All-Pro honors and establishing himself as one of the best corners in the league.
His physicality and ability to plaster receivers in both press and man coverage by staying in their hip pocket so closely that it seemed like at times that he was the one running the route has been his calling card since his collegiate days at the University of Alabama but in 2019 he became a complete corner. In addition to being sticky and physical in coverage, Humphrey began making more game-changing plays.
He recorded career highs in total tackles (65), tackles for loss (four), interception (three), forced fumbles (two), fumble recoveries (three), and he even logged his first quarterback hit on a blitz that nearly gave him his first career sack. One of his forced fumbles helped seal a victory over the Ravens’ bitter division rival Pittsburgh Steelers in their first matchup and he returned two of his three fumble recoveries for scores that helped the Ravens put a pair of games out of reach.
OT Ronnie Stanley: unranked in 2019
The fact that he hasn’t been on this list to date even though he’s been one of the best and most consistent players at the position since he entered the league is beyond head-scratching but there is no way that he not only makes an appearance on the list but comes in somewhere in the top half maybe even the top 30 considering all the national attention the team got this year.
Stanley did not allow a single sack last season and just gave six pressures all year earning his first both Pro Bowl and First-Team All-Pro honors. He finished 2019 with the highest pass protecting grade in the league according to Pro Football Focus at 98.9and earned their Pass Blocker of Year award. He has established himself as one of if not the best offensive tackles in the league, certainly the best by far when it comes to pass protection, which is a designation that could make him the highest-paid non-quarterback when his contract is up.
CB Marcus Peters: unranked in 2019
The former first-round pick had his streak of consecutive appearances on the Top 100 list end at three in a row when he didn’t make the cut last year, but he’s poised to return this year after the season he had in 2019. He made a huge splash in his first game with the Ravens after getting acquired at the midseason trade deadline from the Los Angeles Rams by picking off Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and returning it 70 yards for a touchdown. He brought a ball-hawking element to the Ravens’ secondary that they’ve been missing since days when Ed Reed was patrolling the skies in the backend.
Despite joining the Ravens at the midway point of the season, Peters not only had the most interceptions of any player on the team on the year but he also finished the year tied for the second-most in the league with five and ran away with the lead for the most interception return yards with 210 which was 65 yards more than the second closest.
He’s one of the smartest and most instinctual players in the league with the way be baits opposing quarterbacks into thinking they have wide-open windows and targets to throw to before undercutting the pass for an interception or a least deflecting it from its intended target. Peters was also voted to both the Pro Bowl and the First-Team All-Pro Team in 2019 and is the other half of arguably the best cornerback tandem in the league with Humphrey.
DE Calais Campbell: ranked No.54 in 2019
Like Ingram last year, Campbell is coming from another team but will still count towards the Ravens’ seven players on the list if he makes the cut which he most likely will given the respect he commands among his peers around the league both on and off the field. As a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars last season he earned his third straight trip to the Pro Bowl where he got an early taste of what it was like to get coached by the Ravens staff and play alongside some of their players at the annual all-star game.
Campbell is one of the most versatile and disruptive defenders in the game that has aged like fine wine and is playing the best football of his professional career into his 30s. While he failed to record double-digit sacks for the third year in a row with just 6.5 last season, he was still one of the most dominant pass rushers in the NFL. His 25 quarterback hits were tied for the eighth-most in the league.
TE Mark Andrews: unranked in 2019
This spot is a toss-up between Andrews, outside linebacker Matthew Judon who also broke out in 2019, and safety Earl Thomas who rebounded as well as could’ve been expected from a broken leg that cut his 2018 campaign short. However, I went with Andrews here because this a league where players that play flashier positions like the primary pass-catching tight end for a team get more notoriety and attention than a defender that led his team in sacks but didn’t crack double digits or an often overlooked position like safety if they aren’t among the league leaders in interceptions.
Andrews followed up his solid rookie campaign with an outstanding second act in year two where he led the team in catches with 64, receiving yards with 852, and his 10 touchdown receptions were most among all tight ends in the league. He was Jackson’s favorite target in the passing game and terrorized opposing defense down the seams. The Ravens loved to take advantage of overzealous teams that loaded the box to try to stuff or at least slow down the run by throwing the ball over their heads down the middle and Andrews was often the recipient of those passes and the benefactor in those situations.
The former third-round pick established himself as one on the best receiving threats at his position last season and outplayed his 2018 draftee and fellow tight end Hayden Hurst, who was drafted before Jackson in the first round that year, to the point that he was expendable and was ultimately traded to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for the second-round pick that was used to draft Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins who has could be the heir apparent to Ingram as the future face of the Ravens’ backfield.
