Which New (Or Rehabbed) Raven Will Have the Biggest Impact?

Mink: There are a lot of candidates for this when including free-agent and rookie additions, as well as players that didn’t play a snap last year. After all, your question says “did not play” for the Ravens. For me, it’s between three guys: Marcus Williams, Marcus Peters and J.K. Dobbins. I’ll go with Peters.

By all indications, it sounds like Peters will be back from his knee injury at the start of training camp and ready to go by Week 1. He should play nearly every snap this season if healthy.

The defense felt his absence last year in several ways. No cornerback in the NFL is better at getting interceptions, which the Ravens really lacked. Quarterbacks just weren’t nearly as afraid to attack. Peters’ film room study tutorials to younger players is invaluable, as well as his on-field machismo that fires his teammates up.

The addition of Williams should also help Peters be even more effective. With more safety help over the top, Peters won’t feel as worried about getting burnt deep and can perhaps rely even more on his special instincts to break on balls and get picks.

Williams is obviously going to have a huge impact as a high-price free-agent signing. He changes Baltimore’s defense. I also think people are sleeping on Dobbins. Last offseason, he was all the rage as a breakout superstar candidate. Now there’s hardly any mention of him. We haven’t heard a lot from him this offseason, but if Dobbins is back to his pre-injury self, that’s massive for the offense.