Lamar Jackson’s reach in Baltimore doesn’t stop at the offense. It never really has, but now the ripple effect is showing up on the other side of the ball, too.
At training camp, new Ravens pass rusher Trey Hendrickson explained how much it matters to have Jackson behind center. “When you’re motivated to get No. 8 the ball back, it makes it a little easier,” Trey Hendrickson said of his new QB.
That kind of reaction says plenty about Jackson’s standing inside the building. Over his eight-year career, he’s been the engine of the Ravens offense and one of the league’s most difficult players to slow down. When he’s on the field, Baltimore’s attack can look unlike anything else in the NFL, past or present.
But the bigger point is how that energy spreads. Jackson has become a major leader for the Ravens, and the force he brings on the field, on the sideline, and off it has a way of pulling everyone else up with him.
That matters for a defense trying to bounce back after an abysmal season. Eric DeCosta worked through the offseason to reshape the group, and the changes are hard to miss. Baltimore’s defense has a very different look now, and the expectation is that it can climb back into the top 10.
The pass rush is a big part of that. The Ravens managed only 30 sacks last season, tied for third-worst in the NFL, and that has to change.
Hendrickson should help lead that turnaround. The 31-year-old has racked up 74.5 sacks over the past six seasons and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down.
He already looks like the favorite to lead the team in sacks this year, and now he’s got an extra push from the quarterback waiting on the other side of the ball. That’s been a familiar theme with Jackson: he makes people want to match his standard.
If that keeps holding true, Baltimore’s 2026 outlook could sharpen fast. Jackson’s influence is already doing more than powering the offense. It’s setting the tone for the whole roster.
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During the 2024 season, the Big Ten featured five minority head football coaches, but the number has since shrunk in a way that has become all too familiar across college football and the NFL. For Maryland coach Mike Locksley, who remains the lone Black head coach in both the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference, the decline is more than a talking point. It is a reminder of how quickly visibility can fade, even after years of discussion about broader access and opportunity in the profession.
Locksley has been among the coaches trying to push that conversation forward through the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches, which aims to promote qualified minority candidates and keep them in front of decision-makers. His frustration also lands in the same space as long-running questions about the NFLs Rooney Rule, which was designed to improve hiring opportunities but still faces criticism as minority coaches continue to struggle to land head coaching jobs. [Read more 🡒]
Ravens Pass Rush Is Already Causing Problems Before Full Strength Arrives
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Trey Hendrickson, Mike Green, Tavius Robinson and undrafted rookie Ethan Burke have all helped pressure quarterbacks, which is an encouraging sign for a unit still waiting on Nnamdi Madubuike, Travis Jones and Calais Campbell. Weaver said the rush plan should only get more varied once everyone is available, with more scheme-driven complexity and line games designed to create pressure without giving up coverage behind it. [Read more 🡒]
Ravens Camp Is Raising One Early Concern Fans Cant Ignore
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There were other signs of a roster beginning to settle, from injured players returning off the physically unable to perform list to pay cuts for Broderick Washington and Andrew Vorhees. Trey Hendrickson and Keyon Martin also drew attention, and the coaching side has its own moving parts with Declan Doyle experimenting with where hell handle play-calling. For a team built to contend, those are all worth watching, but the bigger early question is whether the offensive unevenness is just camp rust or the first clue to something fans will keep seeing. [Read more 🡒]