Since the Baltimore Ravens are a nearly $2 billion business, the franchise deserves a quarterly stock report. Yes, I know the Ravens are not a publicly traded business, but do fans not have emotional stock invested in the team? So after four games, a quarter of the way through the season, let’s take a look at whose stock is rising, whose is falling and who has stayed steady.
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Stock Up
Crockett Gillmore wasted no time in becoming a fan favorite, rumbling his way to 10 catches and 151 yards in just three games, great numbers for a tight end. The increased responsibilities have not affected his blocking, either, as Gillmore remains a very good blocker at the position.
Despite an injury that has him sidelined for who knows how long, Gillmore has established that he is a legitimate starting tight end in the NFL.
The rest of the Ravens tight ends deserve honorable mention as well, as Maxx Williams and Nick Boyle have both flashed talent. All together, the Ravens tight ends have generated 266 yards of receiving through four games. Three tight end sets are uncommon, but the Ravens could turn them into a legitimate weapon.
Key Stat: Gillmore is 18th in the NFL among all players in yards after catch with 96.
Marshal Yanda, OG
How is it possible for a future Hall of Fame guard to increase his stock even more? By dominating while the rest of the line struggles. Last year was arguably Yanda’s best, but he did it as part of a unit that was dominating throughout the season. This year, Yanda has not had that help. Rick Wagner has struggled mightily at right tackle, yet Yanda just keeps plowing away at right guard. He is the bright spot for a unit that has struggled this year.
Key Stat: Yanda has surrendered just three total pressures this year.
Brandon Williams, DT
Attitude has been hard to find on the Ravens’ defense this season, dominance even more so. Brandon Williams, the biggest man on the defense, has been the stud, throwing around offensive linemen like ragdolls. More words aren’t necessary. Just watch.
Key stat: Brandon Williams has 17 “stops” per Pro Football Focus, most on the team. Stops are defined as number of tackles that result in an offensive failure.
Will Hill, S
By far the best player in the secondary has been Will Hill, the once-beleaguered safety who is now beleaguering opposing offenses. Hill has made big plays in every phase of the game, from run defense to pass rushing to coverage. He is the only player in Baltimore who seems to understand how to play zone coverage as well.
His explosiveness and knack for big plays has bailed out the defense repeatedly this year. Hill may go down as Ozzie Newsome‘s best pickup of the past several years at this rate.
Key stat: Hill leads the team in tackles for a loss with three. He also has an interception and a sack this season.
Will Davis, CB
He has played one game so far in Baltimore, but what a game! Davis played 20 snaps in coverage gave up just one catch for eight yards on three targets. Not a bad debut for the Ravens’ newest defensive back. If they see more of that, Davis could challenge for more reps. Plus, the fact that he was already playing significant snaps after just a week in the Ravens’ system is another positive sign.
Key stat: David was a top performer in the three-cone drill and the 20-yard shuttle at the 2013 NFL Combine.
Honorable Mentions: Steve Smith Sr. (pre-injury), Carl Davis, Lawrence Guy, Za’Darius Smith
Stock Steady
Joe Flacco, QB
Those with emotional investment into the Baltimore Ravens care most about quarterback play. After all, the quality of a team’s quarterback is the No. 1 indicator of a team’s chances.
Despite Pro Football Focus’ brutal season grade for Flacco (-9.8), he has been exactly what the Ravens should expect him to be. Flacco is a magnifying glass for the offense as a whole. Give him a good surrounding cast, and he will look like a star. Give him a receiving corps full of undrafted free agents and a struggling offensive line, and Flacco will look lost.
Despite the offense’s struggles, Flacco has made some great throws. His touchdown to Kamar Aiken in Pittsburgh was one of the most accurate throws of his career, and almost every throw in Oakland was on point.
That said, Flacco has been extremely indecisive in the pocket, probably a result of his discomfort with his group of weapons. He needs to overcome that.
More troubling, Flacco has constantly thrown the ball of his back foot. That’s a huge issue that Marc Trestman and Marty Morhinweg need to correct, as many of his worst throws were back foot throws.
One thing to note: Many of Flacco’s picks have been a result of him testing one-on-one coverage. They were conscious decisions to give his receiver a chance to make a play, and the receivers failed. That said, Flacco needs to elevate the offense by finding an open man, rather than lofting the ball into tight one-on-one coverage.
Key stat: Flacco has thrown an interception on 3.1 percent of his throws, the second-worst mark of his career.
Elvis Dumervil, OLB
Fans have blamed Dumervil for the Ravens’ lack of pass rush, which is wrong on a couple of levels. First of all, a terrible performance in Oakland aside, the pass rush hasn’t been bad this year, even without Terrell Suggs. Secondly, Dumervil has been very good this year, if not quite excellent.
Pass rushers are like receivers in that a team needs multiple good players to ensure opponents can’t focus on neutralizing a single player. When the Detroit Lions, for instance, only had Calvin Johnson and a bunch of scrubs at receiver, teams focused so heavily on Johnson that it destroyed the Lions offense. Without Suggs, that’s the situation Dumervil finds himself in now.
Even so, Dumervil has been fine. His strip sack of Andy Dalton was one of the best individual efforts of any Ravens’ defender this season, and he has brought it on numerous other plays as well. No, Dumervil will never be a great edge setter in the ground game, but even there, he has been better than advertised.
In sum, Doom has been fine, so stop worrying about him.
Key Stat: Dumervil has had multiple pressures in every game this season.
Stock Down
Rick Wagner, OT
No single player has regressed more than Rick Wagner, who went from vying for a Pro Bowl selection a year ago to being one of the worst tackles in the NFL. In fact, the only tackle playing worse than Wagner right now is on the other side of the Ravens’ line, James Hurst.
Surprisingly, Wagner has been terrible in both run and pass blocking. He may still be recovering from a foot injury that ended his 2014 season, but that’s not an excuse. The Ravens need better play from Wagner to get the offense on track, or Joe Flacco will not even have a fighting chance.
Key Stat: The Ravens have averaged 1.3 yards per carry on runs off the right tackle.
Marlon Brown, WR
Kamar Aiken might not be a good starter yet, but at least he has flashed talent. Marlon Brown has only regressed, dropping catchable balls, failing to get open and failing to make plays after the catch. This season has been an unmitigated disaster for Brown, and with injuries to Michael Campanaro and Steve Smith, the Ravens can’t afford that.
Key Stats: Marlon Brown has played the most snaps of any Ravens receiver this year. He is fifth on the team in receiving yards. He is second to last in the league in yards per route run among qualifying receivers per Pro Football Focus.
Courtney Upshaw, OLB
There was talk this season of Courtney Upshaw breaking out as a pass rusher. That did not happen, to no one’s surprise. Not only has he been a terrible pass rusher, though, he has struggled against the run as well. He has not set the edge nearly as well as he had in years past, and he has missed multiple tackles this year.
Upshaw is in a contract year, and he has done nothing to earn a new one. It’s time for the Ravens to get more athletic at outside linebacker, and Upshaw is not the solution for the future.
Key Stat: Courtney Upshaw is second-to-last among 3-4 OLBs in Pass Rushing Productivity per Pro Football Focus.
Jimmy Smith, CB
Jimmy Smith’s struggles could almost certainly be attributed to shaking off the rust after getting hurt in 2014 and missing much of the season. Even so, for a guy who is supposed to be a top-tier cornerback, Smith has gotten beat a lot this year. That touchdown he surrendered to Amari Cooper made Smith look absolutely lost, and he got torched repeatedly against A.J. Green as well.
Smith will be better. He won’t have to go up against Amari Cooper and A.J. Green every week. Still, he needs to compete better against the top receivers in the league.
Key Stat: Receivers in Smith’s coverage have gone for 303 yards this year, second worst among cornerbacks in the NFL.
Honorable Mentions: Lardarius Webb, Kyle Arrington, Rashaan Melvin, Kendrick Lewis
Shawn began his writing career with Bleacher Report as a Ravens featured columnist and Breaking News Team writer. He moved on to write for Yahoo! and work on the Ravens Central Radio podcast. Most recently, he was an Editor at the Baltimore Wire. Shawn is a 2013 graduate of the Catholic University of America.