The Baltimore Ravens are looking to bounce back from a forgettable 2025 season. Rightfully so, the team should be chomping at the bit to get into the regular season.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell laid out what went wrong for the Ravens in 2025 and why they will improve in 2026.
“[In 2025], the Ravens started 1-5, hit their bye, won their next five games and made it to Week 18 with a chance to beat the Steelers and win the AFC North,” Bill Barnwell wrote in the ESPN article. “That game saw the teams trade two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but after Lamar Jackson drove the Ravens into position for a 44-yard field goal, Tyler Loop missed a kick that would have won both the game and the division for Baltimore. John Harbaugh was fired after the game, ending his 18-year tenure with the organization.”
More Reasons Why the Ravens Struggled in 2025
A franchise known for the defense struggled mightily in 2025.
The Ravens ranked 24th in total defense during the 2025 season. Baltimore was the 10th ranked defense against the run. They were the 30th ranked defense against the pass. Though the team was talented on both sides of the ball, they failed to live up to the high expectations of the 2025 season.
Defensively, the Ravens had trouble generating pressure with a 30% pass rush win rate in 2025. According to ESPN, the win rate ranked 28th in the league.
In 2025, Jackson was off to a good start in Week 1 against the Buffalo Bills. Jackson threw for 209 yards with three total touchdowns against Buffalo. Unfortunately, that was the last time we saw a fully healthy Lamar Jackson perform. This was another reason the Ravens were bad in 2025.
“After healthy and dominant seasons in 2023 and 2024, the two-time MVP wasn’t the same in 2025,” Barnwell wrote. “Jackson was off to a great start, posting a 74.8 QBR across his first four starts (fourth in the league), but a hamstring injury sidelined him for a month.”
Why the Ravens Will Improve in 2025
According to ESPN, the Baltimore Ravens will have the fifth easiest schedule in the league. This is a breath of fresh air compared to their schedule from last year.
“Life will be easier in 2026,” Barnwell wrote. “The Ravens project to face the league’s fifth-easiest schedule, as their season begins with five of the first six contests against teams that FPI expects to post losing records in the Colts, Saints, Titans, Falcons and Browns. Things get much more difficult from that point forward, but if the Ravens do get off to their now-habitual slow start on defense, they should still be able to pull out some victories against overmatched competition.”
The talent will be there per usual on both sides of the ball including the acquisition of Trey Hendrickson, a man who led the league in sacks in 2024.
“Their ceiling might depend on whether their expensive core of veteran talent — Jackson, Hendrickson, Madubuike, Roquan Smith, Ronnie Stanley, Marlon Humphrey and Zay Flowers — can stay on the field for the vast majority of the campaign,” Barnwell wrote. “As long as everyone is available for most of the year, the Ravens should be back on track to compete at the top of the AFC in 2026.”
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