Ravens Front Office Under Fire for Poor Roster Construction

How long does it take to process one of the most disappointing seasons in Ravens history?

When Baltimore finally runs the tape and conducts the postmortem on 2025, a year that opened with Super Bowl talk and closed with a losing record. There won’t be many sacred cows left standing. Coaches, schemes, roster calls: all of it is under the microscope.

But when owner Steve Bisciotti starts handing out grades, the hardest look won’t be down the depth chart. It’ll be aimed squarely at the top of the organization.

How Did the Ravens’ Season Go Off the Rails?

The league-wide consensus heading into the season was simple: the Ravens were stacked. Best roster in football, or at worst, No. 2 behind the defending champion Eagles. This was supposed to be the year Baltimore finally kicked the Super Bowl door down.

So how did all that talent turn into an 8–9 finish and a January spent on the couch?

ESPN’s Ben Solak put it bluntly: the Ravens had elite top-end players, but the depth chart got real thin, real fast. Baltimore’s long-standing team-building model: draft well, develop in-house, reward your own, bargain shop in free agency — has been a strength for years. In 2025, though, the margin for error disappeared. When injuries hit and role players were forced into bigger snaps, the cracks showed.

That’s where the conversation gets uncomfortable.

John Harbaugh has been on the Baltimore sideline for 18 seasons. Nearly 200 wins. A Lombardi Trophy. A culture that churns out Pro Bowlers and future head coaches. Alongside Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta, he helped turn the Ravens into one of the NFL’s gold-standard organizations.

In this league, even great coaches don’t get infinite runway. Messages lose juice. Philosophies need rewiring. Execution slips in places that used to be automatic. And yes — even with Lamar Jackson under center, there’s always an expiration date.

As the Ravens keep finding new and creative ways to unravel late in the season, Harbaugh’s seat gets a little warmer each year. After week 18, he may no longer be circling the fan base’s crosshairs, he might be standing right in the middle of them.

That’s the risk of being a CEO-style head coach. When the same “little things” keep going wrong, clock management, situational football, roster usage, they stop looking little. Eventually, they start pointing to a bigger issue that can’t be waved off as bad luck or a bad bounce.

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