The Ravens can’t afford a repeat of last season’s offensive shape-shifting mess, and the numbers make that plain. With Declan Doyle stepping in as a first-time playcaller at 30, Baltimore is headed into 2026 with new coaches, new tendencies and new emphasis points on both sides of the ball. There’s no exact blueprint for what Doyle will build, but his influences are clear: Sean Payton and Sean McVay, two coaches who have already spoken at length about what they expect from him.
That matters because the Ravens’ offense has some obvious pressure points that need to be flipped fast.
Start with the passing game. Zay Flowers accounted for 1,059 receiving yards last season, while everyone else on the roster combined for 1,123.
That gap is staggering, and it leaves Baltimore with a problem it can’t keep pretending away. Mark Andrews was next on the list with 422 yards, and the difference between Flowers and the rest of the room was nearly double that total.
There just wasn’t enough help.
There’s skepticism about whether a true No. 2 receiver is already on the roster. Devontez Walker or a rookie feels more believable than the idea of a Rashod Bateman turnaround, and the source of that doubt is simple: Baltimore has a history of holding onto players and paying them longer than the production justifies. That doesn’t make the answer right.
Andrews is part of the larger issue, too. If he really is washed - and the league appears to think that’s at least a real possibility, given what Baltimore couldn’t get for him after the 2024 season - then the offense becomes even more dependent on balance and unpredictability.
The Ravens also need to keep moving away from the old habits that defined earlier versions of the offense. They were still in the gun nearly 64% of the time last season, and while that’s not as rigid as the Greg Roman years, it still left them far from where Doyle’s mentors want to live.
Under-center football is central to what Payton wants, “marrying the pass game to the run game” as he put it, and it’s just as important to McVay. Doug Farrar also pointed out how much Lamar Jackson’s EPA/play jumps when he’s under center.
That kind of shift feels like one of the league’s bigger trends waiting to happen.
Pace is another place where Baltimore has room to change. The Ravens ranked tied for third in time per play last season, but Doyle has already said he wants to vary the cadence and dictate personnel to the defense.
Speeding things up is the cleanest way to do that. Payton has generally lived in the top 10 in time per play, and Doyle was part of a Bears offense that operated at 28.6 seconds per play last year, fifth-fastest in the NFL.
With Jackson’s mobility and versatility, there’s no reason to drag things out.
Then there’s the red zone, where the collapse was hard to miss. Jackson posted a passer rating there that was somehow the worst among qualified passers in the NFL, and he completed just 41.5% of his throws. That’s a brutal fall for a quarterback who has spent much of his career, especially in his two MVP seasons, being a force in that area.
Some of that is on the roster around him. Flowers was the only pass catcher who consistently showed up, but his size limits how often he can be a real red-zone or end-zone factor. The Ravens also lacked answers in short-yardage and goal-to-go situations on the ground, which only made the problem worse.
So the assignment for Doyle is pretty clear: spread the ball around, find a real second option, get Jackson under center more, move with more urgency and fix the finish. If Baltimore is going to soar in 2026, those are the numbers that have to change first.
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Vita Vea would be a natural name to monitor if Baltimore decides it needs more help in the middle. The Buccaneers tackle is entering the final year of his deal and is viewed as one of the leagues top players at the position, but any pursuit would come with real hurdles, including draft compensation and a significant new contract. [Read more 🡒]