3 Baltimore Ravens players who took advantage of extra playing time week 18

2. Travis Jones is playing his best for the Baltimore Ravens 

Travis Jones has been playing a lot more for the Baltimore Ravens over recent weeks. He has played over 40% of the snaps in eight games this season, and that includes each of the last four weeks. 

Jones has been able to ease the workload of both Justin Madubuike and Michael Pierce, and the Ravens have hardly seen a drop. In the first ten weeks of the season, Jones had seven pressures. In the last seven weeks, he had 15 pressures. 

He has shown a lot better as a run defender as well. This is important because the Ravens do not have much depth that they can lean on behind Madubuike and Pierce. The Ravens will need to lean on depth in the playoffs to ease their workloads so his ascension is key.

More than that, he is only finishing off his second NFL season. Jones has taken a huge step, going from five pressures and 15 run stops last year up to 22 pressures and 22 run stops this year. 

If he can take another step into his third season, the Ravens have to feel good about increasing his workload again. This could mean feeling comfortable tagging and trading Madubuike or at the least, keeping him and Pierce fresh next year.