7. The veteran free agents are all well worth the gamble and the investment
The Ravens are missing many players and they have been forced into coming up with solutions in a very quick and sudden fashion.
They had to sign running backs after knowing about injuries to bolster a unit that at a point had zero players in the 53-man roster filling it.
They had to sign their supposed starter at nickel back (Arthur Maulet) right before training camp only for him to miss all of August and September with an injury forcing other players to rotate at the position. Of course, Ar'Darius Washington was placed on IR after being named the backup-then-starter nickel.
They lost cornerbacks and safeties in bunches, so many in fact that we don't have the real state to name them all here. The solution? Again, rotating players, using makeshift safeties at corner and the other way around, and signing veterans like Ronald Darby.
Kyle Van Noy already making an impact early & often in his #Ravens debut. pic.twitter.com/DRALrI542g
— Bobby Trosset (@bobbybaltimoree) October 1, 2023
And in the pass-rushing side of the game, well, things have not been that great. With Tyus Bowser starting the season on IR and now David Ojabo there too and Odafe Oweh out for a while rehabbing his own injury, the Ravens had to enter the market and sign Jadeveon Clowney in August and Kyle Van Noy right before Week 4.
All of the veterans (and by all we mean all) have been wonderful and great performers for the Ravens without exception.
Clowney played for the first time in Cleveland since leaving the Browns earlier this year and completed two tackles and (almost, not officially but we here counting them!) two sacks.
Van Noy was forced into playing much more than the coaches would have loved after spending just a few days within the organization, but he already logged a pass deflection while applying pressure.
Maulet deflected the pass that would end up in Brandon Stephens' hands and returned for 52 yards. Darby (and Rock Ya-Sin, who was also signed this offseason but missed most of training camp and the start of the regular season) played opposite Stephens and held the Browns wideouts to nearly no offensive production at all.
Melvin Gordon was fantastic rushing the ball and catching a pass for more than 20 yards. Gordon, by the way, is out of practice-squad elevations so the Ravens will need to sign him to the full 53-man roster if they don't want to risk losing him through waivers this week).
There has not been a single swing-and-miss when it comes to free-agent signings this season. Not a single one, and we're glad about that.