The Baltimore Ravens head into the 2023-24 NFL season as one of the league’s most intriguing teams.
Over the offseason, the front office came to terms with Lamar Jackson on a five-year, $260 million contract. In doing so, all parties involved eliminated a dark cloud that hung over the organization last year.
In many ways, it’s impressive how competitive Baltimore remained in the AFC North in 2022-23 given the unrest that existed within the franchise.
They still nabbed a Wild Card spot and kept things a lot more competitive with the Cincinnati Bengals than the Buffalo Bills did.
That said, not having their best player fully available in Jackson was ultimately too big a hurdle for the offense overcome.
One group that showed up consistently last year, though? Baltimore’s cheerleaders. They were so impressive throughout the season that they amassed a huge number of followers on social media. Now, any time they post anything, it immediately goes viral.
This week was no exception.
A series of wild photos of the Ravens cheerleaders caused something of a stir this week.
It’s quite telling that in a week where Zach Wilson’s wild vacation photos with his girlfriend blew up and the Bengals’ cheerleaders went viral over their provocative pictures, it’s the Ravens cheerleaders who found a way to steal the show.
Cheerleading aside, it will be fascinating to see how Baltimore looks next season.
New offensive coordinator Todd Monken will likely emphasize taking advantage of his unit’s speed and athleticism in a way Greg Roman often struggled to.
Running back J.K. Dobbins, in theory, is a big part of that. But a standoff over his contract looms. Despite being one of the NFL’s top running backs since 2020, he will make a mere $1.3 million in the last year of his rookie deal.
Between Jackson, Dobbins, Odell Beckham Jr. and rookie Zay Flowers (whose girlfriend is quickly turning into a superstar), Baltimore’s offensive unit looks stacked on paper. It’s just a matter of producing on the field, too.
Defensively, cornerback remains a big question mark for the Ravens. Aside from Marlon Humphrey, it’s hard to know who from this group will prove consistently reliable next season. Maybe Rock Ya-Sin? Time will tell.
The photos speak for themselves. https://t.co/wSNWYtGBeD
— Game 7 (@game7__) June 23, 2023
At the end of the day, though, all other stuff aside, the Ravens will go as far as Jackson can carry them.
And now that he has gotten his money, the hope is that he will stay healthy and revert to his MVP form.
Will Jackson be able to guide Baltimore deep into the playoffs in 2023-24? Time will tell, but either way, the Ravens cheerleaders will be there rooting them on every step of the way.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
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