The Ravens Need These 2 Under-The-Radar Players To Be A Factor In Week 1

If Nnamdi Madubuike plays for the Ravens in Week 1, it should be considered a major bonus at this point. If he played meaningful snaps at a high level it should be considered a godsend.

Much more likely the former All Pro, and the second-most important player on this roster, returns closer to Week 4. The Ravens coaches and general manager Eric DeCosta continue to speak about him in a very cautious and deliberate manner. I don’t believe this is gamesmanship or seeking a competitive advantage – I believe it is being smart about a massive procedure that did not occur all that long ago – in response to an injury that left Madubuike’s career in the balance for a period of time.

He hasn’t been doing what the rest of his fully healthy teammates have been doing all summer and he just started getting bled into team drills and this is the franchise. On defense, Madubuike is the franchise. The Ravens aren’t carrying six interior linemen because they think it makes them look cool; they are doing it because this group was bad without Madubuike a year ago and it’s all hands on deck if he’s not playing Week 1.

And with just a couple of real practices left before they play the Colts, I don’t see this happening. So it’s going to be fascinating to see how rookie head coach Jesse Minter deploys the rest of this group and how much he asks of which players.

“He has been in a few team reps and done some things,” Minter said of Madubuike, quite vague indeed. “What that looks like for Week 1, I think it is still a day-to-day thing, I would say. But to his credit — we have wanted this to be a really smart and proactive approach to get him ready to play football after dealing with what he went through, and also the surgery that he went through.

“And so again, we just feel good about where it is at today. It is still a day-to-day process. But, we certainly have seen some things that indicate great things ahead for Nnamdi."

Who Will Step Up?

Minter, ideally, operates his defenses with as little dedicated personnel as possibility devoted to the line. He wants to win with lighter boxes and a full compliment of body types on the field in the secondary to help dial up pressure and win in coverage, with this an increasingly pass-happy league. Last year, few teams gutting his nickel and dime looks more than the Colts and powerhouse running back Jonathan Taylor as Indianapolis rolled up 400 yards and 38 points in a win over Minter’s Chargers in Week 7.

Calais Campbell is the most obvious player to shift in Madubuike’s role, and the Ravens have made it clear that 400 snaps feels about right for him at age 40.

Some weeks will require more from him that others. This could actually be a big week for him, with Daniel Jones an adroit running quarterback who can win in option looks (though he is returning from season-ending surgery) and Taylor an elite back. Campbell has missed practice time as well, but is always prepared and could end up being someone signed for a rotation role who has to do much more than in the opener.

Travis Jones is going to be in the spotlight, too. Minter will throw massive run stuffers Broderick Washington and John Jenkins at this situation, but there are questions to be asked about both at this stage of their career. It's going to take a rotation and Colts are going to try to test this group on the ground and run them out of their nickel and dime packages, and we'll see how this group holds up.

Jones and Campbell are likely to be increasingly important players as this new defense takes the field for the first time after virtually no starters performed in the preseason. And the first-string defensive line hasn’t ever really gotten full-scale reps yet given Madubuike’s extremely limited availability to this point.

Subscribe To "The Daily Flock" On YouTube For The Most Insightful Ravens Coverage

Add us as a preferred source on Google