5 reasons to get excited about the Baltimore Ravens in 2023

2. A full season of Roquan Smith with the Baltimore Ravens

It was fascinating how quickly the Baltimore Ravens' defense clicked into place the minute that they signed Roquan Smith. Smith immediately became the leader of the defense, pushed everyone else down the totem pole, and made their lives easier, and things shifted into place quickly.

You can say that the quarterbacks they faced got a lot weaker as the year went on, but at the same time, if you watched the defense, you saw the impact. Also, this came together on the fly. This was Roquan Smith for half of a season with Mike MacDonald, a first-year defensive coordinator.

There had to be calls, meetings, and text messages discussing ideas, game plans, and changes for the defense when they entered 2023. Now, we are about a week away from seeing how it all unfolds. The first full year of Roquan Smith coming out after an offseason working with MacDonald is huge. MacDonald had the time to plan around Smith as well and now understanding the changes from college to the NFL Is just as big.