The Ravens Must Consider These 4 Back-Up QB Upgrades

Consider me highly skeptical of the Ravens quarterback room outside of Lamar Jackson.

Of course, losing Jackson is going to mar any season – we just saw it in 2025 – but I don’t believe Snoop Huntley is a top-fight QB2, the Ravens are making a big mistake not pushing him in any way about competition for that role this summer, losing veteran Skylar Thompson to Injured Reserve is a very big deal, and signing Austin Reed out of the UFL does nothing for me.

This is a team in Super Bowl or bust mode, every roster spot should matter and the fact Reed spent a little time in the Bears camp when rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle was there is no substitute for having someone in this building who has been immersed in the Sean Payton (Broncos head coach) or Ben Johnson (Bears head coach) systems, since that’s what Doyle is pulling from having never actually done any of this before.

Going into the first preseason game with a roster loaded with uber-young pass catchers with almost no NFL experience having to spend most of the night trying to catch balls from un-drafted rookie out of UCONN (Joe Fagnano) could prove to be a waste. Once Huntley departs the game Saturday night, look out.

And I have serious reservations about Huntley as a QB in general - a year ago at this time no one wanted him, including the Ravens, until the lowly Browns wanted him for a minute … until they didn’t anymore, either, and cut him for the second straight summer. Especially picking up an entirely new system while Jackson needs maximum practice reps to do the same thing feels riskier than it should be in this QB room.

This is a Sean Payton production, folks, let’s not kid ourselves and Johnson is using a lot of the concepts and schematics that Payton established decades ago. Quarterbacks from that family tree make sense – but with a much deeper pool of time immersed in it than Reed serving as a camp arm in one camp.

So let’s hope that just because Huntley has been ordained QB2 for the summer (they overvalued him like they did tight end Mark Andrews) that doesn’t mean the Ravens won’t reconsider. Let’s hope their pro-personnel department – in quite a slump themselves in recent years finding back-end gems and Tuesday try-out guys who help or positive waiver claims – is scouting these QBs in the preseason and general manager Eric DeCosta is willing to pounce, if nothing else to boost the QB3 slot.

Tyson Bagent/Case Keenum

Bagent is more of a runaround guy than a great thrower, but man, if you had him in this offense in the role Taysom Hill filled for Payton (and Doyle) all those years in New Orleans that's worth something. The Bears are in no hurry to give him away and several NFL execs told me over the offseason that Chicago made it clear to other teams sniffing around that they valued him. But they also signed Case Keenum to a deal that carries a max value of $8M, and either one would be a major upgrade here at the No 3 spot, and, I believe No. 2.

Bagent is tough, the locker room loves him and every coach he’s been around loves him, including Johnson, who is very challenging to play for and who inherited him in Chicago. Bagent went 2-2 in a terrible situation in 2023 as a terribly raw rookie with a terrible head coach before Johnson eventually took over; yeah he threw six picks in four games but that team was a disaster. He’s been coached up quite well the last two years and they signed him to an extension last summer for a reason ($4M this year and $4M next year), but the Ravens are loaded on defense and the Bears need help there and a trade might make sense.

Keenum is a pro’s pro, he’s been in every system and seen everything and could stabilize your offense for 2-4 weeks in a pinch. Anything more than that at this stage of his career is a stretch, but ditto with Huntley.

Sam Ehlinger

Like Bagent, this kid got thrown to the wolves way too soon during a toxic time in Colts history with the owner off the rails and Jeff Saturday plucked out of the midday ESPN rotation from his basement in Atlanta and handed a head coaching gig in the middle of the 2022 season.

Ehlinger lacks ideal NFL traits and isn’t going to wow you with his frame or arm. But he has athleticism and he’s been around Payton for a while now in Denver and we know Payton thinks very highly of his No. 2 QB in Jarrett Stidham, who just started the AFC title game, and he isn’t one to always carry three QBS. Bo Nix is coming off another offseason surgery, so maybe he holds on to three for a while, but if Ehlinger is on a practice squad, and Snoop looks shaky in the preseason, they should act.

Taysom Hill

If we are down to someone like Reed as the No. 3, then we’re not talking about a true developmental kid with real upside (if the Ravens believed that was the case he would have been here much sooner and playing a ton Saturday ahead of Fagnano). In that case, give me the guy who has seen everything and done everything in this system and been a unicorn “Joker” of sorts (Payton speaks about him at length on “The Daily Flock Show” explaining how his/Doyle’s offense projects to Baltimore).

Hill understands these concepts as well as any coach could. He could do some things in short-yardage and goal line that were big problems here last year. He works cheap. On game day, his skillset and strengths and physicality would actually provide alternatives to Jackson in extreme situations that Huntley never could.

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