Cover photo taken from KGET.
Welcome to 32 Teams in 32 Days, a daily series leading up to kickoff of the 2025 NFL season where I preview every team in the league as decided by a wheel spin and project what their season will look like. You can keep up with everything right here.
The wheel is mercifully starting to heat up. We’re headed up I-95 to Baltimore, where the Ravens are once again among the favorites to win the Super Bowl after another year of falling short of expectations. But things will be different this time… right?
I, for one, will not be drinking the black, purple and gold Kool-Aid that so many others do year after year, but I can recognize that this Ravens team is set up to do some real damage and should — should!!! — contend for a title this winter. It’s fairly easy to see why.
Last year, this offense was simply a machine. Not only balanced, but remarkably effective in every aspect: first in EPA/play, second in success rate, first in dropback EPA, second in rush EPA, first in total yards, first in rushing, third in scoring. That’s just insane. With an offensive line that ranked third in both pass block and run block win rates, the floodgates were opened for this Ravens offense to be arguably the best in the league.
Obviously, there were two main catalysts that allowed that to happen: Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. Lamar was simply brilliant last year and would’ve had my MVP vote if I possessed one, putting together what I considered to be his best season as a passer with 4,172 yards, 41 touchdowns to just four interceptions, the fourth-highest single-season passer rating ever at 119.6, the top QBR the second-highest EPA+CPOE in the league. Oh, and he also rushed for 915 yards and four touchdowns. My God. He deserved MVP far more last year than he did in 2023, but at least he got that one to balance out last year.
Then there’s Derrick Henry, whose acquisition instantly turned this Baltimore offense from feared to nightmarish. Combining him with Lamar almost felt illegal, and the results showed: a monstrous 1,921-yard, 16-touchdown campaign. Any and all questions of the vet slowing down or facing a wall at the end of his career were swiftly vanquished. Now, my only question is how long he can keep it up for. Because at this rate, he’ll be going strong for several more years.
The offense figures to be largely the same in 2025, though versatile lineman Patrick Mekari is now gone. Still, with Lamar and Henry in the backfield and reliable targets Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman out wide, this should once again be one of the league’s most feared and productive units this season.
Baltimore’s defense, however, is a bit of a different story — one that’s more Jekyll and Hyde. They were all over the place a year ago: 11th in EPA/play, third in success rate and rush EPA plus first in rushing yards, but 31st in passing yards. The secondary can be pointed towards as a clear weak spot, but really, I think it was the lack of pass rush that did the unit in. They were a drab 29th in pass rush win rate and lacked a clear blue-chip edge-rushing threat. The secondary’s shortcomings were just the cherry on top, even though there are studs back there like Nate Wiggins and Kyle Hamilton.
As such, the Ravens attacked that side of the ball quite hard this summer. First, through the draft: standout Georgia safety Malaki Starks was their first-round selection, then they chose to ignore some off-the-field concerns and draft Marshall’s star pass rusher Mike Green in the second, who’s undoubtedly a hell of a football player. Later selections like Teddye Buchanan and Aeneas Peebles figure to be solid depth pieces as well, and both have the athletic profile to make an impact when their numbers are called this year. Then, about two months later, they chose to scoop up free agent DB Jaire Alexander, hoping to squeeze some more juice out of him after the Packers deemed themselves done with the former All-Pro. His health will always be a concern, and I don’t know what to expect out of him when he’s on the field (sounds like another veteran corner I know about an hour south of Baltimore). But, if he can stay on the field and play up to a solid level, this secondary will be so much better because of it. Besides, anyone is an upgrade over Brandon Stephens, right Ravens fans?
X-Factor: Playoff Lamar
There is no denying that Lamar Jackson is one of the greatest regular season performers we’ve ever seen. There is also no denying that he’s just a different and worse player in the postseason. I don’t know if it’s the pressure of the moment, the increased defensive intensity or even the gosh darn cold, but we’ve now seen two terrible performances in a row in massive playoff games where the Ravens were favored. And this obviously goes way back to 2019 when Baltimore went one-and-done as the 1-seed in his first MVP season.
In eight career playoff games, Lamar is 3-5 with 10 passing touchdowns to 13 turnovers (seven interceptions, six lost fumbles) and a passer rating south of 85. That’s over 17 points lower than his career regular season rating of 102.0. It’s honestly unfathomable.
People love to blame last year’s loss on Mark Andrews’ fumble and/or dropped two-point conversion, but it’s Jackson who had two horrendous first-half turnovers to put the Ravens in a hole to begin with. Despite his late-game heroics, he was to blame for the deficit. Again, if you take it back a year, people point fingers at Zay Flowers for the AFC title game loss to Kansas City when Lamar was straight up putrid with an awful interception into triple coverage and an overall scared and skiddish performance.
I’m not trying to audit Lamar’s whole playoff career here. I’m just saying that this is what needs to change for the Ravens to finally get over the hump and get to a Super Bowl with him under center. Quarterback play is the clear differentiator in today’s NFL, especially in the playoffs. You’ve got to play up to a standard to win games in January. Lamar is yet to reach that standard.
Team MVP: Lamar Jackson
For the sake of being brief, I won’t keep on keeping on about Lamar. But I do wanna take this space to say something. If you’re still doubting Lamar Jackson’s ability as a passer or as a “quarterback,” I’ve got no more words for you. The dude has proven time and time again that he can only get better and better, particularly from the pocket. Yes, so much of his heroics comes from extending plays for seemingly minutes on end before finding his receivers downfield. But from the pocket, he’s gotten substantially better as well. Just because it’s not flashy and showing up in your Twitter feed doesn’t mean it’s not happening. And as long as he continues to improve from the pocket while still being Lamar freaking Jackson from outside it, he’ll be a top-5 player in football for years to come.
Breakout Candidate: CB Nate Wiggins
I had mild concerns with Wiggins in last year’s draft because of his size; he’s long, but he’s wiry, and I still have Emmanuel Forbes PTSD. Well, it turns out Wiggins is actually just a stud. He’s always around the ball, using his length to be a PBU machine and always disrupt plays in the passing game. He’s also shockingly effective against the run for a DB of his size and frame. The Ravens don’t draft you in the first round for no reason, so I guess it’s not a huge shock that he’s developing into a stud. I fully expect Wiggins to turn into a top-10 corner in the league in the next couple of years, and the thought of that combined with the duo of Kyle Hamilton and Malaki Starks at safety is frankly terrifying.
Record Prediction: 12-5
This year’s schedule feels harder than last year’s. I think playing the 2025 NFC North will be tougher than the 2024 NFC East, I think the Steelers could pose more of a threat, and I think playing a one-off against the Rams is tougher than last year’s at Tampa Bay. Plus, having to go to Buffalo, Kansas City and Green Bay is just brutal — those are three of your five losses right there. Still, I have the Ravens winning the AFC North pretty comfortably and getting to the playoffs as the 3-seed behind the Chiefs and Bills, meaning they’ll once again have to go to Buffalo in the Divisional Round. I think I know how that’ll go.
Next up: 
Pittsburgh Steelers
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