4 Reasons The Ravens Must Bench Mark Andrews Now

The Ravens decision to extend Mark Andrews late last year as a lost season was spiraling away, to try to spite younger tight end Isaiah Likely, who wouldn’t take Baltimore’s offers that close to testing free agency, was always nonsense.

It was petty and sophomoric – it wreaked of the personal over the business which has been quite an issue for general manager Eric DeCosta – and it was decried around the league as such. It’s already created a major problem for Baltimore’s new offense. DeCosta couldn’t get anything of value for Andrews, 31, in trade after the 2024 season – which ended on another massive drop by the former Pro Bowler on a two-point conversion in the playoffs. Rather than accept the pass catcher was in decline he gave him $13M a year last December, ahead of free agency, and essentially guaranteed him a ridiculous $35M in cash through 2027 (with $5M fully guaranteed for next season ) in what will go down as an utter failure in evaluation and negotiation.

DeCosta likes to play favorites. Likely (a much younger ascending player who is tearing it up for the Giants) ended up getting a deal very similar to the reward DeCosta gave Andrews (Andrews wouldn’t have sniffed that money in free agency with his freefalling metrics). Now rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle must try to find a way to clean up this mess. Andrews can’t run or jump, he does nothing downfield and hasn’t for years and won’t ever again; he also can’t really catch consistently anymore with drops not just a playoff problem, but a consistent one.

Andrews essentially accounted for a 16-point swing in Sunday night’s comeback, overtime win at Atlanta, dropping a sure touchdown early in the game, fumbling deep in his own territory for a scoop-and-score Falcons touchdown and failing to convert a two-point conversion late in the game. His 2026 campaign has picked right up with the downward spiral that began in the 2024 playoffs. DeCosta is the only one who somehow can’t see it, while others speak gingerly around the problem.

"He'd be the first to tell you there are things he'd like to have back," from Sunday night, coach Jesse Minter said of Andrews, while fawning over a few catches he made late in the game.

Because of that salary and what the GM thinks he can do, Andrews is always on the field, seeing the same target share as dominant receiver Zay Flowers and bogging down an offense predicated on explosive plays. Don’t get me wrong, good on Andrews for cashing in; he’ll go in their ring of honor and was a warrior but a team desperate for anyone other than Flowers to win consistently in the pass game can’t afford miscalculations this grave. With two-time MVP Lamar Jackson at his best throwing to tight ends, this kind of massive oversight can be the difference between going deep in the playoffs and not.

It’s time for Andrews to take a backseat to the rookie options in this offense. Here’s why:

He’s Not A Move TE Anymore

Andrews hasn’t been a move guy for quite some time, and the fact he is the only pass catcher on the team besides Flowers making real starting NFL money to do so is a sham. Making him sixth-highest paid TE in the NFL at the time of his December extension was dumbfounding.

Andrews is averaging a microscopic 2.0 yards after the catch this season (NFL tight ends average 5.0). He averages a pathic 8 yards per catch, unfathomable by modern standards with TEs glorified slot and outside WRs schemed up for downfield impact. His EPA/Target (-0.15) is basically the worst by far of any NFL tight end who plays this much (and we’ll get to that) and he has one play over 15 yards all season. He is averaging 6.67 air yards per route run; that’s blocking TE territory but he ain’t paid to block.

It’s nothing new. Here’s Andrews’s ranks among all TEs with at least 25 catches since the start of last season:

Yards/Rec: 8.6 (44th) NFL Avg: 10.2

YAC/Rec: 2.1 (52nd of 52) NFL Avg: 4.9

EPA/Target: -0.05 (48th) NFL Avg: 0.24

Yds/Target: 5.99 (47th) NFL Avg: 7.46

Explosive /Target: 8% (43rd) NFL Avg: 13.4%

He Gets In The Way

Dec 1, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews (89) congratulated by quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) after his first quarter touchdown catch against the Philadelphia Eagles at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Because of how much he makes, Doyle can’t just bench him. And because of how much Jackson and his teammates like him and what he’s done in the past and how much he meant to Jackson early in his career, he sees an egregious amount of the ball and the only way to curtail that is to leave him on the bench more.

Otherwise, well, that’s how you end up with 100 targets the past two seasons – for just 599 total yards! – and that’s how you end up with Andrews being targeted on 22.6% of all Ravens passes this season (dangerously close to Flowers at 23.3%) and only Rashod Bateman (16%) on the entire team is also above 5% target share.

Andrews is second in the team in routes run since the start of last season (458), behind only Flowers (570). He’s second on the team this season in routes run (114), second only to Bateman (135). What the heck are we doing here? You have to yank him to save the offense from him.

He has one game over 50 receiving yards since the start of last season. C’mon man.

He Is Not Clutch

Oct 11, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates III (3) breaks up a two point conversion attempt during the third quarter Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews (89) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Not only is he years removed from being ascending, there is no playoff profile to cling to. You want to keep him a main thing in the regular season because he is a playoff hero – maybe. But Likely did more in his first playoff game honestly than Andrews has kind of ever done in his career. He has zero postseason TDs and a handful of brutal drops, and a procession of miscues since that two-point drop and a fumble in Buffalo in the playoffs.

One area Andrews is among all NFL tight end leaders, however, is in drops. He’s tied for fifth in drops since the start of last season at his position group and I have him for five so far this season and they tend to come on key first-down opportunities early in games, or in the redzone or in the endzone.

His catch radius has become seriously limited by the inability to make anything happen off his feet. The drops are in his head now.

There Are Other Options

Football - NFL - Baltimore Ravens v Dallas Cowboys - Estadio Maracana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - September 27, 2026 Baltimore Ravens' Matthew Hibner scores their fourth touchdown REUTERS/Sergio Moraes | REUTERS

Yeah, they didn’t sign Darren Waller like we begged them to (working out great for young QB Bryce Young in Carolina) and losing “Joker” TE Durham Smythe for the season to an Achilles is a big loss. But they don’t have to be Andrews-dependent by a long shot.

Rookie tight end Matthew Hibner is a better blocker than anyone could have hoped for, he has excelled in reps out of the backfield as more of an H back or a fullback and he has real straight line speed and can be a YAC guy on quick hitters (which are the norm if backup Snoop Huntley has to play another week). He has taken well to more work and is unquestionably a better pass-catching option than Andrews now. Fellow rookie TE Josh Cuevas has also looked more comfortable each week.

Care to guess whe leads all NFL tight ends (with at least five receptions) in YAC/reception at 9.0? It's the same guy who leads all NFL tight ends with an EPA/target of + 1.55. Hibner.

And Doyle could also lean into more 11 personnel (three receivers) when third-round pick Ja’Kobi Lane returns from his wrist surgery, which should be soon. He was already looked at as a big-bodied slot target, and the Ravens absolutely need to cut way down on Andrews’s usage and get more speed and twitch and athleticism on the field. Now.

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