Baltimore Ravens 2024: In-Depth Season Preview with Tony Lombardi

we are talking Baltimore Ravens football on the RADS football network thanks for tuning in uh as uh we are going to uh wrap up uh what has taken place over the last few days with cuts uh also of course take a look at the depth chart in the upcoming season Tony labardi joining us once again from Russell Street report uh of course he's our Baltimore Insider and good to have you back again Tony always good to be here Greg all right Tony so let's uh let's get into it let's talk about uh right now uh coming into next Thursday's big kickoff game uh what is uh what's the primary concern for the Ravens as far as their team uh following training camp and preseason well I think if you ask most fans and even the guys that cover the team on a daily basis what the areas the team needed to address in the off season they probably say to a man that would be the offensive line and the edge rusher position and they made a lot of changes to the team drafted some decent rookies but those positions are really at this point as unproven as they were when the team went into the off season so I just think that that's going to be their areas of weakness particularly the offensive line Greg they lost three starters from last year and you could argue that those three starters weren't the best guys on the planet when it comes to their positions and I get that they want to replenish that with a a youth movement but none of these guys that are going to step in have experience and when you go and invest in a player like Derrik Henry you'd like to think that that offensive front is going to be at at least adequate and right now the best you can say about that offensive line is it's unproven is there one par I mean of course you look at that right side uh and then uh you got a rookie there starting at right tackle um and the two guard spots so th those are those are the ones that obviously stick out uh is anyone further along than the other as far as those three are concerned I think Rosen Garten is gonna be a good NFL tackle I think his technique is good I think he has good hand positioning the problem right now is you go you're going in the AFC North against three juggernauts that are Edge rushers that like to come off that right side right offensive side yep and those are Miles Garrett TJ Watt and Trey Hendrickson and it it remains to be seen how this guy Rosen Garden can withstand a bull rush so that's my concern there at the guard position on that side it's going to come down to Ben Cleveland or Daniel fele fele is inexperienced at the position Cleveland has been a guy that has flashed at times but has not shown any consistency and and the other side on the left guard is Andrew Vorhees who missed last year because he blew out his ACL during the combines in 2023 and this is kind of his red shirt season there's promise for him but he's looked a little bit shaky at times in pass protection during the preseason all right well it shows you how much pressure now it's on Ronnie Stanley and titled into bomb to stay healthy that's for sure absolutely okay there is wild card in there Greg and that's Patrick mcari okay he's kind of like I call him the Ravens Kevin mcale he's that six man he's very versatile can play any of the offensive line positions and has done that for the Ravens but I think when you look at this team as inexperienced as they are at offensive line you got to put the five best offensive linemen on the line and M is one of those five and should be playing I think he should start the season either at Right Guard or right tackle but you know those guys have forgotten more about football than I'll ever know Greg so better than yep all right uh well before we get to uh the defensive side uh let's talk about uh the rest of the offense of course you mentioned Derk Henry so how does that uh offense look with Derk Henry so far in Camp of course preseason uh I'm not sure what what you can find out there but uh with Henry and the overall scheme you know he's uh I'm assuming gonna get a lot of touches so how's that coming along well I I think what you'll see early on they may make a liar out of me on Thursday night but I think they'll Pace Henry because they want him to be strong in December in January so you know at you know he's up there in age was he 31 now and or 30 and that's you know getting along the to for running back he's got a lot of wear and tear on the tires so I think you're going to want to Pace him a little bit you'll see a lot more of Justice Hill but after that Greg they're really thin at running back and it wouldn't surprise me after game one that they go out and make a move for a veteran running back just to have some experiened depth there okay yeah because uh what's the injuries update the latest uh taking a look at um uh the reserves uh you know Keaton Mitchell is definitely the biggest name uh on pup so uh what's his status he's gonna yeah he's gonna start the seasonal pup he'll at least miss the first four games he had that injury was late November last year so they're asking him to come back out on the field again in 20124 my guess is he won't see the field until mid to late October and even Greg you're probably not going to get the same Keat and Mitchell the first year after that ACL injury that you had before that ACL injury and boy what a dynamic one-w punch he and Derrick Henry could make absolutely and we'll see if derck Henry is still the same guy if if he's here next year but uh end of the year that's what really counts the most but it is as we all know a very tough division Anything Can Happen one through four uh and uh one of the things I noticed of course was not just the fact that Baltimore has to start the season at Kansas City but they also have a pretty tough schedule I mean they have uh they've got that typical uh you know first play schedule but uh it's as tough as I've seen it is a tough schedule and schedules are a funny thing too when you look at them to start the season you can go and pick and choose and maybe some gimme wins you put throw in there aren't so gimmies much gimmies that when you get to those games because teams do change and teams do improve and as you've seen every year there's always a couple of new participants in the postseason dance so I I wouldn't expect this year to be any different okay uh the rest of the offense of course with Mark Andrews coming back from injury likely had a nice run uh when Andrews was out so uh they're gonna try to use a lot more of those two together on the field yeah that's the plan because again getting back to like what I some at the offensive line putting your best players on the field likely is definitely one of their best off defensive player so they want to get the ball in his hands a lot more he's really good after the catch and he's got surprisingly deceptive speed so he can get downfield whereas Andrews can really command that the boundaries I mean inside the hash marks and the the numbers so that's where he really shines the most so having those two as a one-w punch would be a nice thing and it really is dependent upon that offensive line too how much they have to keep a tight end in to protect that right that inexperienced right side so if they can get stable there it'll make these two guys more Dynamic weapons Z flowers had himself a nice rookie season uh you take a look at the wide receiver core uh devontes Walker is the latest rookie uh so again we know how important the Run game is and the tight end position for Baltimore so it's not necessarily that important to have a deep wide receiver room uh based on the way this offense has run of course you love to have everything but you just can't nowadays um so that's just way the the Ravens uh depth chart uh looks and I think it's normal so how are the I mean we know flowers what he can do I don't know I know he's had some off the field stuff so I don't know if that's something we should talk about if that's coming to play at all this season or dur in Camp uh but anything else regarding this uh wide receiver unit that you think is going to be on par with last year better more questionable what do you think I think they'll be better than last year let's look at last year obj didn't really do a whole lot he brought some lead veteran leadership to this to the group and probably helped Z flowers through his rookie campaign I think that Rashad Batman's a lot healthier now the healthiest he's ever been as a raven he's got all the tools he's just got to do it out there on the field so the combination of those two guys and Nelson agular he had a nice season last year as as a number three guy so the Ravens don't lean on number threes a whole lot but he he did an adequate job had a few drops here and there but did make some big plays as well and then behind him tyon Wallace he's coming on he's looked a lot better as a receiver in training camp than he has and also the preseason than he has in past years and he's a dynamic special teams guy so he's pretty solid there Beyond them devontes Walker you mentioned him he's been an absolute zero so far in training camp and in preseason so you know they said he needs to be more refined as a route Runner and that he could take the top off a defense well in order to take the top off a defense you need to be able to run more routes than just a go pattern and and I think he struggles there uh he's he's a big Target they hold a lot of Hope for him but so far he's shown absolutely nothing all right let's go ahead and move on now to the defensive side you mentioned the pass Russ so uh you know you look at the depth chart and I think you know people could see oh you know there's some good players there of course the veteran kle vanoi but you got those two young kids uh away and ajabo um but it hasn't necessarily come along as well as the Ravens would would have liked with those two kids so where are they right now as far as their games well you let's focus on o first he's a guy who's got great physical attributes he's fast he's quick he's mobile he can you know he's a smart kid he just hasn't put it all together yet and then he got a little nicked up last year Chris Smith the the uh linebacker coaches done a great job with those guys and OA looks the part right now until he does it on the field we haven't seen a whole lot of them with you know pads on because he hasn't played the preseason they've been protecting him but he he has the look of the part right now and we'll see if he does it on Sundays uh ojabo is starting to come on a little bit during camp but he's been so nicked up with big injuries over the last couple of years that it's hard to put a lot of faith in that you know anything you get from ajabo I think at this point is a bonus KY vanoi is out there as is tavius Robinson and they're solid guys but they're they're not that javian Clowny that they had last year and they get need somebody to step up and be that guy this year whether OA or ajabo can do that it remains to be seen and the rookie is it the third rounder Isaac yeah he's um he's only played in part of one preseason game he had a hamstring injury coming out of the combine so that kind of limited him and then when that healed his other hamstring start started to flare up so they've been you know they call a soft tissue injury so they're they're protecting him a little bit he's shown promise when he's been doing the practice field but haven't seen enough of them to really draw an opinion okay Patrick Queen is gone so Trenton Simpson uh is it his is is that really is he the guy to look at to to see what he can do to pick up the slack uh we know how ran Smith uh is developing into one of the better linebackers and has he's already developed into one of the best middle linebackers in the game but uh is that the deal that Trenton Simpson he's going to be looked upon to try to pick up the slack from Patrick Queen leaving he is and he's shown the part so far in Camp and during preseason he's had a really good preseason he's got all the physical attributes that Patrick Queen had or has and you know roquan Smith is taking him as his you know underling he's he's taking him and coaching him along they've even gone on vacations together to get to know each other really well so I I think roquan will help Elevate Trent and simpsons's game more quickly than otherwise just like he did with Patrick Queen so I think they're good there they're a little thin at the position after you know Trent and Simpson there's Chris bour who's more of a special teams guy uh decent in coverage as a linebacker but not much in the Run game and then there's um Malik Harrison who's been like their Swiss army knife when it comes to linebackers he's played on the edge he's played in the middle and But after those guys there's not a lot of depth to that inside spot okay so tavius Robinson uh really just hasn't shown anything more than what special teams no he's been a a good Edge Setter in the Run game okay he helps put some pressure on the quarterback but really doesn't seem to get home all that much okay uh up front uh of course Matt bu he's turned into the big boy uh for the Ravens now Michael Pierce just keeps playing uh but as long as he's effective why not uh so how are they looking overall Travis Jones you know we everybody was excited about when the you know Ravens were able to get him in the third round a couple years ago and maybe that was a steal uh I don't know how he's come along so talk about the the top three up front well I think there's been a passing of the torch so to speak or the Baton when it comes to Michael Pierce and uh Trenton um Jones or Travis Jones he's he's a guy that just the light bulb seems to be coming on it flickered a little bit of times last year now I think it's engaged I think you'll see a big season from him and that third round steal they thought they had I think that will come to fruition this year and playing alongside just m bu they both have really good work ethics and Matt bu is a guy who last year uh trained you know really hard out in the LA area and he was a guy that just put it all together I mean in the past when he was younger you hear guys like uh uh the big Campbell class Campbell yeah he would say you know how good this guy is and I always look at professionals like like Kus and listen to what they say from their experiences and their accomplishments when they see something in a player and they vocalize that I I I start to pay attention and so I started watching matab bu the year before last and it's it was coming on and last year it clicked I kind of think the same path might be there for Jones as well all right and then in the Deep Patrol this is where you see a lot of the rookies you got four rookies uh in the secondary uh also Darius Washington is penciled in at niichel Kyle Hamilton of course is matter of fact I we do we did our show last week uh on the Playbook experts YouTube channel so we were previewing uh actually we're going over predictions for the seven top Awards in the NFL looking at the Futures and everything and and Kyle Hamilton uh was my pick for a defensive player of the year so uh that's how much I I respect Kyle Hamilton and what kind of player he could become uh and maybe what he already is uh but talk a little bit about those four rookies including of course Bo braid who is the only college free agent rookie to make the team which is not a surprise considering our Lads had to graded as a round three round four Prospect which we talked about after the draft yeah it's um he's really played well you they lost Dino Smith and needed a guy back there and say same thing with suusi Kane he's played well in the back end as well in preseason and during Camp when they the Ravens just have this way of finding these guys to play a certain role on their defense and they did it with like Chuck Smith you know not Chuck Smith um uh the guy that went to the Jets oh Adams no no not Adams Clark Chuck Clark Clark right Chuck Clark he you know they did it with him and they did it with Gino Smith and now that looks like the bo bra Stone I mean Gino Stone and now that looks like Bo braid is one of those guys and Shi Kan might be one of those guys so they seem to fill these things in and and to your point about Kyle Hamilton they're so strong on the back end and I think that's important to allow Hamilton to be that unicorn Defender that he is he's the field he can he said in the offseason he was working with Chuck Smith to improve his pass rushing skills that goes to show you that they're going to use him all over the place and and the reason they can do that is because they do have strength in that defensive secondary you know with with Marcus Williams a Robinson's back there you you've got as you mentioned ardarius Washington Marlin Humphrey and Nate Wiggins he's the real deal he can cover he's got that cornerback Moxy and confidence that You' like to see and he's not afraid to come up and make a hit the the knock on him is that he's so thin and he's going to have to work on that conditioning and going into year two but you know when he go does come up and and allow his natural intins to be an aggressive Defender to take over in the Run game he might be the last guy that gets up off the ground okay so you expect we'll see quite a bit of Wiggins then is and and what about TJ Tampa I know TJ Tampa had a really good college career a lot of people thought that he was even a little bit of a a steal in round four yeah I think they're going to get value out of him but it won't be this year he's he's been through these groin injuries throughout camp and has his his time on the field has been very limited so it would be hard to imagine that he'd be much of a contributor until later in the season maybe after the first quarter of the Season what would you consider the weakness in that secondary or the biggest issue question I don't know that there is you know because Brandon Stevens is really coming on he's in a contract year and they've got plenty of death they've got Arthur Mallette who's going to be available to them in week four he's really fit in well with the Ravens ardarius Washington has played well in in the secondary as a slot corner and he can play even safety at times because that's kind of where he cut his teeth so he secondary is not an issue and they've got dep there too and it would not surprise me when Arthur mlet comes back which is expected I guess game five that that's around the time that the trade deadline starts to creep in and maybe the Ravens deal from a position of strength to get stronger in another area if if offensive line plays out the way I think it could and under John Harbaugh we understand how important special teams is so it's no surprise that this is one of the better units in the league or at least uh you would imagine it's going to be uh especially the kicking game and then they add in Deontay Hardy uh so any reason to believe that this won't be one of the top units no it there's no reason not to believe that they'll be among the top units because like you said John Harbaugh cut his teeth in in special teams and he emphasizes that a lot in practice so I expect them to be right there they've got a great kicker a great punter and you know the their whole operation with the long snpp Nick Mor's spot on so I I think they're good that that kickoff though it's going to be really interesting and I don't I'm not convinced that Deontay Hardy is going to be a guy that's going to have much of an impact and the reason I say that is because he's been a little nicked up in Camp haven't seen much of what he can do as a punt returner and in the in the kick return game I don't know what you're taking away from watching those returns Greg but it seems to me that running backs do better than their traditional you know speeds they kind of kick returners that's not a bad uh thought there um it's also hard to tell because of the fact that you just get the impression that that most of the coaches are just waiting for the regular season before they Implement anything that they really want to use uh we've seen so many kickoffs in the endzone and uh yeah was just Tak it out to 30 well I'm not so sure that's what's gonna happen matter of fact because it's funny because I was watching some of the you know obviously watching some of the jet games and I'm seeing a lot of kickoffs in the end zone and then I was watching some of the practices and I'm watching the practices and and zin's kicking it within the five yardline like wait a second how come I'm not seeing that in the preseason game so it's like you know you wonder and I'm sure that's going around the rest of the it's like well we're not going to show you when we are going to kick it inside the five or the 10 as much as we probably are because we're not going to give you our our game plan but uh it is interesting and uh I think we're all just waiting to see on Thursday next Thursday what it really looks like and how it really is going to affect the game at all because I don't think it's really affected it much in the preseason but I do think that your idea of how a running back might uh work back there I think that's a good one because I'm starting to see a lot of the team in the NFL especially even this last draft cycle uh drafting running backs with kick returning experience uh and I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that they knew that this rule was going to be in place yeah it just it seems like a running play when you watch it develop nobody no one moves except the kicker until someone receives the ball and I agree with you they probably are not showing their hand just yet in the preseason but my guess with this is that teams will advance the ball beyond the 30 yard line fairly regularly and when they do what's going to happen kick it into the end zone any yes yes exactly so we'll see if this even becomes a a factor at all uh this season couple of remaining things uh nine rookies end up making the Ravens that seems a lot for a team that was the number one seed in the AFC last year uh is that is that a lot for for Baltimore or no that's that's you know they they they usually get a lot of rookies uh to come in because they lose a lot of free agents yeah that's the idea if you can get the I don't mean to diminish the value of these players but cheaper labor to help them manage the salary cap while they have to afford the money to pay these you know Superstars that they have so when you got that coming into play the the less expensive talent that can do the job I think I heard Steve Botti once say the 8020 rule I'll take 80% of someone's production for 20% of the price that's yeah that's so that's kind of how they it's it's a Loosely managed rule of thumb but you think about it it makes sense because you have to have that those uh producing rookies because if you don't and you have one of those high- paid uh salary players underperforming not playing to the value of their contract that starts to hurt your salary cap a lot anymore we need to keep an eye on on the practice squad one of my favorite players this spring or this summer has been Dayton Wade and when you look at him coming out of Old Miss Old Miss has a knack for producing receivers in the NFL and I think he's got all of the Natural Instincts of of a football player and receiver he performs well in the boundary with his footwork he's got good hands he's got good moves he's got nice lateral lateral movement and and acceleration out of his breaks he he put a move on against Philadelphia for a touchdown I think it was about a 48 yard connection that he just the the cornerback tried to catch him as he was going by him because he did like a stop and go that was just so beautifully executed so he's on the practice squad he's my favorite guy on the practice squad and I think you'll see him on the field before The Season's out and anyone uh as far as the reserves right now besides Mitchell that and mullet uh that uh will will be a part of this team an intrical part well you know we talked about the weaknesses across the offensive line and Corey Bullock and Daren dord they both performed well during the preseason and in Camp so it would not surprise me to see those one of those two guys get elevated at some point during the season okay we'll keep an eye on those other two on the practice squad and de L is also on the practice squad the uh former North Carolina State and Kentucky quarterback so um not sure we'll see him doesn't seem like a natural fit for uh the way the Ravens like to have their backup quarterbacks they all like to have them kind of resemble Lamar Jackson uh Josh Johnson I think he's on what his like 24th team in the last six years so you gotta love that uh it's funny because you know he actually does a good job when you see Josh Johnson play in limited time like if he's out there for like a quarter or something like that you're like this guy's not bad right so uh it's probably not the worst idea for no he's you know John Harbaugh is a big supporter of Josh Johnson's and I tell you when when Camp first started Lamar was sick for like the I think the first three four five days of camp and Josh Johnson was running against the ones with the number one offense and he looked terrible and then he got into that first preseason game looked even worse and then against the eagle not against the Eagles against the Falcons he just lit it up he looked great and um so there's a lot of confidence on from the his teammates and the coaching staff with Josh Johnson but like a lot of teams in the NFL Greg if your quarterback goes down you're you're in and that that division is well aware of that probably more than any division over the last several years with the Lamar Jackson injuries and then when he's healthy he's winning MVPs Joe burrow look what happens when he's healthy and when he's not look at the look at the uh uh browns with deshun Watson and all their quarterback started last year so it's such a tight division that that's really gonna that's what's going to impact who finishes first who makes the playoffs or not is the health of these teams yeah you me you mentioned the Browns and you probably saw yesterday that they restructured Deshawn Watson's contract they turned his salary into a signing Bon into a bonus and they're going to stretch it out you know Kick the Can down the road a little bit more with his salary cap numbers but they freed up I think $45 million in that that transaction in salary cap space so now they have like 62 million when I read that I thought Browns are going to get iuk can see coming now didn't happen so I don't know why they had to clear up all that cap space to this late in a game you know what I mean like what what's out there they they want to do I don't know we'll have to see but yeah that's uh that is interesting no question and they've done a really good job the management of the Browns just the fact that they were able to make the playoffs with all those quarterback injuries just shows you that if they have a healthy deshun Watson and and you know more than anybody Tony because this is the one thing when I've had some people criticize Deshawn and I'm not saying he's not criticizable if that's a word but the fact is that um I've I've kind of defended him because all you have to do is turn on the tape of that Baltimore game uh when he had a broken bone in his shoulder and a high ankle sprain and he still was 14 of 14 in the second half wied his team to Victory when he could have easily quit and said I've got a broken bone on my shoulder I've got a high ankle sprain I'm I'm a $200 million doll quarterback I am sitting down I'm not playing he didn't do that he showed you how tough the kid is he did that also in college uh same similar situation he's playing with like some you know broken ailments and he still played the entire game the kid's a tough kid he's a talented kid if he could stay healthy Cleveland's gonna be very dangerous that was a a really great display of football character for Deshaun Watson in that game against the Ravens if you recall I think it was his first pass of the game Kyle Hamilton on a blitz came in and batted the ball up in the air caught it and took it in for a touchdown okay and so you've got all that going the injury the fact that first pass was was in was a pick six that's his wherewithal in that game was impressive I admit now can he do that on a consistent basis yep well that's that's the big question mark and you know his his injuries are fact as well so we'll see I mean it's hard for me to root for a guy with the off the field stuff I know but it's I have to admit that just like you I was impressed with that gutty performance in that game and uh what's your take on Pittsburgh I think they'll go as their quarterbacks go the you know they're going to start Russell Wilson and Justin Fields they you know Mike Tomas says he's going to get him involved in the games from the jump you know whether there's certain packages for him I think both of those quarterbacks could be bust and the Steelers are going to have to F be in the same situation next year but I I know that they're hoping that they figure out a way of making one of those two guys work because if they can yeah they're gonna be in the mix yeah that's what you love about the NFL right is uh you never know there's a bunch of teams out there that uh have a shot uh if everything if everything goes well and of course you stay healthy all right Tony awesome job as always uh thanks for doing it I look forward to talking to you hopefully uh during the season especially if the Ravens have another one like they did last year I'm sure it's super bowl or bust for the fan base so we'll see uh we'll see if Todd monin gets the benefit of the doubt at any point this season uh I'm sure that's a that that's a story to to watch uh but overall it should be another fun season to to uh to report on the Baltimore Ravens for 2024 yeah we're looking forward to it and it starts on Thursday night yep Tony great job and again don't forget everybody Russell Street report check it out uh for all the best in Baltimore Ravens coverage and we'll talk more Baltimore Ravens football with Tony Lombardi later this season on the ourlads football