3 Ravens players most impacted by Lamar Jackson skipping OTAs
By Kristen Wong
Ravens Player No. 1: Greg Roman
Admittedly, we stretched the rules on this one. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman has been drawing up plays at OTAs without Lamar Jackson, and there’s absolutely no silver lining to that.
Ever since Jackson was drafted in 2018, the Ravens have built their offense (and identity) around the dual-threat. Not having Jackson in the lineup obviously affects how Baltimore’s offense operates, and even though it’s very early on, Roman would like to see Jackson back sooner rather than later.
Roman has reportedly been hard at work tweaking the offensive scheme, and things won’t be the same when Jackson returns. In other words: Jackson has a lot to catch up on.
Roman recently told reporters:
"“I went back and changed some things and added some things. There’s definitely some things that are new, that we haven’t done. There are also a bunch of things that he’s pretty well adjusted to. It’s probably 80% stuff he knows, 20% stuff that we’re looking forward to working on.”"
Given the Ravens’ sputtering offense last season, Roman has good reason to introduce changes and it’s a no-brainer that Jackson should be the one at the center of those changes. Jackson came off a career-worst season in 2021 that saw him scramble out of the pocket and get sacked too often, and he finished with a career-high 13 interceptions on the year.
With a beefed-up offensive line and young and talented wideouts, Greg Roman has everything he needs to upgrade Baltimore’s offense ahead of the 2022 season — except for his star quarterback.
Fingers crossed Lamar Jackson returns to the field soon — the entire team is depending on it.