Ian Hartitz identifies the team needs for the Baltimore Ravens heading into the 2025 NFL Combine and Draft.

It sure seemed like 2024 had the potential to be different for the Ravens. The offense was scarier than ever with Lamar Jackson finding a new peak as a passer and the whole "yeah, we have Derrick Henry now" thing, while a midseason reshuffling on defense provided familiar elite-ness down the stretch.

Sadly, a dominant Wild Card victory over the Steelers was the only playoff W this squad would eat. Jackson's legacy-worthy, eight-play, 88-yard TD drive late in the fourth quarter in Buffalo still managed to end in heartbreak after Mark Andrews dropped the potential tying two-point conversion. Pain.

Today we'll recap some of the good and bad of 2024, get into potential offseason injuries to monitor, as well as team needs ahead of the 2025 offseason.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

BALTIMORE RAVENS 2024 RECAP

  • Record: 12-5 (11.5 preseason win total)
  • Points per game: 30.5 (3rd)
  • EPA per dropback: +0.328 (1st)
  • EPA per rush: +0.053 (2nd)
  • Points per game allowed: 21.2 (9th)
  • Leading passer: Lamar Jackson (4,172 pass yards, 41 TD, 4 INT)
  • Leading rusher: Derrick Henry (325 carries, 1,921 yards, 16 TD)
  • Leading receiver: Zay Flowers (74 receptions, 1,059 yards, 4 TD)

What Are The Biggest Needs of the Ravens Ahead Of 2025?

Team Need No. 1: Cornerback

Marlon Humphrey continues to hold down the fort out of the slot, but outside starter Brandon Stephens and depth piece Tre'Davious White are both hitting free agency. 2024 first-rounder Nate Wiggins certainly looks to have the potential to start for a long time, but still: Wiggins and Humphrey were the team's only corners with a PFF coverage grade inside the position's top 100 last season.

There's also the matter of this defense struggling mightily against opposing WRs for large portions of the year. A dominant run defense combined with the team's ability to play with plenty of leads certainly led to the Ravens facing the third-most pass attempts in the league; just realize this group did allow the seventh-highest explosive play rate and fifth-most total fantasy points to WRs in 2024.

Team Need No. 2: Offensive Line

The dual-threat magic of Lamar Jackson has helped this offensive line cycle through plenty of new starters over the years. Overall, the Ravens are the only offense to average over two yards before contact per carry since Jackson was drafted, and nobody has had a longer average time to sack. This is a good combo!

Still, both LT Ronnie Stanley and LG Patrick Mekari are set to hit free agency, leaving the Ravens with less 2025 dollars devoted to their offensive line than any team other than the Bears. Expect Baltimore to use at least a few of their 11 draft picks on the group come April.

Team Need No. 3: WR3

This isn't the biggest issue in the world considering nobody used 11 personnel less than the Ravens (27.8%) in 2024, but at a minimum some depth should be added to the group either through the later rounds of the draft or via cheaper deals in free agency to handle potential losses to Nelson Agholor, Tylan Wallace, and Diontae Johnson.

Wallace seems like a decent candidate to return considering his added ability to contribute on special teams. It also might be fun to see at least a few more opportunities tossed his way on offense. That 3-115-1 performance vs. the Bengals was a lot of fun, and despite the hilariously low 15-target sample-size: Wallace just averaged the most yards per target (16) of any WR in the last decade!

As much as I love the idea of ex-Bear Anthony Miller making a comeback in purple: Adding just a bit more money to the league's 10th-cheapest WR room makes sense.

Biggest surprise: WR Rashod Bateman

Injuries and a run-heavy Ravens offense prevented RashodBateman from making much of a splash during the first three seasons of his career. Alleged ball knowers still clung to the occasional highlight as evidence that the former first-round pick was capable of doing more, but even the biggest Bateman truthers likely didn't see his 45-756-9 season coming.

Seriously: The 25-year-old talent looked the part of a difference-maker on the outside all season long.

ESPN's receiver ratings ranked Bateman 11th in their "Open Score," meant to help quantify separation ability. Fantasy Points ranked him third!

It seems likely the Ravens make an effort to add a receiver or two this offseason, but it'd be surprising at this point if Bateman doesn't (again) join Zay Flowers as Jackson's top-two targets on the outside.

Biggest disappointment: TE Mark Andrews

And honestly this seems unfair; it's tough to find a true disappointment inside some of the league's very best offenses.

Still: The incredibly brutal opening and ending of the season did no favors to the longtime stud. The former stretch (perhaps influenced by a preseason car crash) featured back-to-back goose eggs in Weeks 3-4; it seemed possible if not likely (ha!) that backup Isaiah Likely was on the verge of taking over the starting job.

The latter disappointment was more so tied specifically to just the final two drives of the Ravens’ season: A Mark Andrews fumble and the aforementioned two-point drop.

And yet, the 29-year-old veteran had largely resumed balling the hell out between these stinky stretches:

Players with 10-plus TDs in Weeks 6-18, 2024:

Here's to hoping we'll be spelling redemption M-A-R-K this time next year.

Key injuries

There were murmurs that Zay Flowers (knee) could have been ready to play in the AFC Championship if Baltimore advanced, but I guess we'll never know. Either way: The injury seems unlikely to hinder the Pro Bowl wideout ahead of the offseason, meaning fantasy drafters don't have to sweat any ongoing injury issues in Baltimore.