Ravens' Gus Edwards on New Todd Monken Offense: 'I Love It!'
The Baltimore Ravens are in the midst of training camp and learning new coordinator Todd Monken's system. After being predominantly run-heavy under Greg Roman, the Ravens are flipping the script.
As Monken's offense is more vertical, with the weapons available to Lamar Jackson, they can stretch the field. But while all the focus has been on Baltimore's receivers, what about the running backs?
“I love it,” running back Gus Edwards said. “We’ve shown a lot of flashes, got a lot to work on. He’s finding a lot of ways to get guys open, ways to spread the ball around, I’m excited to see how it all pans out.”
With the likes of Odell Beckham Jr., Zay Flowers, Mark Andrews, Rashod Bateman, Nelson Agholor, and Devin Duvernay, Baltimore has gotten itself a serious group of receivers.
It will be a tough task to stop all of them on any given play, and what is perhaps being missed is what that collection of talent can do for the running backs in the scheme.
“It’s a great opportunity to see some lighter box,” Edwards said. “In the past, we had to run through some tougher boxes, great opportunity to get our running backs in space. I think we’re going to make the best out of it.”
As the Ravens now have perhaps the best collection of receiver talent since Lamar took over as the starter, many think that the offense will be more pass-centric, which will then leave little snaps for the running back group.
However, for Edwards, who is coming off career lows in attempts (87) and yards (433) as he came off his ACL injury in 2021, he isn't bothered by how many snaps he gets.
“I’m ready to do whatever the offense allows me to do,” said Edwards, who is also in focus here because J.K. Dobbins seems involved in a contract "hold-in'' and has yet to work at camp. “Ready to make plays in different ways. I feel like that’s something that I’ve always been able to do, and this offense is going to put me in that space to make those plays and get open in check-downs.”
So much of the focus this offseason has been on the receiving talent at the disposal of the Ravens, but let's not forget that they also boast a good running back room capable of doing significant damage.
In Monken's offense - which we will be offered a glimpse of in preseason Game 1 on Saturday against the Eagles - it won't just be airing the ball out every play; as we can tell from Edwards, the running backs will still have their role to play.
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