The Baltimore Ravens are younger on offense than they have been in quite some time:
The 2019 Baltimore Ravens aren’t counting on Joe Flacco to live up to a massive contract in his 12th season. Lamar Jackson is the quarterback and Flacco is in Denver. The Ravens aren’t counting on discount free agent receivers like Michael Crabtree. Instead, they are banking on Marquise Brown and Miles Boykin as rookies.
The Ravens are done shuffling through short-term solutions on the offense. They went through running back after running back since they cut ties with Ray Rice. The Ravens finally have their running back trio set in place. Mark Ingram is the lone veteran in the group. Gus Edwards and Justice Hill are just getting started.
Nick Boyle is a proven blocking tight end and at 26, he is just one year older than Hayden Hurst. Mark Andrews is 22. The Ravens should be able to keep this impressive tight end tandem together for a while.
Ronnie Stanley is going into a contract year. He was drafted in 2016 and he could be a player that the Ravens will invest in next offseason. Stanley is one of the better left tackles in the league and he is entering the prime of his career.
On the other end Orlando Brown Jr. is just entering his second season. Ben Powers was a fourth round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. He has potential not only to start in 2019, but for years to come. From the quarterback position all the way through to the offensive line, the Ravens have a young offense.
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Much of the focus is on what Lamar Jackson will be able to do this season, and that is fair. Jackson is what everything this franchise is building hinges on. If Jackson is a star in the making, the Ravens are opening themselves a championship window for several years. If Jackson doesn’t prove that he’s the franchise quarterback, that would be a major setback.
The main thing to think about is how the offense is molded around Jackson. Jackson has a couple of young speedy receivers that will be learning on the job alongside him. The Ravens have two running backs in their early 20’s and Mark Ingram as the veteran leader of the group. Andrews and Hurst could be a thing for a long time. The Ravens didn’t build an offense for 2019. They put pieces in place on offense for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Jackson’s development is important and the growth of the entire offense will come with it. The Ravens were rebuilding the team this year. That doesn’t mean they don’t want to win now. John Harbaugh has every intention of punching another ticket to the playoffs. It’s a competitive rebuild that the Ravens have started to accomplish. It’s about 2019 and it’s about the future as well.
The Ravens belief that the defense and the running game will keep them in the playoff race is a well founded belief. When Jackson took over as the starting quarterback, the Ravens controlled the clock, did enough on offense and won games. The Ravens have also always been able to win games that way. A top-tier defense with a top secondary should help the Ravens win now while an offense that gets to grow up together can start helping them as well. This is only the beginning.