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Ravens’ Youth Movement Shows Future Is Bright in Baltimore

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Mark Andrews

Getty Mark Andrews signals for a first down.

The Baltimore Ravens were just wiped out of the playoffs for the second straight year in stunning fashion, but for the future, that could mean little as it relates to their status as a current and future contender.

Even in spite of some playoff shortcomings, the Ravens are still set up well to perform next season and beyond. A great tweet from Kevin Oestreicher shows that the reason for that has everything to do with age.

The core of Baltimore’s roster remains intact, and will be in their prime for a long time considering everyone’s age.

With this considered, it doesn’t seem wise to think that the Ravens are going to go anywhere as a team that’s a league force. They’ve got a bevy of skill position players and guys at key spots who are young and ready to take the next steps in their career.

In fact, this season’s 14-2 record might only be looked at as the beginning when all is said and done with this in mind.

Ravens Already High in 2021 Super Bowl Odds

A look at some very early odds was revealed by Caesars on Tuesday, and perhaps surprisingly, the Ravens were high on the list in spite of their frustrating finish to 2020. As a whole, the Ravens have the second best odds to take home the Lombardi Trophy at 7-1 a year from now.

Here’s a look at some of the early odds for next season:

At this point, of course, very little of this matters considering the current Super Bowl hasn’t even been decided, the offseason hasn’t taken place and neither has the draft. Little is known about what shape teams will take moving forward and what will play out next year in terms of injuries or other pitfalls that take place.

For now, though, Las Vegas isn’t exactly betting on the stench of failure hanging over the Ravens for very long. Part of the reason could be the relative upside of their young roster.

Ravens Will Have to Overcome a Choke

Some folks don’t think Baltimore’s recent loss to the Tennessee Titans was that significant, but others think it was quite a big deal. One of those people can be counted as Peter Schrager of the NFL Network. On Monday’s episode of Good Morning Football, Schrager debated with his co-hosts about the severity of the loss and where it leaves Baltimore’s legacy after this season, and admitted he thinks this one will cut Baltimore deep for a long time to come.

“This is the most brutal loss a tam can have in franchise history, 14-2, you’re out by the divisional round and were embarrassed on your home field,” he said. “This is as big a gut punch. This is now just a forgettable team in NFL history. They didn’t even make it to the championship round.”

As for what the Ravens’ legacy is now following this failure to start off 2020, Schrager thinks the answer is quite obvious, and it’s not a great one for Baltimore fans.

“Their legacy is they couldn’t get it done. They couldn’t finish the job and when they needed to, they laid and all-time egg,” he said. “An absolutely brutal, destructive loss for a team that was so fun, that we were thinking was the future. This one is one that sits with you for decades. There were few teams in NFL history that were as fun and as fascinating as this. No one is going to remember Mark Andrews came into this one banged up. They’re going to remember they couldn’t get it done.”

Plenty on how 2020 is remembered will hinge on what happens later on this year, and then again in 2021 if the Ravens get back into the postseason to get another crack at ending their current losing streak in the playoffs.

The roster, however, is young enough that the team might not have to worry too much about negative legacies just yet.

READ NEXT: Analyst Comments on Ravens Playoff Exit

Max DeMara covered the Detroit Lions for Heavy.com from 2019 to 2023. A Michigan native, his work has been featured at 24/7 Sports, FanSided and The Detroit Sports Site. More about Max DeMara

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