An optimist's guide to the 2024 Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens came up one game shy of making the Super Bowl last season after boasting the league's best record (13-4) in the regular season.

Here's why Baltimore will return to being a championship contender in 2024.

A hungry Lamar Jackson

Jackson is coming off his second MVP season in which he threw for a career-high 3,678 yards and 24 touchdowns while also rushing for 821 yards and five touchdowns.

He was a big reason why the Ravens had the success they did, but his true goal remains a Super Bowl. That's why he continued to experiment with his weight this offseason.

The two-time NFL MVP revealed he's down to 205 pounds, which is 10 less than he was last season and 25 less than he was in 2022. 

Jackson's lighter frame should make him faster and more agile, which makes him the perfect complement to the next player below.

The addition of Derrick Henry

Baltimore signed Henry to a two-year, $16M contract this offseason and has big plans for him.

"I know this: If [Henry] carries it 300 times, we're having a helluva year," offensive coordinator Todd Monken said via the team's website. "It means we're running it a lot. It means we're up in games. We want him to finish, [and] we want him to be the closer."

The two-time NFL rushing yards and touchdowns leader (2019, 2020) joining the best rushing offense from a year ago seems unfair. Add that to the fact his bruising running style is a perfect fit in a physical AFC North, and opposing defenses will be kept up at night thinking of ways to slow him down.

Secondary depth

The Ravens turned one of their biggest weaknesses from last season into arguably one of their biggest strengths in 2024.

The team saw several key players in its secondary suffer injuries in 2023, and its depth was put to the test. So Baltimore used a first- and fourth-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on cornerbacks Nate Wiggins and T.J. Tampa, respectively.

The Ravens defense already allowed the fewest points per game in the league (16.5) last year. Shoring up the backend will only make the unit more dangerous this season.