In voting by NFL.com analysts, the Ravens received 15 votes to win the AFC North, while the Bengals got 10. Eight of the analysts who picked Cincinnati to win the division have Baltimore earning a wild-card berth.
“On paper, the Ravens are still one of the most talented teams in the league,” NFL.com’s Marcus Grant wrote. “On the field, they just need to stay healthy enough to show it.”
The Athletic asked five anonymous NFL front-office veterans to rank the 16 teams in each conference, and the Ravens ended up at No. 3 behind the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs.
“They’ll win their division,” one of the voters predicted. “I don’t know where Joe Burrow is (health-wise). Deshaun Watson will miss the first 11 games, and I don’t know where he’s at overall after the layoff. I don’t know where the quarterback in Pittsburgh is. So I’m saying Baltimore may be the best team in that division with an easier schedule. Are the Ravens the third-best team in the conference? They are in better position than some of those AFC West teams even if they are not as good.”
Surprisingly, two of the executives didn’t think highly of the Ravens, as one ranked them as the 10th-best team in the AFC (one spot behind the Jacksonville Jaguars) and another put them at No. 11 (one spot behind the Steelers).
“They have no skill players at all other than Mark Andrews,” the voter who ranked the Ravens 11th in the AFC said. “Who is Lamar [Jackson] going to throw to? All right, you are going to be a running team. That’s great, except your line is not that good. That said, the 11th-best team in the AFC would probably be the fifth or sixth team in the NFC.”
No offensive skill players? When healthy, J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards form a strong one-two punch at running back. Who will Jackson throw the ball to other than Andrews? I’m guessing wide receiver Rashod Bateman, who showed flashes last year in an injury-hampered rookie season, and rookie tight end Isaiah Likely, who has been a beast all preseason,…
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