The Baltimore Ravens took the field for the first time since their 2024 season ended in heartbreaking fashion in the playoffs for the first session of Organized Team Activities this past week.
One of the biggest takeaways from the three days of work was that, despite this being a voluntary portion of the offseason program where players aren't required to participate, the team's attendance was incredibly strong.
"We all know what we're here for, and we have a mission that we're trying to accomplish," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "To see the guys out there working as hard as they are and as hard as they have been means a lot. I love the way these guys work."
The only player not dealing with an injury who wasn't on the field at the indoor practice facility on Wednesday was veteran nose tackle Kris Jenkins. Jenkins is missing because of a technicality stemming from the post-June 1 designation of retired veteran defensive lineman Michael Piece occupying his roster spot.
Some other championship contenders around the AFC conference, including in the Ravens' division, have one or more players not participating in OTAs due to public contract disputes, but the Ravens had all of their key players heading into the final year of their respective deals still taking part.
The team had a high retention rate from last year when it comes to their starters, stars and key role players. The sting of how last season ended clearly lingered with many of them throughout the offseason, which made the strong OTA attendance unsurprising.
"I feel like everybody got the memo after the last game of [last] year," tight end Isaiah Likely said. "When you don't reach your ultimate goal, which is to win and hold that trophy and smile with everybody, everybody's always hungry [to] get back to the next season."
The Ravens have a two-time league MVP who was robbed of his third this past season, fielded some of the best teams, constructed some of the strongest rosters in the league and finished with the best record in the NFL and top seed in the AFC twice. Yet, they haven't advanced to the Super Bowl and have only made one conference title game appearance during the Lamar Jackson era, dating back to 2018.
"We're tired of finishing [in] spots where we shouldn't have finished," outside linebacker Odafe Oweh said Wednesday. "We're just trying to capitalize and you can tell by guys like Lamar, D-Hop [DeAndre Hopkins, D-Hen [Derrick Henry], Bate [Rashod Bateman, Ro [Roquan Smith], K-Ham [Kyle Hamilton], Beeks [Nnamdi Madubuike]. Guys that don't have to be here but we're here [and] we're putting in the work."
The former first-rounder, who is set to play on his fifth-year option in 2025, was one of several players who used last year's shortcoming in the divisional round to the Buffalo Bills as fuel during offseason training. He was part of a Ravens front seven that got pushed around on the ground and gave up a season-high 147 rushing yards which inspired him to pack on 20 pounds of muscle.
Three-time Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews had as rough of an offseason from an outside noise perspective as any player in the league for the pivotal role he played in that loss and was motivated to come back stronger than ever in what may be his last season in Baltimore as the Ravens entire tight end room is only under contract through 2025.
"We have a lot of guys that are coming back [this year] from last year and the year before and years past," Andrews said Wednesday. "We've been able to learn a lot. Obviously, [I] wish we didn't have to go through that again last year but we've added a lot of guys too... This is going to be a dangerous team. I think that we keep our head down, keep working, stay humble, follow God, and you know, we're going to see what happens. You know, we don't, you know, play in January right now. We start right now and just just focus on getting better every day."
