Category: Ravens

Lamar Jackson, Ravens fail to reach contract extension

No extension for Lamar Jackson with the Baltimore Ravens

Lamar Jackson is going to be the Aaron Judge of the NFL in 2022: The Baltimore Ravens quarterback is betting on himself.

Jackson set a deadline of Friday to reach a contract extension with Baltimore and the talks failed to come to a deal.

So, the Heisman winner from Louisville in 2016 will play out the final season of his contract.

Jackson will make $23 million in the 2022 season and will be franchise tagged after that.

Baltimore GM Eric Decosta:

Jackson represents himself in the negotiations.

Touchdown Wire’s 2022 NFL season predictions

Doug Farrar, Laurie Fitzpatrick, and Luke Easterling fill out Touchdown Wire’s predictions for the 2022 NFL season.

Everybody does predictions before the start of every season in every sport, and of course, we who blather on about the NFL are no exception. Last year, Doug Farrar, Laurie Fitzpatrick, and Mark Schofield filled out the Touchdown Wire predictions sheet, and while the predictions made sense, we all whiffed on a few things — most notably, the Super Bowl teams.

Now, with Mark off to pastures anew (see you ’round, old friend), we’ve enlisted Luke Easterling, the shot-caller for both Bucs Wire and Draft Wire, and an estimable football mind in his own right. Luke and Doug also host the weekly “4-Down Territory” video, which you should definitely check out.

With all that said, let’s get to the predictions. Here’s how we see the 2022 NFL season shaking out — from division winners to Super Bowl champion to a plethora of individual awards.

The biggest question for every NFL team in the 2022 season

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar asks — and tries to answer — the most pressing questions for every NFL team as the 2022 season begins.

No matter how great any team is, every team has its share of questions to answer when a new season begins. The 1968 Baltimore Colts looked unbeatable until they met the New York Jets in Super Bowl III, and Jets running back Matt Snell exploited the weak right side of Baltimore’s defensive front over and over on the way to one of the greatest upsets in sports history. The 2007 New England Patriots were unbeatable until they lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII because their interior offensive line couldn’t handle the Giants’ NASCAR pressure packages.

No matter how great your team is, one little thing can turn everything upside down.

Conversely, teams that may look hopeless are actually building credibly to the future, and that will show up on the field more than anybody might think. And then there are the NFL’s stragglers — the teams for whom there is little present hope, and the primary question is, “How do we transcend our multiple weaknesses to be at least competitive?”

Each of the NFL’s 32 teams have questions to answer coming into the 2022 season, which of course is right around the corner. So here, for your consideration, are the most pressing questions every NFL team will — and must — answer in the new season.

Baltimore Ravens mascot Poe is out for the season with a drumstick injury

The Baltimore Ravens’ horrible injury luck scuttled their 2021 season. Mascot Poe has been added to the list with a drumstick injury.

In the 2021 season, the Baltimore Ravens had horrible injury luck the likes of which no other NFL team has seen in this millennium. Literally. The good folks at Football Outsiders, who keep track of such things with their Adjusted Games Lost metric, have reported that the 2021 Ravens had an AGL of 191.2, far outpacing the 2006 Chicago Bears, who held the previous mark of 171.6. That’s about 191 total games lost for starters and impact players to injury in one season. Not great, and it’s the primary reason Baltimore finished last season with an 8-9 record, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

The good for the 2022 Ravens was supposed to be that AGL tends to regress to the mean in the following year. In other words, the Ravens were not supposed to have historically horrible injury luck two years in a row.

Now, we can throw that right out. In Baltimore’s preseason finale against the Washington Commanders on Saturday, August 27, Ravens mascot Poe suffered a major injury during a halftime football exhibition in which various mascots played against an AAU team from Baltimore.

As Ravens head coach John Harbaugh revealed today, it’s a drumstick injury, and Poe is indeed out for the season.

“Poe is gonna be put on injured reserve for the rest of the season,” Harbaugh said. “He’s gonna be done. Unfortunately, he sustained a serious injury to his drumstick, and he will not be able to perform for the rest of the season. We will find a replacement, we’re gonna go to work on that right away, we’re going to turn over every stone, scour everywhere and find his replacement. We’re gonna get into evaluating our options, and see where we go next. See if we can find somebody to replace Poe.”

In the NFL, it’s always “Next Man Up.” Especially if that man is in a raven costume. The team thought they had this injury thing beat, but clearly, the Fates have said, “Nevermore.”

Where the NFL’s rookie quarterbacks have shined, and where they need to improve

Mark Schofield takes stock of the rookie quarterback class, showing what they have done well, and where they can still improve.

A common theme emerged last spring.

This was a bad class of rookie quarterbacks.

Perhaps that view has shifted. Over the past few weeks we have seen the rookie passers take the field, and in many instances, they have outperformed expectations. Kenny Pickett is pushing for the starting job in Pittsburgh, Malik Willis’ game seems to translate well to the NFL, Desmond Ridder seems ready to handle the starting role in Atlanta, and Sam Howell is pushing Carson Wentz in Washington.

Even players who went in later rounds — or even undrafted — are making strong cases for roster spots.

Let’s dive into the rookie passers who have seen significant playing time this preseason and highlight what they have done well, and where they can still improve.

Carolina fans, unfortunately Matt Corral, who was lost for the season with a Lisfranc injury, is not part of the analysis here due to his limited action.

Secret Superstars for Week 3 of the 2022 NFL preseason: The offense

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar lets you in on the most prominent under-the-radar offensive performances in the final week of the 2022 NFL preseason.

With final cuts just around the corner (all teams must reduce their rosters to 53 by Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. EST), and the 2022 regular season starting Thursday, September 8, anybody who doesn’t have a lock on a starting job tends to see the final week of the preseason as a sort of Hunger Games. At this point, you’re not just trying to impress your coaches and your teammates — you’re just trying to hang onto the roster spot you have, or give enough of an effort to make other teams aware. Perhaps one of those teams will pick you up if you do get cut.

Our Secret Superstars list for that final week of the preseason has a lot of guys who may have either evaded the Turk (the guy who comes to your room, knocks on your door, and quietly asks you to bring your playbook to the head coach’s office to let you know you’re off the team), or have done enough to eliminate any doubt as to their veracity as starters in the league.

The clock is ticking, oxygen is getting thin, and it’s all about to be for real. Here are the under-the-radar players who did the most to advance their cases for themselves in Week 3 of the 2022 preseason. Since there were so many of them this week, we’re splitting the list into two parts. Here are the offensive Superstars, and we’ll have the defensive Superstars up presently.

Baltimore Ravens mascot Poe carted off after suffering injury during halftime game

Baltimore Ravens mascot injured at halftime

The Baltimore Ravens were ravaged by injuries in 2021 and finished 8-9.

They were playing their final preseason game on Saturday against the Washington Commanders and wound up losing a key contributor to their game-day activities.

Incredibly, Poe, the Ravens’ mascot suffered an apparent torn ACL during a halftime game. Poe was carted off the field for treatment.

No word on what the team will do if Poe has to go on IR. The Ravens may just have to wing it.

How Isaiah Likely can emerge as a threat for the Ravens

Rookie tight end Isaiah Likely is emerging as a threat in the Baltimore passing game. Mark Schofield dives into how.

While the 2021 NFL draft class had a clear choice for the top tight end, in the “unicorn” Kyle Pitts, the 2022 class had a few different options for TE1.

One of those has had himself quite the preseason.

Through two weeks, Isaiah Likely is emerging as quite the weapon for the Baltimore Ravens. Drafted in the fourth round by the Ravens, Likely has caught 12 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown over two preseason games. He began his NFL career with a four-reception effort against the Tennessee Titans, but his second outing is where he truly shined.

On Sunday night against the Arizona Cardinals, Likely hauled in 8 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.

Over the course of these two games, Likely has demonstrated a few different ways where he can be a true threat for the Ravens in the passing game. While the Ravens already have one of the best tight ends in the game in Mark Andrews, Baltimore has a few different ways they can get Likely on the field at the same time. Last year, the Ravens ran 12 offensive personnel — with a pair of tight ends in the game — on nine percent of their snaps.

They also led the league in 22 personnel, running that 14% of the time.

 

Secret Superstars for Week 2 of the 2022 NFL preseason

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar names the most impactful under-the-radar performers in Week 2 of the 2022 NFL preseason.

There are those who will tell you that preseason games don’t matter — they are useless to analyze, as you have starters going against starters in relatively vanilla schemes, or backups going against backups; most of whom won’t be playing in the NFL when the regular season starts.

When you peel back to the truth past that hyperbole, there’s a lot more to it than that. The story in the middle of that is a huge ball of players who are either trying to establish themselves as potential starters, or are trying to save their careers in short spaces of time. What you’re looking for is how people fit into teams and schemes, or not.

And that’s why preseason performances actually do matter — they set the tone for the regular season more often than you may think.

Here are our Secret Superstars for Week 2 of the full 2022 preseason — the guys who stood out above the rest. These are not recent first-round picks, or lead-pipe locks to make a roster; these are the guys fighting for every bit of starting opportunities.

Secret Superstars for Week 1 of the 2022 NFL preseason

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar has scoured preseason tape, and here are his Secret Superstars for Week 1 of this NFL preseason.

Those party-poopers who tell you that “It’s only the preseason” have never tried to make an NFL team, or grab a starting role, by the skin of their teeth. For more players than not, the three-game stretch before the regular season begins is their best way to prove that they belong on an NFL roster once things get “real.”

Now that Week 1 of the 2022 preseason is in the books, here are the players we think have done the most to create — or enhance — those favorable impressions when they matter the most.

The players on this list are not the obvious names — there are no first-rounders, or players who came into the new season with advanced amounts of hype based on their collegiate or previous NFL exploits. These guys are either trying to stake their claims, or save their careers.

So, let’s take a look at the Secret Superstars of Week 1 of the 2022 NFL preseason.

(All metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus unless otherwise indicated).