Tag: Baltimore Ravens

8 UDFAs most likely to make Ravens’ 53-man roster

The Baltimore Ravens have a history of finding gold in their UDFA class. But which ones can really make the Ravens’ roster in 2020?

The Baltimore Ravens’ front office has earned a reputation for being one the best in the NFL, scouting and drafting star talent over the years. But perhaps their best work has been done after the draft, with the undrafted free agents.

The Ravens have a history of finding diamonds in the rough with their UDFA classes. Stars have been born from the group, from linebacker Bart Scott to kicker Justin Tucker, Baltimore has gotten quite a lot of value from the forgotten draft prospects. Entering this offseason, the Ravens have had at least one UDFA make the 53-man roster for the last 16 consecutive years.

With the 2020 NFL Draft over, Baltimore brought in 21 UDFAs to fight for roster spots. While some are pretty clearly training camp fodder, others have a legitimate chance of making the cut and extending the Ravens’ streak. Whether it’s from outstanding talent or being at a more shallow position, these eight players have the best shot of making the Ravens’ 53-man roster in 2020.

Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images

TE Jacob Breeland

With the trade of Hayden Hurst to the Atlanta Falcons, there’s a third spot on Baltimore’s tight end depth chart. Obviously, Nick Boyle and Mark Andrews are in the first two spots but Charles Scarff is far from a lock to make the team as the third option, even if he was on the practice squad with the Ravens last year. With a competition brewing at tight end, Breeland has the experience and college production to point to him being in the mix.

Breeland had his best season at Oregon in 2019, despite playing in just six games. He caught 26 passes for 405 yards and six touchdowns, proving he’s a pretty effective weapon. He’s got a big frame at 6-foot-5 and 252 pounds, and with solid hands, Breeland is a good option in the receiving game. While his blocking isn’t the worst I’ve ever seen, he’ll be more useful as a chip-blocker before going out for a route.

The biggest knock against Breeland is that he’s coming off a season-ending injury, tearing his ACL and meniscus, requiring surgery. Though he had to miss the NFL Scouting Combine, he suffered the injury in October, which means he could still be healthy enough to really compete for the roster spot at training camp.

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Bisciotti foundation donates $1 million to MD Food Bank amid COVID-19 crisis

As Maryland continues their social distancing regulations in order to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and his wife Renee are looking to help those in need. The Stephen and Renee Bisciotti Foundation was …

As Maryland continues their social distancing regulations in order to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and his wife Renee are looking to help those in need. The Stephen and Renee Bisciotti Foundation was thanked on Twitter by the Maryland Food Bank for donating $1 million.

This isn’t the first time the foundation has donated during the pandemic either. The Bisciottis previously donated $250,000 each to four non-profit charities, including the Maryland Food Bank, back in March.

The donations will help those less fortunate keep up as people shelter in place. While many have been stockpiling food and water through the pandemic, not everyone has the financial ability to do so, or even ensure regular meals. The Maryland Food Bank and their partners are expanding efforts to fight against food insecurity as more people lose income and the ability to keep their pantries well stocked during the pandemic. The Maryland Food Bank has also distributed grab-and-go meals as schools being closed has meant many kids don’t have access to school-provided food.

Ravens working to still pay stadium workers even if fans aren’t in attendance

With the coronavirus pandemic still forcing social distancing regulations, workers at M&T Bank Stadium won’t have to fear for their jobs.

While social distancing regulations are easing around the country, no one can accurately predict what the 2020 NFL season will actually look like. Though the NFL schedule release points to the league having plenty of hope for the season to start on time and be a full 16 games, the coronavirus pandemic makes that far from a guarantee.

For many, their employment is directly tied to the football season. Stadium workers, especially, could get hurt the worst if life isn’t back to normal. Not only do they need the games to happen in the first place, but they’d also need fans in the stands to sell concessions to, provide security for, take tickets from and perform a myriad of other underappreciated jobs on a typical game day.

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However, the Baltimore Ravens will be helping those workers out in the event the season either can’t go on or is altered in some way, according to Ravens president Dick Cass.

“If we don’t have that kind of staff because we have a reduced crowd at the stadium, we are planning on creating an employees’ assistance fund,” Cass said in a press conference with the United Way, according to the Associated Press.

Cass continued, saying “We have not terminated or laid off or furloughed anybody and we don’t intend to.”

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Report: Former Jets RB/WR Ty Montgomery signs with Saints

Jets RB/WR Ty Montgomery is signing with the New Olreans Saints after spending a lackluster 2019 in New York.

Former Jets running back Ty Montgomery has agreed to terms with the Saints, according to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football.

The versatile back played sparingly in New York and was an unsuccessful counterpart to Le’Veon Bell last season. Another change of scenery, especially in an environment like New Orleans that correctly utilizes versatile players, should help prolong Montgomery’s career.

Before signing with the Jets, Montgomery spent four years with the Green Bay Packers, serving as the team’s primary slot receiver in addition to being a change of pace back. Montgomery was traded to the Ravens halfway through the 2018 season, but his short stay in Baltimore was ineffective.

For his career, Montgomery has 224 rushes for 1,035 yards and seven rushing touchdowns and 120 receptions for 982 yards and three receiving touchdowns.

In one season in New York, Montgomery ran the ball 32 times for 103 yards while catching 13 passes for 90 yards. With the Jets offensive line struggling all season, Montgomery became an afterthought in Adam Gase’s offense.

There was no rhyme or reason for Montgomery’s lack of usage last season, but things didn’t work out in New York. The Saints will likely use Montgomery’s unique skillset as a running back/wide receiver hybrid to their advantage. Pairing Montgomery with Pro Bowl back Alvin Kamara should help rejuvenate the former’s career after a rather lackluster detour with Gang Green.

NFL’s nationally televised preseason schedule

The Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers will kick off a slate of 8 NFL preseason games on national TV.

Here is the schedule of nationally televised preseason games,

HALL OF FAME GAME

Aug. 6

Dallas Cowboys-Pittsburgh Steelers, NBC at 8:00pm ET

PRESEASON WEEK 2

Aug. 20

NY Jets at Detroit – 8pm, ESPN

Aug. 22

Jacksonville at Tampa Bay – 8pm, CBS

Aug. 23

New Orleans at Pittsburgh – 8pm, FOX

Aug. 24

Washington at Indianapolis – 8pm, ESPN

Aug. 28

Cincinnati at Atlanta – 8pm, CBS

Aug. 30

Minnesota at Cleveland – 8pm, FOX

Aug. 30

Carolina at Baltimore – 8pm, NBC

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson takes fewer hits than you’d think

One look at Lamar Jackson’s highlights and you can tell he’s able to avoid hits. But just how often does the Ravens QB evade tackles?

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Since entering the league as a first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has been under fire. From the start, Jackson has been dismissed thanks to his speed, athleticism, and play style not matching with traditional norms. Some wondered if he should change positions to wide receiver, others called him a glorified running back. Yet, Jackson took everything in stride en route to a unanimous MVP award last season.

But even with his name engraved on the NFL’s MVP award, some have been too quick to point to a hypothetical end to Jackson’s dominance thanks to his play style. Often, critics have used former Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton as an example of how a run-first quarterback can’t survive in the hard-hitting world of professional football.

On the surface, it’s an argument that has some merit. Quarterbacks aren’t built to take that level of punishment. For that matter, most running backs — who do have the body frame, muscle, and experience to handle a bigger load as a ball carrier — can’t manage to stay healthy and in their prime for more than a few years. With examples galore, there seems no way the 6-foot-2, 212-pound Jackson could possibly handle too many seasons where he runs the ball more than a few times a game, much less 176 times a year like in 2019.

But that argument doesn’t come without pretty major asterisks as well.

Jackson, while a mobile quarterback, isn’t used the same way many previously were. The Ravens don’t ask Jackson to power up the middle like the Panthers often did with Newton. Baltimore has also done an excellent job protecting their quarterback, something Newton rarely had while in Carolina. Jackson had the fourth-lowest percentage of times sacked among all quarterbacks who started at least 15 games, and the 12th-lowest among the 58 quarterbacks who started at least once last season.

Where Jackson isn’t built to be a power runner, and isn’t asked to do that often, there are very few in NFL history to have his speed and agility — his record-breaking stats help prove that point. You only need to see a few of Jackson’s highlights to question just how often and hard he actually gets hit. It’s an idea Baltimore offensive coordinator Greg Roman posited last year, saying mobile quarterbacks are often safer because “they’re out in space” and “driving the car.”

With that philosophy in mind, I wanted to see just how many hits Jackson actually took. Going through each game from last season, I counted how many times Jackson ran out of bounds and how often he took a knee and counted them against his total rushing attempts and sacks. Even without counting quarterback slides and touchdown runs where he wasn’t hit at all, Jackson avoided hits 36.18% of the time, running out of bounds or kneeling the ball 72 of 199 touches.

Runs Sacks Out of bounds Kneels
176 23 54 18

Even more impressive was just how consistent Jackson was at this. His lowest percentage of avoided hits came in Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins, where his one kneel down went against his three runs and one sack for a 25% avoidance rate. His highest was in Week 15 against the New York Jets where he ran out of bounds six times, avoiding hits 66.67% of the time.

Week Avoided hits
1 25.00%
2 38.89%
3 36.36%
4 30.77%
5 31.58%
6 40.00%
7 26.67%
9 35.29%
10 28.57%
11 30.00%
12 40.00%
13 35.29%
14 50.00%
15 66.67%
16 29.41%

Even if we were to ignore other plays where Jackson wasn’t tackled (touchdown runs and slides) or the idea his athleticism allowed him to take less damage on hits than other quarterbacks, it would still mean he only got tackled 127 times last season. Compare that to Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who took 48 sacks and ran the ball 75 times (123 total plays). Or to the four other quarterbacks who had a minimum of 40 sacks and 54 rushing attempts last season (minimum 94 total plays).

While it’s clear Jackson does take more hits than the average quarterback and far more than the old-school pocket passer, he’s not that far off from the league’s star quarterbacks either. Wilson hasn’t been shy running the football and he hasn’t had the greatest offensive lines protecting him, yet he’s started all 128 games over his eight seasons in the NFL. The flip side is quarterbacks like Alex Smith, Dan Marino and Peyton Manning, who suffered season-ending injuries from hits they took inside the pocket.

Anyone who plays in the NFL is bound to get injured at some point, it’s a nearly unavoidable part of the game. But for all the talk about the risks Jackson takes as a mobile quarterback, he does a much better job protecting himself than you’d think. With more experience, Jackson will likely continue to cut down on the number of meaningful hits he takes without fully ignoring his physical gifts as a runner.

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Ravens hopeful to keep training camp in Maryland but considering backup plans

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and regional restrictions, Ravens president Dick Cass said the team is open to moving training camp

The Baltimore Ravens have held training camp at their Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills for the last nine years. After moving from McDaniels College in Westminster to their palacial training facility all those years ago, it seemed as though the Ravens would never have a reason to move again. But with the coronavirus pandemic raging on and social distancing restrictions still in place, Baltimore is having to think of some backup plans. And that could mean training camp isn’t held in Maryland at all, much less at their facility.

“We’ll consider all options,” Ravens president Dick Cass said in a conference call with the United Way of Central Maryland on Thursday, per PennLive’s Aaron Kasinitz. “When we think about the option of trying to move our training camp outside of Maryland, we don’t like that option. We think that we can conduct training camp safely in Maryland. We know that our building will be absolutely pristine, and we think the safest place to conduct our training camp will be in Maryland at our facility. But if circumstances don’t allow that, we will explore the circumstances that are available to us.”

With the 2020 NFL Draft and the biggest portions of free agency now completed, teams are turning their attention to preparing for the regular season. And that means getting players and coaches ready with things like rookie minicamps, training camp and the preseason. But as the NFL continues to monitor the coronavirus pandemic and various regional restrictions, any form of offseason workouts are far from guaranteed.

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The league has thus far worked around the restrictions, creating a schedule for virtual offseason programs, recently extending it through May 29. But there’s little to no way to virtually simulate on-field work for an entire team, which is where training camp comes in. When asked how much time players would need to get ready for the regular season, Ravens running back Mark Ingram said he believed training camp and the preseason was essential.

“It has to be something around that – three, four, five weeks. The preseason and three or four weeks. Teams just being together, going through training camp, and being able to scrimmage other teams and play against other teams – I think all of that is crucial to the camaraderie of a team, and the development of your players on the team. I think it is all necessary in order to prepare yourself mentally, physically, individually and collectively, to have a successful season.”

Cass said he didn’t anticipate Baltimore would be able to hold in-person offseason programs or minicamp, according to Kasinitz. However, he did say the Ravens were “preparing to open training camp on time in late July.” While there are no guarantees and the situation is constantly evolving, that’s a good sign for a return of real football.

“The key thing for all of us is to have football games,” Cass said, per Kasinitz. “The community needs them, we need them and we’re expecting to play our games.”

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Ravens WR Marquise Brown’s offseason workouts have him looking faster, thicker

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Marquise Brown was impressive as a rookie but he’s clearly looking for more in 2020 judging by his workouts.

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Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Marquise Brown isn’t letting a solid rookie season go to his head. While 584 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns are nothing to sneeze at, Brown clearly wants to improve, and he’s putting in the offseason work to do that.

Whether it’s workouts with quarterback Lamar Jackson and his cousin Antonio Brown or catching passes in his own driveway, Marquise Brown has been making his rounds on Instagram this offseason. Seemingly every time he’s on camera, he’s looking even more impressive.

Most recently, Brown posted a video of him catching passes from a JUGS machine. Though that doesn’t sound very exciting, Brown isn’t using the machine the same way you’ve likely seen in the past.

Brown posted a video to his Instagram account of him catching passes immediately after they leave the JUGS machine. If the purpose of the machine is to simulate an NFL pass, Brown is catching them in the blink of an eye. Catching them so quickly should improve his reaction time and hand strength, which should result in fewer drops come the regular season.

Brown also showed off his insane speed and acceleration on another video, pushing the ball through the machine while standing still only to quickly run under the pass and make the catch. Again, if the machine is supposed to simulate an NFL pass, Brown effectively threw himself a deep ball.

While all these videos might look like trick shots and ego-boosting workouts, they’ll have a real effect come the regular season. At the very least, it shows the progress which Brown has made and highlighted just how dangerous he can be. But even the old-school football folks have to be impressed with the amount of work Brown is putting in this offseason, which should have a marked improvement on his durability.

 

One of the main concerns about Brown throughout the draft process was his size. Measuring out at a pretty small 5-foot-9 and 166 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine, many wondered if Brown could handle the more physical NFL and remain healthy. With Lisfranc surgery and a screw in his foot last year, Brown missed almost all of training camp with Baltimore. Though he did play in Week 1, Brown wasn’t at 100% through the entire season, battling injuries and a not fully-healed foot. Yet, Brown still impressed, being uncatchable in a straight line and making defenders miss in close quarters.

With the screw removed this offseason, Brown should already be in a better spot than last year. If his speed has improved at all, he’ll make a strong case for being the fastest player in the league.

But Brown didn’t just get healthier, he got bigger too. Along with catching passes, Brown has posted videos of him in the weight room and the results are impressive.

Now, let’s compare that to how he looked at Oklahoma.

The extra muscle should do wonders to help insulate Brown from hits and the type of injuries they can cause. While there are certainly no guarantees Brown will be any healthier, extra muscle without a loss of flexibility and speed will only help on that front.

 

 

Time will tell if all the workouts will actually translate to improved production on the field. But if Brown’s offseason workout schedule helps him at all, he could be primed for a true breakout season in 2020.

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Why Ravens fans should be excited about Patrick Queen

The Ravens landed a dynamic defender in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft with LSU linebacker Patrick Queen

The Baltimore Ravens made one of the better picks of the first round when they selected former LSU linebacker Patrick Queen with the 28th overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Queen played a big-time role on an LSU defense that got to compete against one of the best collegiate offenses of all time in practice on a regular basis. For as good as Joe Burrow and the LSU offense was, their stout defense also played their part en route to an undefeated season and National Championship. Despite the high stakes, Queen consistently met the expectations set for him by coach Ed Orgeron and staff. Queen totaled 85 tackles in 2019, 12 of which went for a loss.

Queen is a natural, fluid athlete with sideline-to-sideline speed. He covers a lot of ground in a short amount of time, and has terrific range in his game. Queen does a great job reading and reacting to the action in front of him, while understanding how the play is developing. He’s also a terrific player in space, and has flashed a skill-set that fits what teams are looking for in today’s linebacker. He’s also a very good tackler, regularly identifying and wrapping up the ball-carrier without much trouble. LSU also asked him to play in pass coverage, and he did his best work when lined up in zone looks.

The Ravens would like to see him do a better job of getting off blocks at the next level, but Queen has the wits and ability to develop this area of his game.

Queen is joining a fast and free-flowing defense that already features play-makers such as the recently acquired Calais Campbell, Matthew Judon, Marcus Peters and Earl Thomas III just to name a few. Queen’s versatility and play-style should fit right in with the Ravens’s talented group of defenders.

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3 Rex Ryan traits Anthony Weaver will add as Texans defensive coordinator

First-year defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver has been with the Houston Texans since 2016, but one of his bigger coaching influences was Rex Ryan.

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Houston Texans defensive coordinator Rex Ryan has been with the AFC South club since 2016 as a defensive line coach, a position and team he has been with the most in his NFL career.

However, one of Weaver’s larger influences on his career was former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan. From 2002-05, Weaver played defensive end for the Ravens, and Ryan was his position coach for the first three seasons until taking over as defensive coordinator in 2005.

Here are three ways Ryan influenced Weaver.

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