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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/issue9mm on 2025-03-16 15:19:39+00:00.
Division: AFC North (1st)
Record: 12-5 (4-2 in division)
Playoffs: 3-seed in the AFC
- Wild Card round: Pittsburgh Steelers - W 28-14
- AFC Divisional Round: Buffalo Bills - L 25-27
Season Awards / Honors
- Lamar Jackson, QB: 1st Team All Pro, Pro-Bowl, 3x OPOW
- Derrick Henry, RB: 2nd Team All Pro, Pro-Bowl, 2x OPOW
- Patrick Ricard, FB: 1st Team All Pro, Pro-Bowl
- Zay Flowers, WR: Pro-Bowl
- Ronnie Stanley, T: Pro-Bowl
- Tyler Linderbaum, C: Pro-Bowl
- Nnamdi Madabuike: DT: Pro-Bowl
- Kyle Van Noy, OLB: Pro-Bowl
- Roquan Smith, ILB: 1st Team All Pro, Pro-Bowl
- Marlon Humphrey, CB: 1st Team All Pro, Pro-Bowl
- Kyle Hamilton, S: 2nd Team All Pro, Pro-Bowl
High Level Overview
I’ll just get to the point — the offseason was highlighted by the acquisition of running back Derrick Henry from the Tennessee Titans, aiming to bolster the Ravens’ ground game. However there were some losses of proven players on the offensive line, and the wildly unexpected passage of Coach Joe D’Alessandris (and the hurried signing of his replacement,) combined with a possible learning curve for the running game to beg more questions than answers in the early games.
The season began on a sour note, with the Ravens dropping their first two games against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders, but despite the slow start, the Ravens found their rhythm, winning 12 of their next 15 games.
A notable mid-season victory came in Week 7, where Lamar Jackson’s five-touchdown performance earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, contributing to the Ravens becoming the first team in NFL history with players winning Offensive Player of the Week in four consecutive weeks. Lamar Jackson was unsurprisingly in contention for an MV3,
Statistically, the Ravens’ offense was dominant, leading the league with 7,378 total yards. They became the first team in NFL history to surpass both 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in a single regular season. Lamar Jackson threw for 4,172 yards and 41 touchdowns, while Derrick Henry rushed for 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns. Wide receiver Zay Flowers emerged as a key target, recording 74 receptions for 1,059 yards and would ultimately become the first Ravens wide receiver to go to the Pro Bowl.
The defense led off sluggishly — for the first half of the season, new DC Zach Orr fielded the 32nd rated pass defense in the league. Fingers were pointing everywhere, but eventually would settle on Marcus Williams (who never quite regained full tackling form after last season’s injury) and Eddie Jackson, before those players were addressed and we were left with Brandon Stephens holding the short end of the stick as the blame-getter. He remains sticky in coverage, but every team that managed to get their #1 wide receiver on him would eventually find success as he seemed unable to get his head around to track the ball.
Despite Brandon’s efforts, the defense would finish off considerably better than their first half would indicate, as they finished top 10 in total defense. The run defense remained stout all year, until the postseason — In the postseason, the Ravens defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-14 in the Wild Card round but were edged out by the Buffalo Bills 27-25 in the Divisional round, concluding their playoff run in heartbreaking fashion.
Overall, the 2024 Ravens showcased a high-powered offense and an eventually resilient defense, with frustrating special teams performances, and enough inexplicable losses to mostly keep anyone from thinking of them as top of the heap despite some extraordinarily high highs.
Offseason Review
We lost rental assassin Jadeveon Clowney. JK Dobbins and Gus Edwards both went to run for the run-god, Amon-Greg Roman. Safety Geno Stone and Linebacker Patrick Queen both turned coat and went to in-division rivals, as well as Tyler Huntley. We lost Daryl Worley to the Titans, Ronald Darby and Devin Duvernay to the Jags, and Rock-Ya Sin to the 49ers. Up front we suffered perhaps our biggest losses, letting our aging O-linemen Kevin Zeitler and Morgan Moses go to the Lions and Jets, respectively. Also lost were Sam Mustipher, Tyler Ott, Del’Shawn Phillips, John Simpson, Kevin Seymour and Laquon Treadwell.
Odell Beckham went to the Dolphins, and Dalvin Cook left for the Cowboys, tho you’d be forgiven for not noticing.
We managed to strike deals with Roquan Smith, Justin Madabuike, Kyle Van Noy, Brent Urban, Arthur Maulet (tho injuries mostly kept him off the field,) Nelson Agholor (who I have to say was not injured in case you are looking at his stats,) and Josh Johnson. We re-signed Ar’Darius Washington to an exclusive RFA tender deal, and we restructured Ronnie Stanley who took a team-friendly deal in exchange for what amounted to a prove-it year. (Spoiler alert: He did prove.)
Beyond that, we signed Josh Jones, Ka’Dar Hollman. Then we cut Ka’Dar Hollman, before signing him back to our practice squad, where he was then stolen away by the Texans. We also added special teamer Deonte Harty and I guess that’s probably about all the free agency signings of note, unless I’m forgetting a king somewhere. Okay fine — we acquired Derrick Henry, and he remains amazing.
Ravens have begun making a habit out of having to re-supply the coaching staff every year, and this year wouldn’t be an exception. After posting a historically great defensive season, Mike MacDonald left to replace Pete Carroll.
Anthony Weaver might have replaced him, but he went to Miami where I thought he did an exceptional job, taking an already decent defense and finishing out the year with the 4th-ranked overall D. Dennard Wilson might ALSO have replaced Mike MacDonald, but instead went to the Titans where he had a … a slightly less impressive year. Left to fill the void was an enthusiastic but inexperienced Zach Orr, whose season will have its ups and downs.
Joe D’Allesandris (RIP), who was a phenomenal offensive line coach and widely regarded to be the spiritual center of the Ravens locker room passed away tragically and unexpectedly, leaving a hole exacerbated by the loss of Mike Devlin to the Chargers. We quickly retained the services of Greg Warhop — a respected veteran coach but who doesn’t exactly have a track record of producing dominant offensive lines.
Another less notable, but still impactful coaching loss was Keith Williams.
The Draft
Coming into the draft, opinions were mixed on what exactly we needed. We had nine picks, and a lot of needs, but pundits generally agreed that O-line, edge, and cornerback were the major needs, and whatever order you put them in you could find an article that agreed. Wide receiver or safety would have been after those, but while most were happy with the starters, depth in both areas felt thin.
Given Baltimore’s “best player available” mantra, there’s no way of knowing what Mr. DeCosta considered our weakest position to be, but we started on cornerback with Nate Wiggins at 30th overall, and we double-dipped, picking TJ Tampa at pick 130. Wiggins was the headliner and given the productive year he had it seems likely to go in the history books as a great pick, but Ravens were able to put a stop to Tamp’s free-fall, as he had been projected to be an early day 2 pick.
Out second round pick yielded Roger Rosengarten at pick 62. He was never projected to go all that high, but Ravens clearly saw something they liked.
We’d also pick up Adisa Isaac, Devontez Walker, Rasheen Ali, Devin Leary, Nick Samac, and Sanoussi Kane, but of those, Rasheen Ali and Sanoussi Kane had the most productive seasons, mostly contributing on special teams.
Post-Draft
Coming off of a season where Lamar Jackson and the Ravens showed what could be done with OC Todd Monken and a team that seems to have made meaningful strides in shedding its status as an injured reserve farm-team, and in showing what a pass-first Lamar looked like, the only thing Lamar Jackson needed to show was that he could go further in the playoffs than the previous year’s heart-breaking loss in the AFC Championship round. The defense needed to show that it could keep its composure despite the departure of MOST of its defensive coaching core. Depending on when you look, both would be prove to be failures, though the defense eventually rounded itself into form by the end of the season.
But if every year brings us a new team, the questions for this team were largely centered around the run game and the O-line. Losing a lot of proven talent in the offseason and replacing it with extremely unproven talent was a choice that frustrated many fans. The unexpected death of Coach Joe D only exacerbated the issue. Everyone knows that offensive lines and run games are complimentary prospects, so when both looked shaky for the first couple of weeks, nobody was sure where to place the blame, and it only led to bigger questions.
In Season
Week 1: Baltimore Ravens @ Kansas City Chiefs
Opening the season in Arrowhead was never going to be easy, but the Ravens made it harder on themselves with a disjointed offensive performance. Lamar Jac…
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