Right now, the Baltimore Ravens are a middle-of-the-pack team featuring a dynamic offense and sub-par defense. The time is now to make a splash upgrade.
The 2019 NFL season remains young and full of uncertainty. There’s still plenty of teams that we aren’t sure what to make of yet. Are the contenders? Are the pretenders? Who’s legit and who’s not? Well, one thing we do know for sure is the Baltimore Ravens defensive unit is not a good one at the moment and is in dire need of a talent upgrade.
There’s plenty of available options for the Ravens to inquire about; it helps how many holes on the defensive side of the ball need filling… Via trade market, they can acquire defensive backs such as Jalen Ramsey (Jacksonville Jaguars), Chris Harris Jr. (Denver Broncos), Xavien Howard (Miami Dolphins), and Xavier Rhodes (Minnesota Vikings). Up front, a move for someone like Yannick Ngakoue (Jacksonville) or Leonard Williams (New York Jets) also makes sense.
The above listed are all from teams whose post-season future is murky. Still, there’s plenty of other targets on teams who appear to be playoff bound already. It’s worth talking to teams like the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans to gauge their interest in trading players like Arik Armstead (defensive line) and Whitney Mercilus (edge rusher) respectively.
There’s also some free agent acquisitions that should be monitored, such as safeties Eric Berry and D.J. Swearinger. Safety is a massive need for Baltimore right now, thanks to an untimely injury to Tony Jefferson. Other spots along the front-seven could be filled via Muhammad Wilkerson (defensive line), Nick Perry (edge rusher), Brandon Marshall (linebacker), or even former Baltimore Ravens defensive lineman Willie Henry.
Right now, there’s tons of potential candidates to upgrade this roster both cheap and otherwise. Baltimore needs to do some extensive research on all possibilities, especially should their defense continue to suffer after playing the lowly Cincinnati Bengals this weekend.
Guys like Jalen Ramsey, Chris Harris Jr., and Yannick Ngakoue should be top priority trade targets, while Eric Berry, Nick Perry, and Brandon Marshall should be free agents to target. Even beyond the above mentioned names, there’s tons of possibilities for the Ravens to explore signing and/or trading for.
Truth be told, the Baltimore Ravens should be making several moves to drastically improve this defense. The offense is rolling right now and has us thinking playoffs. However, if the defense doesn’t get any better then you can kiss a deep playoff run goodbye, let alone a post-season berth…