Ravens Rookie Punter Ryan Eckley's Brazen Confidence Rubbing Off On Improving Special Teams Unit

Ravens rookie punter Ryan Eckley is calling his shots.

Not exactly Babe Ruth style – we aren’t even in the regular season yet let alone anything like The Babe calling homers in the '32 World Series – but on the practice fields and in these preseason games, the Ravens rookie punter is strutting his stuff and backing it up. The sixth-round pick out of Michigan State is heavy of swag, and hang time and distance so far this summer, and is uber-confident, something that special teams coach Anthony Levine Sr. probably would be okay with rubbing off on the rest of his unit as it strives to build off 2025.

It’s not uncommon for Eckley to let the world know that he is about to bomb a ball off his foot, and thus far he is backing it up.

“'Coach, I'm going to do a bomber!'” as Levine described in a upbeat post-practice session with the media Tuesday, with much to feel good about with his unit thus far. “And he goes out there, and he bombs it. He's a guy, again – credit to [kicking guru] Randy Brown for doing a great job with those guys.

“Ryan is so confident. I love his swagger and the confidence he plays with, so when he says he's going to go out there and bomb it, he bombs it. The hangtime is good, and the direction is good."

Eckley’s first punt of his exhibition career was one to forget – 27 yards straight out of bounds. And to the young man’s credit, that’s exactly what he did. Since then he has been aces and Saturday in Minnesota he launched four straight punts over 50 yards and one that went 60 and he backed the Vikings up to their own 4 and was probably yelling quite a bit about it on the sidelines.

Eckley is earning rave reviews as the holder on field goals, and he has big cleats to fill with former All Pro punter Jordan Stout signing a lucrative contract with the Giants and former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. (Also, as a preemptive strike, I'm as tempted as anyone to start calling this kid Der Bomber after watching Levine speak about him, but there is only one Gerd Muller and I have to see Sparty launch them consistently before I go there)

“Whatever he says he can do, he goes out there, and he does it, Levine, a former Ravens special teams ace himself, said of Eckley.” So, I like being around him."

Ravens second-year kicker Tyler Loop has been under as much scrutiny as anyone on the roster after his miss in Pittsburgh to end last season kept Baltimore out of the playoffs. And he was shaky in the preseason opener but bounced back well against the Vikings. Outside of a few punt returns that Levine would want covered better on the perimeter, his unit has looked good in limited work in the preseason, and with the Ravens defense so stout the kickoff coverage units aren’t doing much at all.

Keep It Moving Forward

Levine helped the Ravens advance out of the abyss in 2025. In 2024 they cycled through return guys who weren’t very good and tended to put the ball on the ground. They suffered from silly penalties and undisciplined penalties and made strides in that regard in 2025.

The Ravens went from 31st in special teams EPA (Expected Points Added) in 2024 to 15th last year. They improved from 24th in average starting position after a kickoff return to 13th. But they still ranked 22nd in opponents average starting position and inn their best years under Harbaugh, a former special teams unit, the Ravens were top 10 in a lot of key metrics, a standard Levine would love to get back to.

This extends beyond just the specialists, but those individuals are clearly important. Long-snapper Nick Moore is the deal of the unit now and is as steady as they come. Receiver LaJohntay Wester, who had an up-and-down rookie year as a return guy, has looked good this summer

“You can go to a scale of 100, you can go to a scale of 10,” Levine said about a hypothetical confidence meter, “LaJohntay is right on the edge of it. He lacks no confidence at all. So, every time he goes out there, he feels like — and we feel like — that he can score every time.

“So, when he does not score, he is disappointed, and I have to talk to him and I tell him, 'Hey man, I know you want to go to the house every single time, we have to understand, like, this is the league now. Just make your plays when they come to you.' And he has been doing that."

Running back Rasheen Ali, who led the team in kickoff returns last year with 30 (and the player who was second on the team, Keaton Mitchell, is now with the Chargers), has missed the preseason thus far with injury though he returned to practice this week. Regardless of how much return action he gets at all in this camp, he sounds like someone who is on this football team.

“Ali is one of our best players,” Levine said. “Ali is very versatile. He brings a lot to our team. So having him back is nothing but [a] boost for us. Makes our roster even stronger."

I’d anticipate the Ravens keeping four running backs, and even with Harbaugh gone there is a history of special teams mattering when it comes to roster construction. Minter is very much a product of the Harbaugh coaching brothers and expect to see the impact of that in the initial 53-man roster the Ravens take to practice next week after cutdowns this weekend.

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