Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Franchise Focus: Baltimore Ravens

Episode Date: July 28, 2022

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) invites Ravens Film Analyst Ken McKusick (@FilmStudyRavens) to discuss the upcoming season for the Baltimore Ravens. The Franchise Focus Podcast series is brought to you by Underdog Fantasy (@UnderdogFantasy). New users can sign up to Underdog using promo code FANTASYPTS for up to $100 in bonus cash on their first deposit. Visit fantasypoints.com/underdog for more info. The podcast series is also sponsored by Evan's Sports Cards & Collectibles (@evanscards). Follow @EvansCards on Twitter for weekly updates and card releases, Like on Facebook, and head to evanssportsnj.com for more info, including the always-updated eBay store. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Welcome back to the final week of the franchise focus podcast series here at FantasyPoint.com. My name is Joe Dolan. And today we are talking Baltimore. Ravens. And throughout this process of recording the franchise focus podcast and getting them scheduled, first and foremost, I have to say the football media industry has been phenomenal. Very, very few people have outright ghosted me. And I'm going in blind. Like I'm, I'm sending Twitter DMs. I'm sending emails. That's all I'm doing here when I'm recording these podcasts. But, you know, sometimes people are on vacation. A lot of folks have been on vacation, football writers, you know, with, the last couple years the way they were, a lot of football writers were getting their vacations in before training game, which is totally understandable. And then sometimes they'd respond to me after I had

already recorded the pod and say, oh, I'm so sorry. And it's not that big a deal. But I've also had to look out for some, like, new sources of information. And it's really been an eye-opening process for me. And quite frankly, the fan engagement on places like Reddit have been super helpful to me in finding new places to really learn about all the NFL teams. And as a fantasy guy. I need to know about all 32, but it's impossible for me to know about all 32 on the deepest level that the people who are connected to the teams each and every day do. And that's that's how I'm going to introduce my, my guest today. His name is Ken McCusick. He's from Film Study Baltimore.com. He hosts the Film Study Podcast and he's 1057 Baltimore's

film study analyst. And quite frankly, I just found him by Reddit. I'm like, what are the best Ravens podcast, somebody who might want to come on my show. And everybody recommended Ken and the film study podcast. He admitted to me he's not a fantasy guy. But guess what, Ken? I don't care. And I don't think the listeners care either. We want to know about this Baltimore Ravens offense. And thank you so much for joining me on the show. By the way, you could follow Ken on Twitter at Film Study Ravens. Ken, it is wonderful to be with you. Thank you so much for joining me on this show. My pleasure, Joe. All right, Ken. So before we get into like,

the analysis of the office. Oh, let me, let's pay the bills first. The franchise focus series of podcast is brought to you by Evans Sports Cards and Collectibles, the best place for cards, collectibles, autographs, and more. All of our memorabilia giveaways are from Evans. And Evans always has the latest boxes and releases from Panini, Upper Deck, Tops, and more. It's a family-owned small business, not a super store. You get to know the staff. They get to know you. Great relationship there. If you're in the Philadelphia area, go for an in-person visit. But if you're not in the Philadelphia area. You can follow at Evans Cards on Twitter, and you can like Evans on Facebook and head to EvansportsNJ.com for all the weekly updates and card releases. And EvansportsNJ.com also has

the always updated eBay store, which is just basically an online version of the store in person. That's Evansportsnj.com online and at Evans Cards on Twitter. Tell them that the guys from FantasyPoints.com sent you. Ken, before we get into just a breakdown of the Ravens offense here. I'm sure you have seen it. But right before we recorded this podcast, for those of you who are listening, we're recording this on July 21st. Right before we jumped on the podcast, Kyler Murray signed an extension with the Arizona Cardinals for 46.1 million A.AV. Obviously, the big news, as we are recording this, is that Lamar Jackson has not yet agreed to his contract extension. What has been your expectation?

What has been your reading of the tea leaves from your following of the team about whether or not Lamar Jackson is going to get a deal done before the season when you think that deal might come? Obviously, we know it's kind of a unique situation because he doesn't have an agent. That's really the heart of it here is that with no agent, it's a little bit harder to predict. An agent would be guiding him and saying, yeah, you don't want to go into this year, get hurt and whatnot and take a risk of making less money. Lamar seems to want to hold out for, you know, a deal he thinks is good and, you know, not having an agent, he can convince himself pretty much of anything. I don't mean that in a negative way either. He's a great, great player and generally really undervalued by the analytics community.

PFF will openly admit to you that they really don't know how to grade him because of the impact he has on all the other 11 offensive players. So it's interesting to me. I'm sure they'll get it done. The Ravens won't let it fail. And when I say that by the end of the three-year period, that he's still going to be with the Ravens on the fifth year deal this year and then two more franchise tags, if necessary.

But I'm sure the Ravens will not let him get away. So now let's just bring that back to your expertise, which is what this offense is going to look like. And obviously, Hollywood Brown is gone. The offensive line was a disaster last year with the injuries, the running game. They had to cobble it together in the backfield because of all the injuries. and then Lamar himself ended up getting injured.

But with the team moving on from Hollywood Brown this offseason and really not bringing in what I would consider a viable replacement for his 150 plus targets, are you expecting this offense to kind of, I don't want to say devolve because Lamar Jackson won the MVP in 2019, but I almost look more like it did then as opposed to what they, I guess, tried to do. do in the last couple years. What are you expecting to see in terms of changes offensively for Baltimore? I am expecting to run the ball more. I think just the receivers alone would tell you that. They've got a very deep, tight end group that probably keep four on the roster. They've got a couple of guys that they have not given a chance yet, James Prochay entering his third year, Deviné, Duvonne, same thing, who are guys who I think are, you know, have a chance to

produce some. And a lot of the target number for, for Brown last year was really inflated by needing to scheme the ball out quickly with the really poor tackle situation. So that in terms of Huntley in particular, he had a very limited amount of pocket awareness, really didn't see pressure coming, tended to hold the ball too long, so they really need to scheme the ball out quickly to a lot of first reads. And if you look at Brown's A-DOT, in particular, dropped like a stone and his yards per target dropped like a stone. Yards per target, by the way, most important statistic for a wide receiver. It probably is in fantasy two,

but it definitely is in real life. Oh, for sure. And now, let's go to that wide receiver position because Rashad Bateman, we saw the flashes. He gets a little dinged up. Do you expect that Rashad Bateman is, I mean, essentially going to be the heavy

wide receiver one here, much in the same? Not that there's similar players, but in terms of usage much in the same way that Hollywood Brown was in terms of dominating the targets at that particular position. decision. Yeah, he's the X as opposed to a slot. So there's that difference. And Hollywood could play a little on the outside, but mostly was a slot guy and, you know, a guy that they would sometimes motion in various ways to drive an advantage from. Bateman's just a pure X. So he'll help you get off the line of scrimmage and very good at the top of the route. That's where a lot of his value comes. He's got good wiggle, uh, sets up the cornerback, uh, well, uh, runs great routes. That's what they, you know, they really drafted him for. Hands are, are probably a single minus on a three minuses to three pluses scale. So not great.

But he's a guy, I think, who's going to get a lot of targets. Seemed to develop some of the connection with Amar last year. Unfortunately, it didn't get to play most of the year with Lamar. So if I look at his stats last year, they're not that impressive. And a lot of it is the fact that he was playing a lot with Huntley. He came back and then Lamar got hurt not too long after that. So let's switch to the backfield because we know they're going to run the ball a lot. The J.K. Dobbins news kind of going back.

and forth with Ian Rappaport on Twitter. Rappaport saying, well, there's no guarantee he's going to be ready for the season. And then Dobbins saying, well, I might not even go on PUP, which I guess is kind of saying the same thing just in two different ways, like a glass half full vis-a-vis a glass half-empty kind of way. But Dobbins, we know, is coming off a serious knee injury that was ACL plus, I would think, that the fact that he's not ready yet is that would indicate that. I think Gus Edwards was more of a clean ACL.

but they bring in Mike Davis, who was okay for Atlanta last year. It just looks like they don't want to repeat what happened last year with all the injuries. Let's just say J.K. Dobbins is able to be back by week one. What do you anticipate kind of this carry breakdown will look like with these three guys and maybe even mixing in Tyler Beatty, the rookie running back as well? Yeah, Tyler Beatty will have a significant role. I think that Davis. is not sure to make the team.

So we'll start with that. See, they probably carry three running backs plus a fullback. The Ravens have been expert in going out and finding guys who are good scheme fits for what they need a back to do. Last year was a huge exception to that. They went and got veteran backs who were slower. It really diminished their ability to threaten the entire field horizontally, which is very important for a run-heavy offense.

You need to be able to misdirect. you need to be able to have speed guys who hit the outside. They didn't have a speed guy last year. And that's just how bad it was. With the post-COVID year, the number of year one running backs, meaning not rookies, but guys who had been in camp somewhere and not made a roster the previous year, which is a huge scrap heap to pick through for good running back talent. It's a very deep size and shape position.

So you have lots of talent sitting out there who basically never had a chance to that point. And those are low treadwear guys. They're guys you want. the Ravens weren't able to find a guy who had come out in the previous, you know, who had come out the previous year who was available. And they ended up getting these veterans and they were terrible. And they were just awful.

Yards per Kerry don't even tell the story in terms of how bad they were because, you know, they still had Jackson to help them derive extra yards. But the Ravens need to have a speed guy. They need to have a good cutback guy. They need a good power guy. If Edwards is back, he's the power guy. J.K. Dobbins is kind of the speed guy to a lesser degree. He's really the cutback guy. And then they have Beatty, who's a good receiving running back. So I think he'll take a,

he'll take a very significant role in terms of touches this year. I think they'll try and see what kind of a blocker he is. That'll be one of the really interesting things to look at in camp. If he's a good blocker, then he's in there on a lot of third downs and not Dobbins, I would think. So obviously the offensive line is a big part of the run game as well. And we know the Ravens had a ton of injuries last year. Were you or the Ravens even really able to kind of evaluate anybody up front with all the injuries that they had? You bring in a couple of new starters, most notably Linderbaum, the new center. What was your impression of that line?

Was there anything that you could take away positive from that offensive line last year? Yeah, they definitely were positives. How deep do you want me to go is really the question. I score offensive line play on a weekly basis. So what I'll tell you is. Oh, I love this. Alahandro, Illinois, was terrible at left tackle. So it was at right tackle, moved to left tackle.

Big mistake in terms of contract dollars. They spent, it was a two-year-si-million dollar deal with a one-year-out in 10, and that didn't really work out. Gave up a ton of pressures. PFF and I score pressures differently. I use a three-second standard. PFF uses a two and a half. I use a very more difficult standard about not allowing the,

the tackle or the or the rusher to invade the cone so that the quarterback, the throwing cone is what I'm talking about. So the quarterback can step into throws with confidence. Okay. So that's, that's a, was a general problem for Villanueva. They gave up a lot of pressures between two and a half and three seconds and just, you know, enormous numbers in several games that that was bad. So that didn't work out. The Ravens can't have a repeat at left tackle, and yet they've set themselves up for, for a problem. there because Ronnie Stanley is returning and, you know, we certainly hope he'll be good. Indications are that he'll be good. We haven't seen him on the field. We haven't seen him under live fire. That'll be very important. He's, he's the guy who brings not only great pass

blocking to the Ravens, but also a lot of mobility in the run game. He's a very quick lineman, gets out, and one of the few guys I've ever seen in a tackle who can make effective blocks that are not cut blocks on the backside of run plays. So the plays running away from him. A lot of left tackles, they immediately go to the knees of the closest guy and do the best they can to get him down. When that fails, they don't really do anything effectively on the play. Ronnie Stanley run out into level two and three, look for a safety or corner. And those are the kind of plays, those are kind of blocks that help turn a 10-yard gain into a 30-yard gain when they connect. So he's very valuable to the Ravens in a lot of way. If the Ravens want to do anything in terms of a screen game,

Ronnie Stanley would be an important component in that. in terms of getting it going. So he's the guy. In fact, I would say not only does the Ravens' offense depend entirely on Stanley or he's the single maybe most important in Lynchpin after Lamar, the Ravens entire success this season pretty much rests on what Ronnie Stanley can do. They brought in Morgan Moses this offseason. You want me just continue here?

Yeah, please do. I mean, this is really, see, I love getting into the weeds on O line play. and this is basically music to my ears. So you could just keep on going about the offensive line because this is going to really dictate how effective the run game and past game are. Yeah, absolutely. So Morgan Moses, they brought in a good run blocker at right tackle. The Ravens don't ask much of the right tackle in the run game. Orlando Brown did very well here because he used his length to get past rushers to what I call the back pylon of the pocket. So you can, if you're getting beat by speed, if you don't have the really

quick feet and you get beat by speed, then you try and use length to extend that guy past the down to call it 6 o'clock relative to the quarterback. So take him on a circle route around the pocket. He did that effectively. Morgan Moses, an okay pass blocker, but really known more as a run blocker. I think he'll be able to do exactly what the Ravens need him to do at right tackle, which is not much.

I'd be very concerned if he had to move to left tackle and take a more central pass blocking responsibility. As you probably know in 2019, the Ravens blocked the right defensive end. sorry, make it the left defensive end, but on the offensive right side with air, meaning they didn't block him. They did a down block from the right tackle, allowed that end to rush, even if it was T.J. Watt.

And then Jackson had to read that in the mesh point and decide whether to hand off or take the ball himself. And Jackson is expert at that and really reads leverage better than probably just about any player in NFL history. He's up there with Barry Sanders, Gail Sayers, some of the great elusive running backs of all time in terms of his ability to read opposing leverage. And people make a lot out of his speed. His speed is good, but it's not at the top end of elite. He probably runs in the low to mid four fours.

You know, there have been some talk that he ran 434 at Louisville that I don't really believe. But anyway, what Lamar really does is make people miss in the open field. And if you watch him regularly, you see a guy who runs in third gear a lot of the time. Almost never really turns it up to that fourth gear because at third gear, he can still make people miss like crazy. So getting back to now to the passing game because it is the NFL in the 21st century. You do have to eventually throw the football. We know the Ravens will at some point. My real interest here is of like the five guys who are not Rashad Bateman and Mark Andrews,

I'm talking Devin Duvernay, James Prochet, Tylan Wallace, and then the two rookie tight ends, Charlie Kohler, who I actually thought was a steal in the draft, and Isaiah likely. Is there going to be kind of a mix and match situation with those guys? Do any of them stand out to you above the rest as somebody likely to take a step in terms of production this year? I would project one tight end to emerge, and I'm not sure that it will be either, Coley. It will be, it will be. I'm not sure which of Kohler are likely. It's likely to be this year. But it will probably be one of them. And the Ravens have a tradition of having their second draft to tight in and drafts like with Andrews be the better one. Like with Dennis Pitta over Dixon in 2010.

So they've had some things like that have happened. I don't think they're tied to it being likely who really impressed in OTAs. Or Colar, who's a great away from the body catcher, big body. the basketball blockout skills really should be a great tight end for play action, which I expect the Ravens to use a lot. But the one thing I'd say is targets are very hard to come by in the Ravens' offense. After Mark Andrews takes a huge share, and we presume Rashad Bateman's going to take a fair number, I wouldn't project a ton of targets pretty much for anybody.

If the Ravens' offense is effective, they'll be scoring points, getting leads, running the football, and punishing other teams with their back end of their defense in terms of turn. turnovers. So they should really be, if the Ravens can get a two touchdown lead in the second half, I love this as a team that will lean on opposing offenses with the turnover machine they have built back there now. You mentioned Hollywood Brown played a lot out of the slot last year. I know coming out of college, James Prochet was a very, very productive receiver, but certainly complete opposite end of Hollywood Brown in terms of speed, in terms of style. If they want speed out of the slot this year, which is the receiver most likely to take that role,

in your opinion? Well, they haven't really given it. DuVernay is their fastest receiver. They haven't really given it to him. Wallace is a bigger guy, so he's an X or Z probably. In terms of Prochet, I think he's the most likely starting slot receiver. He has kind of a little bit of a connection with Lamar we saw for a few games last year. Definitely extends to the play well. Lamar's odd. And that he wants receivers who extend in unnatural ways. So you know how the normal set of rules on a roll right on an extended play will have receivers going to the sideline short middle deep.

Well, he wants get a receiver who knows how to get to an open spot in the middle of the field where a quarterback's never supposed to throw it. And he'll have the speed to outrun a pass rusher and still have time to turn his body and throw the ball back to the middle. So he likes to do that. He likes to throw it deep under those circumstances. So extended play is usually a good thing in Baltimore and definitely wants receivers who not only know what the basic rules are, which sometimes helps, but more often who can make space on their own, who can improvise to make space, and they can kind of be on the same wavelength. And he and Andrews really have a hive mind in that regard.

But, you know, Prochet is pretty good at coming back for the flip ball. His name is Ken McHusick. He has been awesome on the franchise focus podcast here. You can follow him on Twitter at Film Study Ravens. Make sure you go to Film Study Baltimore.com to check out his work. There's stuff on YouTube. I mean, I've been listening to Ken for the last week, and I've been loving everything I've heard. I hope everybody here loved everything they heard. You can also catch him on 1057, The Fan, because he's their film study analyst there.

Ken, thank you so much for joining the podcast. I hope this was enjoyable to you, but I guarantee you it was enjoyable to the listeners. All right, no problem, Joe. Anytime. We only have a couple franchise focus podcast left, the Atlanta Falcons and the Arizona Cardinals. And then, guys, it's time for the preseason. I hope everybody enjoyed listening to Ken. I hope everybody's enjoyed this entire series as much as I have. For Ken McCusick, I am Joe Dolan. Thanks, everybody, and we'll talk to you tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate and review on your favorite platform and come join the roster at fantasy points.com.