The Baltimore Ravens have done a few things this season that former head coach John Harbaugh didn’t, including investing in team captains.
Harbaugh rotated weekly captains for each game, but new head coach Jesse Minter is taking the more traditional route and has named yearly captains on Thursday.
Minter Announced Five Ravens Captains for the Season
Quarterback Lamar Jackson
Safety Kyle Hamilton
Linebacker Roquan Smith
Defensive End Calais Campbell
Running Back Derrick Henry
Minter is going with a veteran-driven squad for his captains, as most teams do. The youngest captain is Hamilton, 25, but he is one of the best players at his position in the NFL and a defensive leader.
Campbell was not with the Ravens last season, as he was with the Arizona Cardinals. But he did spend time in Baltimore from 2020 to 2023, and he is heading into his 19th NFL season.
The Ravens naming Campbell a captain shows how much the team believes in him. Despite not being with the organization for three seasons, they still named him a captain in his first season back.
“Calais is a great player. He is a better person,” General Manager Eric DeCosta said Wednesday, via the team’s website. “He is amazing for everybody out here on the field — his leadership, his mentality every day. His humility is astounding to me, the way that he leads himself every single day, how he carries himself with his peers.
“This is a tough business. You have got whatever we have got — 70 guys out there every day that have their own things going on in their lives that you all do not even know about, in some cases I do not even know about, and Calais is the type of guy who can put those guys on his back and make them better. That is a force multiplier.”
Ravens Could Have a Kicking Problem on Their Hands This Season
Many teams with five captains typically designate two for offense, two for defense, and one for special teams. However, the Ravens have no primary special teams player among their captains.
For 13 years, kicker Justin Tucker was a constant for the Ravens and the best at his position. But last season, Baltimore brought in a new kicker, Tyler Loop. Could this be Loop’s final season with the Ravens?
The Ravens added former San Francisco 49ers kicker Jake Moody to their practice squad on Monday, but even with the addition, Minter still believes that Loop will be the kicker for Week 1.
“I have a lot of confidence in Tyler still,” Minter said after Monday’s practice, via ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “He’s had a great training camp. I expect him to be our kicker going into [the Sept. 13 season opener in] Indianapolis.”
The Ravens’ kicking situation is something that many fans will monitor throughout the season, and Baltimore hasn’t had to deal with it for almost 15 years, since Tucker was pretty much Mr. Automatic.
Ravens Name 5 Yearly Captains Heading Into Week 1 Matchup vs. Colts