“The Athletic Football Show” is previewing all 32 teams leading up to the start of the 2026 NFL season. Below are select quotes from the show’s preview of the Baltimore Ravens. The quotes are edited for clarity. You can watch the whole preview on YouTube and in the embedded video below, or listen to the full AFC North preview wherever you get your podcasts.

Robert Mays on what excites him most about the Ravens: I’m excited to see what Jesse Minter can do with some serious dudes. The Chargers have a decent collection of personnel. Derwin James is a good player. Khalil Mack is pretty ageless at this point. Tuli Tuipulotu had a nice season. They have Teair Tart, who they’ve gotten a lot out of, but a lot of the excitement about the Chargers over the last couple of years is their ability to get more than they’ve paid for with some of these guys. The Ravens have invested in some big-name guys all the way across that defense, and I’m excited to see what Minter can do with this level of defensive talent on the high end. Kyle Hamilton. Nate Wiggins. We’ll see what we get from Nnamdi Madubuike. Malaki Starks was a first-round pick. Trey Hendrickson, who they paid a (ton) of money.

I’m interested in not only the overall quality of this, but also how they play. Do they feel like they can play a little bit more man coverage because they have Wiggins and Marlon Humphrey on the outside? Do they get a little bit matchier? The Chargers played two-and-a-half times the amount of quarters that the Ravens played last year. When the Ravens were at their best with this core of pieces two years ago when Mike Macdonald was there, it was these ideas. Even if the system and the language were the same with Zach Orr, stylistically, they had really drifted away from a lot of the stuff that they were doing with Macdonald when this was the best defense in the NFL. And so I think we’ll see them move back in that general direction. And I think with this collection of players and just what we’ve seen from Minter over the last couple of years, it’s a group that’s pretty easy to get excited about.

Dave Helman on what’s keeping him up at night: I’m rooting for him, but Ja’Kobi Lane’s super camp is jumping the shark a little bit. And all of a sudden being excited about a young receiver is doing a lot to distract us from what is otherwise a pretty OK group of pass catchers. I’ve come around on Zay Flowers, I commend the Ravens for getting the deal done early, and I think Zay’s production last year flew under the radar for myself and many others. Even with Zay in the mix, what’s getting you excited about the Ravens pass catchers, unless Lane really is just a rookie phenom? I guess that’s possible, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Mark Andrews was third on the Ravens roster and 46th in the league among tight ends in yards per route run. That’s down from seventh in 2024 and third the year before that. Behind Andrews, Durham Smythe is going to have a role in what the Ravens want to do. He’s not a pass-catching threat.

Derrik Klassen on what would be a successful season for the 2026 Ravens: I still think that this is a team that should, at worst, get to the divisional round and play a pretty strong game in the divisional round, and I think that they can be even better than that. I still think that this is a really good team and roster. Last year’s disappointment was just that things got a little bit stale and the quarterback was banged up, but I still ultimately think that this is one of the better teams in the NFL.

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