Waking up tomorrow morning, there may be some extra sounds in the air. The sounds of whistles blowing and pads crashing will resonate through the area as your Baltimore Ravens open another training camp! These are the dog days of the football season, but these are the days that shape your team and build camaraderie.
The development of the players, and integration of the coaching staff and playbook will all heavily affect the outcome of the upcoming season. When the players take the field tomorrow, they will be battling one another not only to make the team but to make one another better and push one another to build the strongest foundation possible for the season. Here I will discuss five Baltimore Ravens training camp battles every fan should watch.
1. Offensive Line
The offensive line was the biggest weakness on the team last year, so addressing the offensive line was already a big need going into this offseason. To compound the issue, Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum left to join the Raiders at the start of Free Agency. This left the Ravens with holes at left guard, right guard, and center.
General manager Eric DeCosta went to work on that group this offseason. DeCosta signed John Simpson to a three-year $30 million contract, and he is projected to fill one of the voids at the guard position. He followed this up by drafting Penn State guard Vega Ioane with the 14th overall pick.
John Simpson should be a solid fill-in at the guard position, but Ioane is the kind of player that you can build a line around. He is a mountain of a man at 6’4” and 320 pounds. Ioane excels in pass protection which is great news for protecting franchise quarterback Lamar Jackson and he has a motor that doesn’t stop as he always plays through the whistle.
The center position is where we are still very questionable when it comes to the line. Newly acquired center Ethan Pocic comes into training camp as the expected starter, but he will get competition from Danny Pinter, Jovaughn Gwyn and Corey Bullock.
Ronnie Stanley and Roger Rosengarten are sure to be starting on the outside but the things to watch going into training camp are who is starting on the interior and where. Are John Simpson and Vega Ioane starting at guard? If so, which one is left guard and which one is at right guard? Who is winning the battle at center?.
2. Defensive Line
While Offensive Line was the biggest question mark of last season, defensive line did not fall far behind. The loss of star defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike early in the season hurt and the Ravens never truly recovered. One of their biggest goals this offseason was to get healthy and add more depth there and I believe they did that.
Some of the biggest news in the offseason came recently when it was announced that Madubuike was placed on the PUP list but has been medically cleared to return to the field. This was huge news. Ever since the injury last season it has been questioned whether he would ever suit up again and now they are saying he could return to practice as early as next week. That alone would provide a huge boost to the defensive line.
Along with this news, the Ravens signed defensive lineman Calais Campbell to a one-year, $5.5 million contract. At 39 years old Campbell is still proving to be a very productive player on the defensive front. Last year he had 6.5 sacks, 26 tackles and 33 pressures. He provides another quality lineman in the rotation and some more depth in case of injury or a Madubuike setback.
Nose tackle Travis Jones and defensive end John Jenkins will return this year as well. Travis Jones excelled in the absence of Nnamdi Madubuike. He finished the season with 20 tackles, 5 sacks and 1 forced fumble. John Jenkins finished last season with 16 tackles, 1 sack and 2 forced fumbles.
The added depth and veteran experience that Campbell provides should help this season, but this is a group that needs to be monitored during training camp. With Madubuike coming off the injury and both Campbell and Jenkins being older players, keeping this group healthy will be key in order to have a competitive defensive front.
3. Pass Rushers
Pass rusher is a position that seems to be on this list every offseason now. Ever since the departure of fan favorite Terrell Suggs the Ravens have been searching for someone who can truly put consistent pressure on the opposing quarterback.
Enter Trey Hendrickson. In a huge offseason move the Ravens signed former Pro Bowl pass rusher Trey Hendrickson to a 4-year, $112 million deal. Hendrickson has been an elite talent as a pass rusher throughout his career. In fact, he racked up 17.5 sacks in both the 2024 and 2023 seasons. He will be a major headache for opposing offenses this season.
The question marks now come up with the depth behind Hendrickson. There is a lot of young talent that needs to be developed. Currently Tavius Robinson is penciled in as the starter on the opposite side, but he will have stiff competition from 2026 second-round draft pick Zion Young and 2025 second-round draft pick Mike Green. Both players had first-round draft grades in their respective years but ended up dropping to round two.
This competition should be a fun one to watch. Jesse Minter brings a system that is known to be easy for defenders to pick up and hard for offenses to figure out. His system alone should help these young players maximize their ability. Keep an eye on this group as one or two of these young players could make a huge jump this season and it may show as early as training camp.
4. Wide Receivers
Wide Receiver is yet another position that the Ravens seem to be working on the most each season. Like the pass rusher position they have a star at the top of the depth chart. Zay Flowers is entering his fourth season in the NFL and has established himself as a star receiver.
Flowers has improved each year since he was drafted in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. In fact, over the last two seasons he has made the Pro Bowl and last year he caught 86 passes for 1,211 yards. With the new offense that offensive coordinator Declan Doyle is bringing in he could find ways to allow Zay to really maximize his talent and even top his production from last season.
After Zay Flowers, the Ravens have former first-round pick Rashod Bateman returning to compete for the number two receiving position. Bateman had a solid year in the 2024 season with 45 receptions, 756 yards and 9 touchdowns in 17 games. However, last season his numbers took a huge fall. In 2025 he played 13 games and had 19 receptions, 224 yards and only 2 touchdowns.
With the combination of this dip in production from Bateman and Deandre Hopkins being a free agent, the Ravens turned to the draft to add some depth and competition to the wide receiver group. The Ravens selected 6’4” and 200 lb receiver Ja’Kobi Lane in round 3 and 6’2” and 209 lb receiver Elijah Sarratt in round 4.
These two big-bodied receivers could be great compliments to Zay Flowers. They both have very good hands and can catch the ball well in traffic. Both Lane and Sarratt should be good red-zone targets.
The last person that shouldn’t be overlooked in this competition is WR Devontez Walker. Walker was a fourth-round pick in the 2024 draft. He is a 6’1” and 198 lb receiver and his official 40-yard dash time was 4.36 seconds. Thus far Walker has been buried on the depth chart and hasn’t had many opportunities to show what he can do, but when he is on the field, we have seen him make plays.
The battle between Bateman, Lane, Sarratt and Walker should be closely monitored. It is very possible that a couple of these players could break away from the pack. However, if no one is separating themselves from the pack there are also some veterans still out there in DeAndre Hopkins, Keenan Allen, Deebo Samuel, and Stefon Diggs that could come in and be reliable number two receivers.
5. Tight Ends
Tight end has long been a position of great depth, but this offseason the Ravens lost both Isiah Likely and Charlie Kohler to free agency. Long-term starter Mark Andrews is returning but after him there is a list of new faces.
Baltimore drafted two tight ends in back-to-back rounds of the 2026 NFL Draft. In round 4 the Ravens selected Matthew Hibner out of SMU and in round 5 they selected Josh Cuevas out of Alabama. Hibner is known more for his pass catching ability, while Cuevas is highly regarded as a solid blocker.
In addition to the draft picks, the Ravens signed tight end Durham Smythe in free agency. Smythe is known for his blocking and not quite as much for his receiving talents.
These additions should give Baltimore some good options to open holes for the running backs, but we will have to see how the young guys develop in the receiving game.
The start of the football season (even training camp) is always exciting. This time of year, monitoring the positional camp competitions and the team’s health is key to keeping up with what kind of possibilities await the Ravens this season. The players will be out tomorrow taking the field, and we will begin to see what we can put together for a run this season. I will continue to release updates from the Baltimore Ravens training camp as the dog days of the season roll on.
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