Ravens TE Mark Andrews Downplayed His Unique Import In This Offense, But Facts Are Facts

Ravens tight end Mark Andrews, meeting the media Tuesday with training camp kicking off - the first of his lengthy career without coach John Harbaugh - surely knows that he and receiver Zay Flowers are the only veterans a new rookie offensive coordinator can count on in the passing game.

The former Pro Bowler, coming off the worst year of his career, is well aware that this roster is full of youth and inexperience – with largely no NFL track record whatsoever at tight end and receiver beyond him and Flowers, who performed at an All Pro level a year ago. It’s an overarching reality of the 2026 Baltimore Ravens season and one of many issues Declan Doyle will have to navigate as a first time play caller.

But it’s a dynamic Andrews wasn’t quick to embrace when probed about it.

One might assume there would be a natural inclination for Andrews, rewarded with a contract extension last season despite all his downward metrics, to want to assume more and standout quickly and accept that this passing offense is going to have to go through him to quite a degree early on to succeed. But he deflected that notion.

“I don’t think so,” Andrews said when asked as much. "I think that you go through stuff like training camp, you grind together as a team, you kind of mold yourself. You pave a way, and you just gain that trust in each other.

“So, I have total trust in everybody that's out there and everybody in our room, and especially the tight ends, man. So, I don't think you have try to do too much. I'm just going to count on the guy next to me for sure."

It’s understandable that Andrews wants to talk up his teammates and help four rookie pass catchers develop and project their strength as a collective. I get it. But this is set up a certain way – I’d posit set up to potentially fail at tight end – and if Andrews isn’t markedly better than 2025, this passing attack quite likely will hold this team back. Everyone else in that room has to count on Andrews to be a winning football player week in and week out; not the other way around.

Andrews, 30, had best emerge quickly as a viable top move tight end in this new offense, because whatever he might think of late-round draft picks like Matthew Hibner and Josh Cuevas entering their first training camp, the reality is all eyes and all attention (from opposing defensive coordinators) will be on him and Flowers early in this season and perhaps all of this season, as the learning curve for youngsters tends to be acute.

Two-Man Gang

Andrews and Flowers have combined for 721 catches, 9080 yards and 70 touchdowns. Every other WR and TE on this roster (that's 15 other players) have combined for 449 catches and 5474 yards and 31 touchdowns. After Andrews, in the TE room, it’s blocking TE Durham Smythe (just 1253 yards in 129 career games with three touchdowns) and no one else with an NFL resume. (Go get Darren Waller already, as dicsussed with Doug Farrar on "The Daily Flock Show").

Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all of that, but there’s no hiding how this was built and what Andrews must do.

“I just think that we're able to complement each other incredibly well,” Andrews offered in further assessing the TE room, “and push each other. All the good things that you want in a room.”

Well, I’d prefer a proven, twitchy move tight end in his prime, but okay.

Here’s more facts and reality: Andrews has never scored in the postseason and has been a part of some backbreaking losses in ways everyone would love to forget but never will. Isaiah Likely passed him by as a far more impactful downfield target with better speed and twitch and leaping ability and general manager Eric DeCosta decided to pay Andrews again anyway, when Likely wouldn’t accept their offers. And he’s paying the guy at the end of his career roughly what Harbaugh is paying Likely entering his prime in New York.

Andrews averaged a ridiculous 8.8 yards per reception last season and struggled to get open and has become far easier to cover now than earlier in his career. He failed to have a positive EPA/target for the first time in his carer, and while he has sure hands and continues to largely catch what comes near him, the low-percentage stuff downfield isn’t in his wheelhouse anymore. Averaging 6.03 yards per target is glorified running back numbers (8.50 in his career). And 7.26 air yards/ target (10 for his career) is a troubling, troubling indicator.

If he isn’t going to be far-and-away a lead dog of this position group, problems will arise. Quickly. And even when Andrews catches the ball he isn’t pulling away from anyone (2.1 of YAC per catch, less than half his career average entering last season).

“I feel incredibly strong right now,” Andrews explained on Tuesday, “and also just being able to run, come off the ball and fly around, find space, and win my one-on-ones.”

The veteran made it clear he is at ease with this new offense and everyone is raving about what Doyle revealed in the spring. The full install is still to come, and we know Doyle is borrowing heavily from his mentor, Sean Payton, which should benefit many skill players.

Change was needed and change can be good, but this particular roster holdover is going to have to perform like a $13M tight end and slough off decline and emerge renewed. The vibes seem right, and that’s great, but Andrews’s execution and precision and, gulp, explosion, will mean everything.

"It's a lot of new people," Andrews said, "and just a different energy and a different group ... When you first meet somebody, you have to kind of feel them out. I think that 'feeler stage' is kind of out of the way. Now, we're able to get down to business."

Subscribe To "The Daily Flock Show" On YouTube For The Best Ravens Insight And Guests:

Add us as a preferred source on Google