When the dust settles from the 2022 NFL Draft, the Baltimore Ravens will stand alone with one of the best rookie classes in recent history.
What the team has done, it has done exceedingly well.
Get Lamar Jackson better pass protection. Check. Revamp a dead-in-the-water secondary from last year. Check. Select quality young talents with the ability to become cornerstone pieces for the franchise.
But the work’s not done yet.
With several months to go before the start of the season, the Ravens must wrangle with a plethora of roster issues that went unaddressed in the draft. Eric DeCosta’s best player strategy worked brilliantly for the long term, but in the short term, Baltimore need to make moves to widen its Super Bowl window and be able to compete this upcoming season.
Here are four things the Ravens should do between now and September to give themselves the best shot at success.
4. The Ravens must re-sign Justin Houston
This one is probably happening as we speak. After failing to nab a healthy starting-caliber pass-rusher in the draft, the Ravens should bring back outside linebacker Justin Houston.
The team recently placed an unrestricted free agent tender on Houston, which means the Ravens will have exclusive negotiating rights with the veteran if he hasn’t been picked up by another team by July 22.
Assuming all goes smoothly, Houston will rejoin the roster and make 110 percent of his 2021 compensation, which was roughly $2 million in salary and bonuses.
At that price, Houston comes at a steal for what he provides to a young Ravens pass-rushing corps.
Rookie David Ojabo may not see the field at all in 2022, and the rest of the Ravens’ outside linebacker unit consists of one recently injured player, two second year players, and one unproductive player who remains in steady decline.
Re-signing Justin Houston won’t magically fix the team’s stale pass-rush performances of last season (Houston was, after all, part of that unit in 2021), but it will make Baltimore’s edge-rush at the very least acceptable in 2022.