Christmas will arrive in just a few days, and the Baltimore Ravens have quite the wish list for Santa Claus this year. Though they remain firmly in the playoff hunt, their fortunes have taken quite a negative turn since a knee injury sidelined their MVP-winning quarterback and a handful of other calamities have hit the offense.
So if the deadline for letters hasn’t passed, the Ravens would love for Santa to leave these gifts under the tree.
A new offensive coordinator for 2023
The Ravens won’t make a change at offensive coordinator during the season, at least not under the current conditions. While the team famously pivoted from Cam Cameron to Jim Caldwell in December of 2012 and went on to win the Super Bowl less than two months later, head coach John Harbaugh faced a different set of challenges and options than he does currently with Greg Roman.
Back then, Caldwell represented an outsider among the senior offensive staffers. When it became clear that the offense needed a change, pivoting to a well established, veteran play-caller didn’t require a long search. Contrast that scenario with the one Harbaugh faces now in which the only offensive staffer with meaningful NFL play-calling experience, tight-ends coach George Godsey, could have to leap over multiple higher-ranking assistants to take over the offense, and it becomes clearer why a change like the one in 2012 won’t happen now.
And for his part, Harbaugh has defended Roman’s performance when pressed during his media availability.
“All of our coaches, including Greg (Roman) and everybody else, are fully capable of understanding the pass game and what we’ve got to do to get it done and scheming it up and all that kind of stuff,” Harbaugh said earlier this week. “We can do things a lot better. We can look at how much we’re calling, how much motion and stuff we put in, and the football-related X’s and O’s stuff. We’re definitely looking at really hard the volume of what we do. All those kinds of different things.”
But while Harbaugh will almost certainly stick to the script as it pertains to his coaching staff for the remainder of the season, he has demonstrated the willingness to make difficult changes in the past. Most recently, Harbaugh severed ties with popular defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale in order to refresh the system under a less blitz-heavy successor, Mike Macdonald. A similar change could come to the offense this offseason.
A less breakable, younger receiving corps
It seems impossible that just a few months ago, the receiving corps looked like an area of current and future strength for the Ravens. Rashod Bateman flashed genuine star potential during the early weeks of the season while Devin Duvernay demonstrated the ability to take the top off defenses with regularity. In turn, the tandem’s speed and play-making created opportunities underneath for tight end Mark Andrews. All seemed well.
Fast forward to the back stretch of the 2022 campaign, and the outlook has changed dramatically. Both Bateman and Duvernay now reside on injured reserve while the decaying remains of Sammy Watkins have returned as a waiver claim while a literally 36-year-old DeSean Jackson came out of the woodwork to play meaningful snaps for the offense. By any objective measure, the situation has become as dire as any in the NFL this season.
Bateman won’t return this season and Duverney’s immediate future remains unclear, but the Ravens cannot continue on like this. For the offense to have any realistic chance of evolving into something more dangerous and modern, the receiving corps has to add more young playmakers this offseason in case Bateman and/or Duverney fail to shake their injury woes. The passing game looks like a totally different monster when it has speed coming off the edges, and it simply hasn’t enjoyed those advantages since the first few months of the season.
An extension for Lamar Jackson
This, of course, has become the white whale for the Ravens over the past 18 months.
While the lack of concrete information surrounding Lamar Jackson’s contract negotiations during the past offseason as well as back-to-back Decembers in which the quarterback has missed time has altered the tenor of the fan base, securing a long-term deal for the 2019 MVP remains a front-burner issue for the organization.
As best as anyone on the outside can tell, the two sides won’t seriously discuss the matter until after the conclusion of the 2022 season. That point will also mark the de facto expiration of Jackson’s rookie deal, putting him on track for free agency in theory. However, virtually the entire league expects the Ravens to apply the franchise tag to Jackson this offseason and keep him off the market. That could set up a Dak Prescott-esque situation where a high-level quarterback plays a season or more on the tag rather than a multiyear deal.
However, an extension represents a better outcome for all parties. That holds true even if it means that Baltimore has to pay top-of-market prices while Jackson accepts fewer guarantees than those given to Deshaun Watson earlier this year. For any concern about the veteran signal-caller’s viability in the long term, he remains just 25 years old and offers plenty of upside over the duration of a second contract.
For now, that remains the goal and the most impactful piece of the entire organization.
Jason B. Hirschhorn is an award-winning sports journalist and Pro Football Writers of America member. He has bylines at NFL.com, SB Nation, Sports Illustrated, and other outlets.