Don't Blame Mark Andrews For His Brutal 2026 Season; Blame Eric DeCosta

Don’t blame Mark Andrews for the Baltimore Ravens having some of the worst tight-end production in the NFL. It’s really not his fault.

He’s been in decline for three years and obvious signs of athletic regression were there throughout the 2024 season – let alone last year when general manager Eric DeCosta made one of the more impetuous decisions in modern franchise history and gave Andrews money earmarked for 25-year-old Isaiah Likely when that youngster rightfully preferred to wait to hit the market at that point before opting whether to come back to Baltimore.

Don’t blame Andrews for merely continuing down a path the entire NFL knew he was on when DeCosta couldn’t get more than a very late-round draft pick for him after the 2024 season ended with Andrews dropping a critical two-point conversion in Buffalo that only hit him in both hands. Don’t blame him for taking the money when DeCosta offered it; if you were on the other side of someone playing favorites and giving you that kind of $35M handout, darn right you’d take it too.

Don’t blame him for taking the field when overmatched puppet coaches and coordinators continue to run him out on there way more than anyone should, because, well, when you are among the 10-highest paid at your position and the GM has all the power in the building, that’s how it goes. Don’t blame him when he’s back here in 2027, because the contract is virtually untradeable and he’s guaranteed another $5M next year regardless (multiple salary cap gurus have suggested he’ll be on this roster next year because of the terrible contract).

Please try to keep all of that in mind while you consider whether or not to boo one of the better pass catchers in franchise history when he continues to jump offsides a bunch (because he will and he’s doing it more than any non-offensive lineman in the NFL). And when he drops passes, because that’s been going on for years and his drop-rate leads all NFL tight ends (12%, most of any TE with 20 targets). And none of this has anything to do with the injuries to Lamar Jackson.

Those boos should be saved for the decision makers who have repeatedly built bloated and lopsided losing rosters with players who have now been DeCosta-ed (blowing a double-digit lead in the second half of games they lose) 17 times since he took over as GM in 2019, runaway leaders in the NFL.

He’s merely a symptom of the disease in Owings Mills. He’s not the cause. And all of this will get worse.

Scant TE Production

Jan 19, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews (89) drops a pass on a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter against the Buffalo Bills in a 2025 AFC divisional round game at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Andrews is the only veteran TE on the roster after impact blocker Dyrham Smythe was lost for the season on IR and Nick Vannett has toggled between the practice squad. And Baltimore’s tight end production has been abysmal.

The Ravens rank 18th in the NFL with 450 total yards from their tight ends. They have amassed three total touchdowns. They have been nonfactors in the redzone and especially in the second half of games, as the scope of this offseason shrinks once rookie coordinator Declan Doyle rips through his early-game script.

They rank 20th at 9.4 yards per catch and 27th in YAC at 4.2/reception. Much of that is due to the fact that Andrews cannot sprint to separate or high-point the ball anymore. His catch radius ain’t what it used to be, nor are his hands. He should have been benched a good month ago as we suggested, but there’s obviously politics involved in that.

Andrews averages an improbable 2.0 of YAC/catch for the second straight year, that is 37th (dead last among all qualified TEs) this season. He is 31st in Expected Pointed Added/Target among TEs (-0.10) and 50th in yards/route (4.56). None of that will improve in the second half as weather becomes an issue and his body absorbs more hits.

The Ravens best be prepared to run rookie Matthew Hibner and Josh Cuevas out there more than ever before, and hope they can deliver. With journeyman Jacoby Brissett taking over at quarterback, he loves pushing the ball downfield to tight ends on seam routes and no one attempted a high percentage of passes to tight ends than Brissett the past two seasons. The fewer to Andrews, the better.

Oh, as for Likely, well, he's having an All-Pro season for the Giants despite shaky QB play and he’s making slightly less than what DeCosta bestowed on the aged tight end he preferred. But you can’t blame Andrews for that, either.

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