By Ryan Burnett, Staff Writer
From Lamar Jackson’s return to signing Odell Beckham Jr., the Baltimore Ravens did it all. After an interesting 6 months, the Ravens finally gave Lamar the largest quarterback contract in the NFL, and drafted a player Ravens fans are excited to watch.
To help out Lamar, the Ravens drafted Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers. Along with Travis Duvena and Beckham, this will give the Ravens one of the best wide receiver corps in the league. Fresh new talent, combined with the experience of Lamar Jackson will help the Ravens bounce back from last year’s lackluster season.
The Ravens also signed a 15-year lease on M&T Bank stadium in the heart of Baltimore–this means they are not going anywhere anytime soon. The stadium opened in 1998 when the Ravens came into the league with the stadium serving as their home ever since. This helps the city of Baltimore because it brings in more people especially with the new Top Golf.
With all of these highs there are some lows. Sic-times Pro Bowler Calais Campbell chose to leave the Ravens to play in Arizona. Running back Gus Edwards is also coming off of a serious injury that took him out for most of the season. Lamar Jackson also only played for 12 weeks last year until a devastating hip injury.
Lamar Jackson finished the season with 2242 passing yards, which is the lowest since his rookie season. This season was a below average year for the two-time Pro Bowler, so hopefully he can play as he did in 2019. Senior Jack Hadeed stated “I think he will perform well.”
Freshman Charlie Yamos thinks “the Ravens will do pretty good because they got some good draft picks.” He went on to say “we’ll just have to wait and see.” He is right in saying that the Ravens got good draft picks because they got about 7 solid players that will help the offense be complete. Freshman Max Droughty added that “the Ravens are going to do good because we got Lamar back.”
One of the biggest problems the Ravens face is player injuries. Going into the playoffs against the Cincinnati Bengals, all of the Ravens fans knew they were not going to win. And they did not win. If the Ravens can stay healthy and play their A game, they could have what it takes to make it all the way to the Super Bowl 58.
The Ravens have to figure out their offense after firing Greg Roman. He will be replaced with Todd Monken. The Ravens play very specifically to Lamar’s play style and they can’t change that. So it will be interesting to see if they change up their offense.
With one of the biggest off seasons in the NFL, the only thing fans can do is wait until September when the journey begins.