The team with the NFL’s best record in 2019 made a brief playoff appearance. What up-and-coming players could elevate the Baltimore Ravens this season?
Perhaps the decision to rest numerous starters during the team’s Week 17 home game vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers wound up costing the team with the best record in the NFL this past season a shot at Super Bowl LIV?
John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens entered the 2019 postseason with a 12-game winning streak and left with just 12 points and a 16-point home loss to the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Divisional Playoffs.
Of course, it’s always easy to second guess after the fact. But the highest-scoring team in the league this past season totaled a season-low dozen points and league MVP Lamar Jackson struggled mightily. Meanwhile, Baltimore’s defense was pushed around by Derrick Henry and company.
But that’s the past. And as all 32 clubs prepare for 2020, could the defending AFC North champions be looking at these five players to step up this season?
5. G Bradley Bozeman
Then-general manager Ozzie Newsome’s final draft in 2018 produced an NFL-high 12 selections. He moved back up in the first round to select quarterback Lamar Jackson and dotted the list with players from nearly every position. He used a third-round pick that year to add massive University of Oklahoma tackle Orlando Brown.
In two seasons with the club, the 6-foot-8, 345-pound specimen has played every game to date – making 10 starts as a rookie and 16 starts this past year while earning a Pro Bowl invite.
But the offensive line this past season also got a boost from guard Bradley Bozeman, who FanSided colleague Chris Schisler of Ebony Bird referred to as “the most pleasant surprise of 2019.” He was a 16-game starter in his second NFL season and the sixth-round pick in ’18 wound up playing a pivotal part in the team’s success on the ground. Will the progress continue this fall?