Former Player Believes Ravens Have Fallen Below AFC North Rival

The Baltimore Ravens have a lot of questions about their roster, but one thing is certain: many believe this is a good enough team to bounce back from the 8-9 2025 season and win the AFC North.

It helps when the team has great players like Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Zay Flowers, and Kyle Hamilton, but not everyone is on board with Baltimore being that great a team. The crew on FOX Sports's show First Things First debated whether the Ravens are an elite team, with former NFL player Willie Colon going so far as to say the Pittsburgh Steelers are better than the Baltimore Ravens.

"They went to the playoffs... they are better than the Ravens."

Willie Colon doesn't think Ravens are better than Steelers

Colon explained his stance on why the Ravens are not better than the Steelers, as it's more than what happened on the field. He points out the lack of aggressiveness that comes from Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta and the front office during the offseason.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson | Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

"The Ravens historically don't attack free agency aggressive. They kind of let the fire go by and say, 'Alright, let's figure out who we really want.' They don't go into the offseason, and this free agency and say,' Hey man, we got this big name, we got this big name, let's throw money at him, let's get him.' That's not what they do. So you are talking about a roster you already have, you're not aggressive in free agency, you got a new offensive coordinator who you don't know who is going to gel with Lamar Jackson," he said.

"There's some serious concerns, and we don't know what the interior offensive line is going to look like because (Tyler) Linderbaum is going to be like, 'Hey, I want the bag.' Do you have the money to give him the bag?"

It is a known fact that the Steelers finished with a better record than the Ravens and indeed won the AFC North. There were a lot of factors that led to that, though, including Jackson's injuries, issues with the defense on the coaching staff and a lack of pass rush.

A lot of what happened last year should be blamed more on former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and the coaching staff, given the players they had. This was an undisciplined team that made many mistakes when it mattered most, among both players and coaches.

DeCosta has done a good job of putting the players in place, as they made two big trades for defensive players during the season that helped the unit. More can absolutely be done to get the roster better in the offseason, but the team is set up for success. They just need to add a piece or two to the equation.

To go as far as to say that the Steelers are better is subjective, as this offseason will show, but Baltimore will be the better team in 2026.

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