8 positional battles to watch for 2020 Baltimore Ravens

Second-string running back:

Contenders: Gus Edwards vs. J.K. Dobbins

Justice Hill is a stud, but he’s firmly out of this race. The battle for who will be Mark Ingram‘s primary backup is the most exciting of the camp battles this summer.

Gus Edwards has been a stud for the Baltimore Ravens since going undrafted in 2018. Edwards has amassed over 1,400 rushing yards in a very limited role for the Ravens. Edwards also topped 5.0 YPC in each of his two seasons. What he’s done is exceptional and he wouldn’t be a half-bad starter if he were asked to be one. The fact that he rushed for over 700-yards in 2019 and was still third on the team for rushing yards is a credit to his play.

The counter to Edwards’s grip on RB2 snaps is incoming rookie J.K. Dobbins. Baltimore spent a second-round pick on Dobbins; a clear indicator that he is primed for a featured role in this offense. The Ravens are a run-heavy football team and Dobbins will be a major player in that, especially considering the investment here.

Where Dobbins has a slight edge here is in the receiving game, where he’s proven to be more than adept. Dobbins is a very similar player to Ingram, however, so Edwards will have the edge as the team’s change-of-pace guy due to his massive size and downhill play style.

All in all, I’d expect both of these guys to get a ton of snaps throughout the season to keep the backfield fresh. Dobbins brings more to the table than Edwards, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him get more snaps. Edwards has proven to be extremely reliable, too, so we shouldn’t expect too much of a decreased role here, even if he becomes the third running back on the depth chart.