After a month of training camp, and three preseason victories in a row, we’ve finally made it: the Ravens regular season is officially on the docket. There’s still some business to do in between now, and Week 1 at Indianapolis, though.
By 6 P.M. Eastern time on Sunday evening, NFL teams will have their rosters cut down to 53 men, with an additional 16 or 17 for their practice squads - that is, 10 rookies or young players (less than two years’ experience in the NFL), six veteran players, and one potential international addition if the team is so inclined. The Ravens will have plenty of interesting decisions to make throughout this process, so I figured I’d take a shot at my own predictions for how it will all shake out for today’s Opening Drive.
This was a fun exercise that took some time to for me to put together as the clock ran out on the blowout victory over the Commanders, and I’m sure to have some misses. But, I’m sure you’ll let me know all about that in the comments section, right? Without further ado, let’s get into it.
QUARTERBACKS
FINAL 53
#8 Lamar Jackson
#5 Tyler Huntley
CUT/STASH
#12 Joe Fagnano — (PRACTICE SQUAD - ROOKIE/YOUNG PLAYER #1)
#15 Austin Reed
#11 Skylar Thompson — IR
Quarterback was predictably pretty easy, but Joe Fagnano was a pleasant Summer surprise. He’ll be nice to keep around as a developmental guy on the P-Squad while the Ravens roll with their usual duo for the final 53.
RUNNING BACKS
FINAL 53
#22 Derrick Henry
#43 Justice Hill
#23 Adam Randall
CUT/STASH
#26 Rasheen Ali — PRACTICE SQUAD - VETERAN #1
#35 Jonathan Ward — PRACTICE SQUAD - ROOKIE/YOUNG PLAYER #2
#36 Dontae McMillan — CUT
#34 Elijah Tau-Tolliver — CUT
#47 Lucas Scott — CUT
The top two spots are about as locked up as any on the roster, which is a compliment to Derrick Henry and Justice Hill, if a bit less so for the latter. I’d have honestly hoped to see more from Adam Randall, Rasheen Ali, or one of these other less heralded players to push Hill for some touches this season.
As solid as Hill has been, he doesn’t have the home run potential of someone like Keaton Mitchell, who the front office let walk this offseason. While I don’t see Adam Randall as a replacement for him at all, he’s the one who gets the nod as the third back after being a somewhat high profile draft pick back in the Spring. You could make a case either McMillan or Ward could have been practice squad stashes, but I went with the latter due to Ward having a higher preseason workload.
