The Baltimore Ravens’ season ended with a Wild Card defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals, and team morale has officially taken a turn for the worse.
Some players didn’t shy away from criticizing the offensive play-calling in the playoff loss, while others have more or less stayed silent about their impending futures.
It’s difficult to call the Ravens’ 10-7 season a failure, but it’s equally difficult to call it a success considering the team’s depressing backslide at the end of the year. The elephant in the room, of course, is Lamar Jackson’s ongoing contract saga as he and the Ravens deliberate the exorbitant cost that comes with retaining a franchise quarterback.
Other than Lamar Jackson, which Ravens could already have one foot out the door in 2023?
We take a look at five potential candidates.
5. Ben Powers, G, Baltimore Ravens
Powers, who is set to become a free agent this year, is coming off a career-best season with the Ravens and may have outpriced his stay in Baltimore. After winning the starting left guard job in training camp, Powers started every game in 2022 and played a pivotal role in one of the league’s most elite offensive lines.
Compared to the rest of Baltimore’s O-line, which includes tested stars like Ronnie Stanley, promising rookies like Tyler Linderbaum, and reliable veterans like Morgan Moses, Powers can admittedly be overlooked. The fourth-year guard nonetheless carried his own weight in pass protection and run blocking and even earned an unusual award at the end of the year.
Baltimore’s offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris awards a cinderblock — yes, a literal cinderblock — to the best offensive lineman after every game for his “rock-solid” performance. Powers received one in his locker after the Wild Card game, his eighth cinderblock of the season; he won it the most times out of any other lineman, so he gets to take it home.
Even if Powers doesn’t return to the Ravens next year, he can at least have a memento of his surprisingly exceptional 2022 season.