2. Baltimore Ravens
Current cap space: $27,750,854
Primary free agents: CB Jimmy Smith, DT Michael Pierce, LB Patrick Onwuasor, WR Seth Roberts
There are currently two Lamar Jacksons, and thus, two Baltimore Ravens teams. There’s the regular-season Lamar Jackson who, in 2019, became the second unanimous NFL MVP in history (matching Tom Brady in 2010) with a league-leading 39 touchdown passes, and a record-breaking 1,206 rushing yards for a quarterback. There’s also the postseason Lamar Jackson who, in two career games (both losses) has completed 51.1% of his passes, thrown three touchdown passes and three interceptions, taken 11 sacks and looked overwhelmed against the defenses of the Chargers (in the 2018 postseason) and the Titans (in the 2019 postseason), when he was shown new looks.
The regular-season Ravens became the first team in 17 years to lead the league in both rushing and passing DVOA. They absolutely crushed the rest of the league in Total DVOA, Football Outsiders’ primary opponent-adjusted efficiency metric on both offense and defense. But until postseason Lamar catches up to regular-season Lamar, it’s going to matter less and less — and the questions will increase. The Ravens have set things up to go as their quarterback goes. Right now, that’s a bit of a mixed blessing.