Believe it or not, we're just a week away from the start of the 2023 NFL regular season and from watching our beloved Baltimore Ravens play real football again since they last did so last January. Time flies, Flock.
Although the main storylines coming out of the Ravens realm this offseason had to do with the offensive side of the ball, that doesn't mean the defense doesn't deserves some comments and discussion.
In fact, the D of Baltimore might be the deciding factor of the upcoming season and the unit moving the needle toward Super Bowl contention.
After the Ravens named their initial 53-man roster and applied some final touches to it through the week leading up to the regular-season kick-off, here are Ebony Bird's Positional Power Rankings for the defensive groups of the Ravens.
4. Defensive Line
The defensive unit operates primarily in a 3-4 base defense, featuring Justin Madubuike and Broderick Washington as defensive ends alongside nose tackle Michael Pierce. While not an elite unit, it's a solid, dependable group.
Baltimore rarely deploys a four-man defensive line, typically relying on a five-man rotation, including the starters and depth players. That might actually be good news for the unit, if only because it lacks depth and talent the further down the depth chart you go.
Travis Jones and Brent Urban would add a couple of warm bodies to the depth, but they're not needle movers so it's about right to rank the front-line of the defensive corps this low among all D-units.