Two Ravens Players Who Benefit Most From The Jacoby Brissett Trade

Jacoby Brissett is not going to save the Ravens lost season.

He might not even keep it afloat much longer. And, saddest of all, he might soon meet a similar outcome to what befell all three Ravens quarterbacks who had to drop back behind this offensive line on Sunday – immediate pain and, in two cases, the end of their season. Those IR stints for Lamar Jackson (thumb) and Snoop Huntley (toe) are what led to the minor trade for Brissett (the Ravens only assume $650,00 in cash and cap charges; something even they can withstand) who had been demoted to third string in Arizona after a fairly remarkable career resurgence in 2025.

Brissett, 33, is near the end of his career, he is not going to be able to do a ton outside the pocket and he lacks the running skill now needed to unlock a ground game that is threatening to be among the worst in the NFL in Derrick Henry’s age 32 season, where most careers died at that position and all would behind this OL (they should trade him to a contender). This isn’t going to open up a world of opportunity for alleged genius Declan Doyle, who is taking major lumps as a rookie play caller (he needs to get down to the sidelines, for starters), or anything like that.

Let’s be real – Brissett got benched against a terrible Dallas defense for Gardner Minshew despite the Cardinals putting up with his “hold-in” all offseason and giving him an incentivized contract to come back. He has not performed to 2025’s standard; he’s thrown seven picks already (8 in 14 games last year) and his yards per attempt was down to an anemic 5.6, with a QB rating of just 79.7.

But I also know this – he is a far more adroit passer of the football than Huntley, who has played most for this team at QB since Jackson first got hurt in Week 4. He will spray the ball around and attack all quadrants in ways Huntley just never would, and while I wouldn’t mind seeing Fagnano get a run in an already lost season in which they should sell at the deadline … but trying to get a half-season out of him is a bit much. (This team is going to lose more QBs behind this line; it’s inevitable).

But at the very least the Ravens have a chance to have a semblance of a downfield passing game with Brissett running the show – virtually certain to be Monday night in Week 10 – and look for two Ravens to benefit most from this transaction:

Zay Flowers

While his yard/attempt figures and air yard figures are not special, Brissett does things Huntley never dreamed of. In the last two years with the Ravens, Huntley has attempted a pass 15 yards or more downfield barely 18% of the team and over 20 yards downfield less than 6% of the team. Brissett, over the last three years as a starter, is pushing it at least 15 yards on 33% of his attempts and 10% of his throws go 20 yards or more.

And as we’ve known for years, only one guy shows up in this offense in that regard – Flowers. After getting shutout last week in Buffalo – and putting up bonkers numbers before Jackson got hurt – you cannot put too fine a point on getting him activated again.

During the last two years, Brissett did his most efficient work throwing on crossing routes, with a 113.5 rating, completing 67% of his attempts at 8.1/pass. Hmm. Anyone who has watched a functioning version of Baltimore’s offense since Flowers entered the league knows he feasts going across the face of the defense. And Brissett has attempted more passes on out routes than anything else while with the Cardinals, completing 79% of those throws with a rating of 103.9. Flowers has been targeted on outs more than any other route.

Matthew Hibner

His speed and ability to win after the catch simply must become a part of whatever this offense looks like the rest of the way. The fifth-round pick was starting to click with Jackson and win downfield in the slot before Jackson got hurt, then Hibner got hurt and now the QB position is spiraling. But this kid has the ability to excel on deeper stuff and blocks better than I thought and Brissett is going to love him.

Brissett just force-fed elite tight end Trey McBride two years; that offense was a funnel to the point receiver Marvin Harrison Jr, a fourth-overall pick, got dealt away. Brissett will let it rip (he’s got the “no risk it; no biscuit” mentality later in his career) and he will throw jump balls and attack with go balls in the seam. Mark Andrews, honestly, should be inactive at this point and we know that will never happen, but he needs to be below Hibner on the depth chart (routes run and targets must be slashed).

We are getting 9 yards of YAC/reception on the rare occasions this kid is targeted. Over the last two seasons Brissett leads the NFL with 32.4% of his passes going to TEs (guess who is second at 30.8% - yeah, Lamar). This is Brissett’s favorite way to attack, and ain’t no way Andrews is winning downfield against anybody and Hibner should be a fixture in the slot (with fellow rookie Josh Cuevas more of the in-line guy).

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