The Baltimore Ravens are a team desperate to get their hands on the Vince Lombardi Trophy and have already shown their intentions this offseason by re-signing left tackle Ronnie Stanley and ensuring Lamar Jackson remains protected in the pocket.

However, despite being a perennial contender in the loaded AFC, the Ravens have yet to claim a Super Bowl berth since Jackson arrived in Baltimore, and have watched the Kansas City Chiefs win three rings during that time.

A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on YouTube below or in “The Athletic Football Show” feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Robert: The other team I wanted to talk about being another AFC contender trying to break through is the Baltimore Ravens. I had one need I saw as a pretty pressing one for Baltimore, but you actually thought there was a bigger one on your mind. If you were looking at the Ravens’ biggest need after the first wave of free agency, what is it to you?

Derrik: To me, it’s pretty comfortably pass rushers. It’s been an issue for them for three years now. They’ve gotten by with signing some of these mercenaries. For as miraculous as Kyle Van Noy getting over 20 sacks over the past two years is, I don’t know if relying on that every year is a great way to go about things. Especially because despite him putting up those numbers, a lot of them are effort sacks after guys like Nnamdi Madubuike really get the pressure and stuff like that. He’s useful to have, but it’s not like he’s just wreaking havoc all the time.

Then, the other younger guys they have right now like David Ojabo and Odafe Oweh have just not materialized into the players they wanted. This was a unit that last year was hovering around 25th in pressure rate. They were not getting to the quarterback. And for as bad as (cornerback) Brandon Stephens was, the fact they couldn’t get pressure allowed teams to pick on Stephens the way that they did. So they could solve a lot of their problems by getting to the quarterback a little bit better.

Robert: I don’t disagree with any of that, and I do think they should try to address this again. The Ojabo swing has not played out the way they probably would have hoped. He had the redshirt year and just hasn’t been an impact player for them. This is now going to be year four, which is muddied a little bit because of the injury, but it’s been a while, and he still has not developed into that guy. Van Noy is very old, and they’re going to have to make a contract decision about Oweh at some point. This is his fifth-year option and the fact he’s not been extended yet — where a guy like Greg Rousseau has — is potentially notable. I do think they need to do something there.

Maybe I’m thinking about this the wrong way because in my mind, corner is a very big need for them. You could also make an argument that it’s safety if they want to play Kyle Hamilton at nickel. Either way, they need another defensive back because as it currently stands if Hamilton is playing safety, then T.J. Tampa, who they drafted in the fourth round last year, would be their other outside corner. Maybe they’re OK with that and maybe he’s the next guy up and they feel fine about where he’s headed. I do think that at corner or safety, as I currently look at it based on what we’ve seen from the players on the roster, is where they need to do something to maintain the flexibility they’ve had over the last couple of seasons.

Derrik: They definitely do, and they will certainly spend I would think one of their first three draft picks there. Or maybe if Rasul Douglas stays in the market they could go in that direction.

Robert: Oh, they’re one of those teams that love doing that. That wouldn’t surprise me at all.

Derrik: I mentioned K’Von Wallace earlier. I also think he makes a lot of sense for the stuff they do and could potentially solve a problem for them.

Robert: Just came from that defense in Seattle.

Derrik: Exactly, so it makes sense. The other thing is I could at least sell myself with Tampa and say, “Okay, the Ravens typically draft well overall. They usually get these guys who sat out a year in the mid-rounds and can jump up and play.” They do this a lot with the offensive line. With the pass rushers, there’s none of that. These are already guys they’ve given the chance to try to develop, and it just hasn’t worked. They didn’t add anything this offseason. So they need a kick in the butt with the pass rushers. At least with the cornerback room, even though they do need to add at least probably one guy for depth, you could sell me on the idea that Tampa could work for them.

Robert: How excited are you for when we get to May 15 and the first thing they do is sign Douglas to a one-year, $7 million deal? Then, the next day Za’Darius Smith or Matthew Judon come back for one year, $6 million because you know that’s where this is trending. You know that’s how they’re going to solve both of these things.

Derrik: I literally had in my notes for this, “What if they just bring back Smith?” I don’t know what the relationship and stuff with him is like, but that would make so much sense for them to do something like that.

Robert: Every time we want them to be like, “Oh, let’s do something splashy,” they’ll draft an edge rusher in the first round or maybe they’ll draft a corner in the first round. They’ve done both of those things in the last five years. For this problem specifically, it’s probably more in character for them to just say, “We’ll figure it out with these stopgap veterans, and we’ll make it work.”

Derrik: What’s funny is they always sign these stopgap and older guys at receiver and pass rusher. With receiver, it usually doesn’t work, but every now and then you get Steve Smith Sr. With pass rushers it mostly has worked, you think about Justin Houston.

Robert: It’s worked every time!

Derrik: It’s incredible their hit rate on it. So if they brought back Smith I would be like, “Yeah eight sacks… he’ll figure out a way to get his production.”

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