The Ravens are staring at a crossroads, and it’s arriving fast.
After dropping two games in back-to-back fashion that made almost no sense - controlling the first half, then getting blanked and passed in the second - Baltimore is suddenly sitting at 4-3 and dead last in the AFC North. That’s not where this team expected to be, and with a road trip to Buffalo coming up, the pressure is only going to build from here.
With the NFL trade deadline less than two weeks away, Baltimore has to think hard about what this roster should look like going forward. That could mean adding help for now, or dealing players for draft capital later. Either way, there are a few names on the roster who no longer fit, and the Ravens should at least be listening.
Mark Andrews is the toughest name on the list, but the case is getting harder to ignore. He remains the top pass-catcher in franchise history, yet his role has slipped into something close to afterthought territory.
Even worse, the drops have become part of the story. Baltimore also didn’t help itself by letting Isaiah Likely walk in free agency, but Andrews’ production just isn’t close to what it used to be, especially at an average of $13M/season.
The numbers are blunt. Andrews hasn’t topped 50 receiving yards in a game this year, and he’s only done that once since the start of last season.
He has one receiving touchdown. His 7.8 yards per catch and 5.5 yards per route run are both personal lows.
Meanwhile, rookie Matthrew Hibner was at one point on the field for more than half of Baltimore’s snaps, Josh Cuevas has seen his role increase steadily, and Nick Vannett carved out some work after being promoted from the practice squad in early October. Durham Smythe, the blocking specialist, is out for the season with an Achilles’ injury.
Baltimore may not love its tight end depth right now, but Andrews isn’t changing the offense much either. The better path might be spreading his targets around the remaining tight ends and rookie wideout Ja’Kobi Lane, then seeing who actually emerges as a future safety valve in the passing game.
Derrick Henry’s backfield partner, Justice Hill, is another player who no longer seems to be giving the Ravens what they need. He’s averaging just 20 rushing yards per game and 12 receiving yards per game, and he has not scored on the ground or through the air. He also hasn’t forced a broken tackle this season.
The usage hasn’t helped. Hill is averaging 3.0 yards before contact per rush, compared with Henry’s 1.9, and he’s at 6.7 yards per rushing attempt, but the Ravens haven’t given him enough carries to find much of a rhythm or make a real impact. At this point, he doesn’t appear to be taking nearly enough pressure off Henry.
The market for a soon-to-be 29-year-old back with limited production and no track record as a feature runner would be thin, but Hill does have special teams value and is considered a dependable blocker. The problem is simple: he isn’t doing enough as a runner to matter.
If Baltimore wants another option, Adam Randall remains on IR with no timeline for a return, and Jonathan Ward is on the practice squad. The free-agent pool also includes several backs who have handled lead duties before - Raheem Moster, Alexander Mattison, Kareem Hunt, Antonio Gibson, Miles Sanders and Joe Mixon - and each one should come at a manageable price.
Then there’s Tylan Walker, whose situation might be the strangest of the three. He’s a 25-year-old fourth-round pick from 2024 who has as many touchdown catches as starts in his career - five of each - but only 11 receptions in 20 games played.
His 0.75 yards per route run this season is almost hard to believe, but that’s where he is. The puzzling part is that his playing time hasn’t been tiny.
He’s been on nearly 40 percent of Baltimore’s offensive snaps this year, yet he has only nine targets and four catches. That has come even with Zay Flowers missing one game and Ja’Kobi Lane missing four, so there have been opportunities.
If the Ravens aren’t going to develop Walker, moving him makes sense. Rookie fourth-rounder Elijah Sarratt has appeared in just one game and could use the reps Walker has been getting without much to show for them. The return would be modest, but Walker’s production through two and a half years has been even lower.
In Other News...
Ravens Let A Bengals Rally Turn Into Something Even More Frustrating
For a half, the Ravens had the Bengals right where they wanted them. Baltimore carried a 13-0 lead into the break and had Cincinnatis offense looking stuck, before JaMarr Chase stepped into the middle of the locker room message and pushed his teammates to pick it up on offense.
What followed only sharpened the frustration for Baltimore. The Bengals came out with a different edge and ripped off 35 straight points to turn the game completely around, and afterward Chases presence as a leader drew notice from both sides, including linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. For the Ravens, it was the kind of collapse that lingers because it did not just become a loss, it became a lesson in how quickly a game can flip once the other sideline finds its voice. [Read more 🡒]
Ravens Line Takes Another Hit As Key Young Starter Faces Absence
The Ravens have already been leaning on young pieces up front, and now one of the more important ones is set to miss some time. Rookie offensive lineman Vega Ioane, who had established himself as a key part of Baltimores front, suffered an MCL sprain during Week 7 against the Bengals and is expected to be out for a short stretch.
Ioanes absence adds another layer of uncertainty to a line that has had to hold up through a physical season. The injury came on a play that had nothing to do with pass protection, during a Justice Hill reception when Demetrius Knights tackle led to a helmet-to-knee hit, leaving the Ravens to figure out how long theyll be without one of their most trusted young blockers. [Read more 🡒]
Ravens Suddenly Have A Derrick Henry Problem They Can't Ignore
Derrick Henry has carried a heavy load for Baltimore through the first part of the season, and the results have not looked like the version of the Ravens offense that was built to bully opponents on the ground. The running game has been grinding through a mix of line issues and injuries to key players, with coaches and Henry both acknowledging that the unit needs to be better if the offense is going to find its rhythm.
The larger concern is that this is not just a short-term dip for one back, but a warning sign for an attack that has leaned on the run to set everything else up. Lamar Jackson is still working his way back from an ankle injury, and until he is fully available, Baltimore has to solve a rushing problem that keeps putting more pressure on Henry and an offensive line that has not consistently opened the kind of space this scheme expects. [Read more 🡒]