It’s the start of a new era of football in Baltimore. The Ravens have their first preseason game on deck with a new head coach, new coaching staff, new jerseys, new stadium upgrades and more. Are you really a football fan if you don’t overreact to how your team does in its first game action, even if it is preseason? That being said, try not to let it sway your opinion on this team too much just yet. Here’s what we are looking out for in today’s matchup against the Eagles.
Ja’Kobi Lane
The Ja’Kobi Lane Hype Train
(trademark pending) left the station early in training camp and has blown past original expectations. It’s no surprise that Lane has become a fan favorite. His Day 2 draft status paired with his personality, social media presence, and college highlight tape is perfect fuel for early excitement. But he’s lived up to the hype with true on-field talent so far. There are limits to what offseason practices and training camp can prove, but Lane has done everything he can to dominate. He has made a highlight-reel play seemingly every single day of camp, sometimes with multiple spectacular catches. And it’s not just grabbing fans’ attention. Even his quarterback, his teammates, and his coaches are only pouring more gas on the fire, rare for a non-first-round rookie.
Lane has earned his way to first-team reps in camps, sideline conversations with Lamar Jackson at a frequent rate, and seemingly a much larger role than most expected from the third-round rookie. While it’s only practice so far, Lane can’t do much more until now. The next step in keeping the hype train chugging down the track is for it to appear in game action. Be ready for the Ravens to force-feed targets to Lane early tomorrow as they try to check off another box before the start of the season. If the rookie is going to have a sizeable role, they want as many examples of him earning it as possible. Preseason game action is the final box before the regular season arrives.
The Tight End Room
There aren’t many weak points to pick at this offense. The wide receivers are showing out, Dwayne Ledford is a steady hand leading the offensive line, Derrick Henry is Derrick Henry, and Lamar Jackson is Lamar Jackson. That leaves the tight end room as the unit’s major potential hole. There’s plenty of concern after Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar left in free agency, but the team still has Mark Andrews and restocked with veteran Durham Smythe and rookies Matt Hibner and Josh Cuevas.
But if Ja’Kobi Lane has been the highlight of the camp, the tight end room has been the lowlight. So far, we haven’t seen the typical Andrews dominance we’ve usually seen in camp since 2019. Smythe has looked solid as a blocker but offers little as a pass-catcher. Hibner and Cuevas, both Day 3 picks, are not focal points of a new offensive scheme that is more wide-receiver-heavy than previous systems. At this point, I think it’s fair to say we know what to expect from Andrews and Smythe. Smythe will mostly be a blocking specialist, and Andrews isn’t the same explosive, downfield YAC tight end he used to be. That can still work. In this new system, the wideouts will do most of the heavy lifting, so Andrews needs to do what he does best: find the soft spots in zone and use his connection with Lamar Jackson to be a quarterback-friendly target, especially in the red zone.
Don’t expect either veteran to get much run time in early preseason action, but you should be on the lookout for either of these rookie tight ends to make an impact. With a massive shakeup in this room, there are absolutely targets and roles to be had. The question is, can either of these rookies earn those targets and start to separate themselves? The Ravens are likely going to need one of these rookie tight ends to become an explosive option if this offense is to reach its full potential.
Cornerback Depth
It will never not be an issue. As the great Ozzie Newsome said, “You can never have enough corners.” The depth has already been tested in camp, with both Nate Wiggins and Marlon Humphrey dealing with injuries. Luckily, it sounds like neither is serious and shouldn’t impact their Week 1 status. But it’s a suddenly sobering thought to realize that might be a possibility to happen midseason, especially given Chidobe Awuzie’s injury history. Third-year corner T.J. Tampa has had another fantastic camp so far, like last year, and firmly planted himself as the top backup behind the top three starters and might force Jesse Minter to use a four-cornerback rotation instead of three. Beyond that, there are questions.
Fifth-round rookie Chandler Rivers is a roster lock. It’s also hard to envision this team not including Keyon Martin, who made it last year as a UDFA and has put together a strong camp. That’s six corners making the roster already; where do the Ravens go from there?
If the Ravens do keep a seventh cornerback, there’s plenty of options. Bilhal Kone and Robert Longerbeam, 2025 late-round picks who missed the entire season due to torn ACLs, have impressed so far. Kone especially had a great camp last year before his preseason injury last year and is a prototype for Minter’s defense with his size and athleticism. There are other names such as Marquise Robinson, Lardarius Webb Jr., and veteran Amani Oruwariye. If the Ravens do keep an additional corner, one of those guys will have to force the issue on a crowded roster. Watch that rotation and play in the first preseason action and going forward.
