Ravens Coach John Harbaugh Gives Promising Update On Mark Andrews

Getty Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh had a positive update on tight end Mark Andrews

The Baltimore Ravens closed out the 2023 NFL regular season as one of the favorites to win this year’s Super Bowl thanks to dominant wins over the 49ers and Dolphins in Weeks 16 and 17 respectively.

More impressively, they did so without one of their team’s most important weapons. Mark Andrews missed the last six weeks of the regular season because of an ankle injury he suffered against the Bengals in Week 11.

Luckily for the Ravens, it seems they might not be without Andrews for much longer.

During his January 16 press conference, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh gave a very positive update on Andrews’ recovery from his injury.

“I think today was his best showing, so far,” Harbaugh said in his press conference. “He really took a big step — what you saw today, we saw as well. So, it’s encouraging. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”

Andrews had returned to practice during the team’s first-round bye and it sounds like he is progressing very well as works his way back for the Ravens’ playoff run.

The Ravens’ Best Pass Catcher

Throughout Lamar Jackson’s career, the Ravens have struggled to provide him with particularly inspiring options at wide receiver.

They have had no such problem at tight end.

The same year they drafted Jackson, they also picked Andrews and he wasted no time making an impact for the team.

In just his second NFL season, Andrews caught 64 passes for 852 yards and 10 touchdowns and established himself as one of the league’s best tight ends.

Since then, he has consistently been Jackson’s favorite target and the best pass catcher on the team.

During the 2023 season, Andrews even managed to finish second on the team in catches despite missing seven games over the course of the year.

Now he could give the Ravens a huge boost ahead of the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

Isaiah Likely Filling in Nicely

One reason the Ravens have been able to continue having success on offense in Andrews’ absence has been the play of Isaiah Likely.

Selected in the fourth round of the 2022 draft, Likely entered the league facing an uphill battle for playing time behind Andrews.

In his first two seasons he has established himself as a solid TE2 and has performed admirably when Andrews has been unavailable.

Since the team’s former All-Pro went down in Week 11, Likely has made 21 catches for 322 catches and 5 touchdowns and he only played 19 snaps in one of those games while being thrown to by the team’s backup quarterback.

His time as the starter included a game with 5 catches for 70 yards and a touchdown against the Jaguars and one with 5 catches for 83 yards and touchdown against the Rams.

His numbers over the six games would put him on a 17-game pace for 59 catches, 912 yards, and 14 touchdowns. The touchdown total seems improbable over the course of the year, but the receiving yards would have been the fifth most in the league in 2023.

If Andrews isn’t ready to go for the matchup with the Texans, the Ravens will still have a tight end they can turn to in big moments.