The Baltimore Ravens won’t lack leadership in the 2019 season:
The Baltimore Ravens obviously lost Eric Weddle, Terrell Suggs and C.J. Mosley who were three of the most respected players on the team. Weddle was a vocal leader and a player who wasn’t afraid to be a coach on the field. Suggs was the longest tenured Raven, a potential hall of fame candidate in the future and the biggest presence in the locker room. Mosley was the quarterback of the defense. The Ravens lost a ton of influence with that trio but leadership isn’t something the 2019 team will lack.
Earl Thomas offers the same kind of leadership that Eric Weddle did. Thomas is a Super Bowl champion whose experience in the NFL is impressive. Jimmy Smith has had to fight off a ton of adversity in his career and he’s remained a great player throughout it all. Marlon Humphrey has become one of the most integral parts of the team. The Ravens stacked secondary has more leadership among themselves than some teams have all together.
The Ravens can’t replace a leader like Suggs, yet that doesn’t mean there will be nobody to step up to the challenge. Look for Matt Judon and Patrick Onwuasor to become leaders this season. These are players that the Ravens have built up over multiple seasons.
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With the pressure to replace Suggs and Mosley from a production standpoint, comes the idea that the idea that they must be leaders. This is Judon’s big chance to be the featured star at the outside linebacker position. This is Onwuasor’s chance to take a big step up and kickoff the most important year of his career. They have big expectations and they must be the glue of the front seven.
Lamar Jackson is a player the team rallies behind. He changed the energy of the entire team. He’s humble and he holds himself to a high standard. He’s putting in the work this offseason. Joe Flacco was a more experienced player who did it a completely different way, however the Ravens haven’t suffered a drop off in leadership from under center. Jackson is a natural winner and leader.
On offense the Ravens have a lot of youth. That’s where players like Mark Ingram and Marshal Yanda come in. It could be argued that Yanda is the best player at his position in this generation. He leads by example and he is one of the most consistent players in football. Ingram was part of the Saints for a long time and he knows what winning looks like.
Most importantly the Ravens have a head coach that has done this for the last 11 years. John Harbaugh is a great leader and that will rub off on the team. Harbaugh always keeps the team fighting and he always prevents the train from coming off the tracks. The Ravens have a different leadership nucleus yet it should be a strong one.