Early in the 2024 NFL offseason, the Baltimore Ravens have sustained enormous losses, and many clubs in the league have raided a large chunk of the Ravens coaching staff. Baltimore may be able to overcome the losses by signing additional players through NFL free agency in addition to trying to fill the vacancies.
The Ravens will need to make decisions on a few of their important players before they can even start adding outside assistance from the pool of NFL free agents. Future free agents include starting players Gus Edwards, Patrick Queen, Jadeveon Clowney, Geno Stone, Justin Madubuike, Josh Simpson, and Kevin Zeitler.
Odell Beckham Jr., Zeitler, and Queen are all anticipated to be out of the team in 2024. Because of the strong interest that both defensive talents are anticipated to generate in NFL free agency, Baltimore will also face difficulty in hanging onto Madubuike and Stone. Some in the NFL, though, are optimistic that Baltimore will create a stir of its own on the free market.
NFL insiders told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that they think the Ravens would look to sign a “running back with pedigree” in free agency in order to bolster their offense even further the following year.
This would be the year if Baltimore decided to acquire a proven running back, which would be quite rare for a head office that usually selects starters from the NFL Draft. This summer, Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, Tony Pollard, Josh Jacobs, and D’Andre Swift are some of the best running backs available as free agents.
A deal with Baltimore seems doubtful given Barkley’s pay demands, and it’s conceivable that the organization cannot afford Jacobs. That would still leave Henry, Pollard, and Swift as reasonable choices, though.
With his backfield, offensive coordinator Todd Monken will probably continue to adopt a committee system, regardless of the running back the Ravens decide to target. In his first campaign, Keaton Mitchell was quite successful, averaging 8.4 yards per carry on 47 touches and displaying glimpses of his potential to make plays as a pass-catching back.
The Ravens may utilize this summer to improve their offense in order to prepare for possible defensive regression in 2024, given they lost defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald and most likely many players on the defensive side of the ball.