The Ravens kept rolling in the preseason with a win over the Vikings, and the bigger story wasn’t just the result. It was the way Baltimore kept stacking competent performances at a handful of spots that matter a lot once the games count.
One of the clearest positives came along the offensive line, where the center picture still looks manageable even after Danny Pinter’s injury. Jovaughn Gwyn wasn’t as sharp as he was a week ago, but the tape should show he was far from a disaster.
A lot of the uglier moments up front looked tied to Brian Flores being absolutely mad in the head rather than one player unraveling the unit. Ethan Pocic also made his first meaningful appearance and played two full quarters, and the main thing there was simple: he looked healthy.
That matters most right now, because the concern with a veteran coming off an Achilles injury is how his body responds, not whether he can handle better competition later on. However it shakes out, the Ravens need one of those two to step in without pulling the whole line toward bottom-five territory.
Tight end was another area that drew attention, especially after the departures of Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar. Those are real losses, no question.
But Baltimore has started to patch things together in the aggregate. Matt Hibner flashed last week with a 29-yard wheel route and finished with 61 yards on five catches, and Josh Cuevas followed with 46 yards on three catches this week, highlighted by an acrobatic grab.
Mark Andrews remains Mark Andrews: he’ll sit down in the soft spots in zone and serve as Lamar Jackson’s safety blanket, even if the explosive runs after the catch are no longer the same. Durham Smythe adds a steady blocking presence and can fill in where needed.
The room may not have the same ceiling it did a year ago, but in this new wide receiver-heavy scheme, the drop-off doesn’t look like something that’s going to sink the offense.
On the edge, Ethan Burke is making a strong case for the fifth outside linebacker job. He’s been showing up over and over on film and has also looked like a real piece on special teams.
That isn’t a knock on Adisa Isaac or Kaimon Rucker so much as a reflection of how often Burke has made his presence felt. Isaac had the chance to turn a bobbled ball against the Eagles into a pick-six, but it was called incomplete and he hasn’t done much else on the stat sheet.
Rucker has a couple of tackles and a quarterback hit across the two games. Burke, though, has separated himself with five total tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, two pass breakups, and two quarterback hits.
And then there’s Ryan Eckley, who looks like he could push Jordan Stout right away. Eckley’s first professional punt against the Eagles was a shank, but since then he’s been dropping bombs and forcing fair catches deep.
His second punt against the Eagles pinned the opponent at the 10, and against the Vikings he punted six times for an average of 55.3 yards, with a long of 60. Two of those six were downed inside the 20, including one at the 4-yard line.
It’s been a sharp rebound, and if Eckley really is this good this fast, that would be a major win for Baltimore. The Ravens leaned heavily on Stout’s punting last season, but his first few years in the league were average to below average.
Avoiding a step back there would be a real boost for a team chasing a championship.
In Other News...
Ravens Rookie Punter Looks Ready For Jordan Stout's Job But One Doubt Remains
Ryan Eckley has made a strong first impression in Ravens camp, and the sixth-round rookie punter has already shown the kind of leg and placement Baltimore hoped to find after Jordan Stout moved on to the New York Giants. Through training camp and two preseason games in 2026, Eckley has put together enough quality work to make the competition feel less like a long shot and more like a real opening, with punts that have pinned teams deep and flashed the kind of control that matters most at that spot.
Still, the picture has not been entirely clean. Eckley has also had stretches when his first punts of games were not as effective, which is the sort of unevenness that keeps a special teams job from feeling settled too early. The Ravens have reason to be encouraged by the power and precision he has shown, but they also have enough evidence to know the final call will come down to whether he can bring that same level every time he steps on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Ravens Pass Rush Battle Is Putting Adisa Isaac In Trouble
The Ravens pass-rush competition has become one of the more interesting roster battles in camp, and Adisa Isaac has not yet made the kind of early case that usually helps a young edge defender stick. Through more than 30 preseason snaps, he has not put up any statistics, while Ethan Burke and Kaimon Rucker have both used their chances to stand out in a crowded group.
Burke delivered a breakout Week 2 showing with multiple impactful plays, and Rucker followed by earning the top defensive grade on the team in that same game. With the August 30 cutdown date approaching, Baltimore has a real decision to make for its final pass-rush spot, and Isaacs quiet preseason is putting him in a tougher position than he likely expected. [Read more 🡒]
Ravens Center Battle May Not Be As Open As It Sounds
A recent game offered a reminder of how quickly an offense can get out of rhythm when the middle of the line is not steady, with penalties and procedural issues helping derail things for rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle. Doyle and his mentor Sean Payton have both put a premium on what a veteran center brings to an offense, which helps explain why Baltimore moved to add Ethan Pocic and give itself a more experienced option in the middle.
For now, the Ravens are sorting through a center competition that features Pocic and Jovaughn Gwyn, and the coaching staff has made clear this is not a snap judgment. The job will keep being evaluated as camp and the preseason unfold, but the broader message is already clear: in this system, the center spot is too important to treat like a placeholder. [Read more 🡒]