Ravens' Underwhelming Skill Players Blamed for Disappointing Season

If the Baltimore Ravens have delivered on anything, it's been providing the fans with players or groups to point the finger amidst their 7-8 season.

While some pin the blame on Lamar Jackson, having had to endure another season with a seemingly-lever-ending assortment of injuries and ailments, but he hasn't had much help from his support staff. The offensive line has been correctly criticized for their sub-par play every week, while head coach John Harbaugh's caught some flack of his own for all of the sitting back and watching he's done and the head-scratching choices his staff has made in numerous crunch-time situations.

And though the blocking has been where the Ravens have played the softest this season, some viewers aren't bothering to watch how Jackson's pockets form and collapse, instead focusing on the unimpressive assortment of pass-catchers he's dishing to. The chains haven't moved like usual all season, and Baltimore's skill players don't deserve a pass for how the campaign's gone, either.

ESPN's Ben Solak dove into the season's biggest disappointments, and touched on what's held back the Ravens, among other former contenders who look likely to miss the playoffs. And while he cuts the line little slack, he's taken note of how often Jackson's playmakers foil his plans.

"Beyond the line, it's important to have an honest conversation about the Ravens' supporting cast of skill players. It is not very good," he concluded. "As I wrote a few weeks ago when assessing panic levels of teams on the bubble, there isn't a feared pass catcher on the Ravens' offense. You don't have to game plan for Zay Flowers, even if he is productive on screens and deep-breaking routes. He's not a tackle breaker and doesn't make spectacular catches. And as we've regularly seen in end-of-game situations, he makes critical mistakes -- drops, failed first downs with bad decisions and, of course, fumbles. That's how the Ravens' comeback hopes ended against the Patriots on Sunday night."

Baltimore Ravens Wide Receiver Zay Flowers — Dec 21, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers (4) reacts during the first quarter of the game against the New England Patriots at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-Imagn Images | James Lang-Imagn Images

Failing to Deliver

That Patriots loss, one that Flowers, indeed, capitalized with yet another back-breaking turnover, played all of the hits from Jackson's receiver room. While DeAndre Hopkins was reliable, if not underused in his older state, Mark Andrews had another quiet outing that featured another deeply-odd error while Rashod Bateman seemed, once again, invisible.

at least once a year Mark Andrews does something so idiotic the announcer loses his mindpic.twitter.com/qNd8rEsZA6
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) December 22, 2025

Derrick Henry has been just as productive as any Ravens fan could have hoped for nearly two years into his Baltimore career, but there's been the coaching staff to misunderstand just how durable the power back really is. He doesn't need to take as many trips to the sideline as they're giving him, and as talented and intriguing as the younger backs are, they're not him.

There's no clean fix for the Ravens in this department. While Hopkins has delivered on the little free agency deal he signed earlier this year. they opted to extend Andrews despite his plateauing play. That'll make it nearly impossible for Isaiah Likely, a significantly-younger tight end with much more promise, to stay in Baltimore.

Flowers, for his part, will be extension-eligible after this season, and his appointment to a second Pro Bowl game will make it just a little bit more expensive to keep the mistake-prone wideout on the books. But if the Ravens want to escape this pickle, Jackson flat-out needs better teammates to work with.

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