5 questions that need answered for Baltimore Ravens this season

4. Will J.K. Dobbins earn himself a contract with the Baltimore Ravens?

The decision on what the Baltimore Ravens are going to do with J.K. Dobbins may be what hangs over the team this season. The issue is that the better he plays, the more interesting the debate will get.

Dobbins has all of the hype in the world, and in brief moments he has lived up to it. The issue is that he is now in his fourth NFL season and he has not flashed it all together for a big year. As a rookie, it came together late. Then, he missed all of year two and worked himself back in a year. It came together late in the year for him again.

So, he enters year four, and this should be as healthy and experienced as he has been in his career. There really are no excuses, and there cannot be. He is in the last year of his rookie salary deal. So, if he struggles this year then the Ravens will let him walk, or at least offer a lower-end one-year deal.

On the flip side, if he does excel, things get really interesting. It will have just been one full season, although the flashes in years one and three were real. Still, with the injury concerns, and recent running back contracts blowing up in teams' faces the debate is real.

The franchise tag is low, so if Dobbins plays so well does he put himself in that camp? Even if he plays well he may be best on a one-year deal because his injury history will have all teams leery. The question then is why would he not test the market and find the best one-year deal out there? This would force the Ravens to use the tag, or risk seeing him leave. It will be a hotly debated topic, and the better he plays, the more interesting the debate will get.