The Ravens open the preseason — and a new era — Saturday night at M&T Bank Stadium against the Philadelphia Eagles. Kickoff is 7 p.m. ET, with the game airing locally on WBAL-TV Channel 11 (Kyle Youmans on play-by-play, Rod Woodson analyzing, Evan Washburn on the sideline) and streaming on Peacock and NFL+. Philadelphia's broadcast runs on NBC10.
It's a preseason opener, so don't expect much from the biggest names on either roster. But there's more than the usual amount to actually watch for here, starting with the fact that Baltimore has an entirely new coaching staff running the show for the first time in a real game.
1. Jesse Minter's Debut as a Head Coach
Everything starts with Minter, who takes an NFL sideline as the man in charge for the first time Saturday after years as a defensive coordinator, most recently with the Chargers. Asked this week how he's feeling heading in, Minter didn't hide his excitement. "I think the biggest feeling is just excited — just to see our team play and see if a lot of the identity and some of the things we have been talking about shows up on tape. That is what we are searching for the most," he said. "[I am] excited about the game management and just going through the game with the different roles, different hats that I am trying to wear. So again, it is a great opportunity to actually do it in a game."
2. Declan Doyle Calling Plays for the First Time
Just as new is offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, who arrives from Chicago, where he coordinated the offense but didn't call plays — that job belonged to Bears head coach Ben Johnson. Saturday is Doyle's first live look at running his own show, including a decision he says he's deliberately leaving open: whether he ultimately calls games from the sideline or up in the box.
"I want to make sure the number one thing on game day is that the play-caller gets the play call into the quarterback as fast as he can — with confidence in that play call — and make sure that the operation can go operate," Doyle said. "I won't really know until I am able to experience it, which is why I want to not set my mind before I do either job. I want to try to go into it with a clean slate and kind of figure out what I like."
Doyle also described leaning on a Bill Walsh-inspired approach to scripting plays in advance. "The more decisions you make in the air conditioning, the better, because guys have a good feel for what you're going to call," Doyle said. "You've made the decision based on data and facts, rather than being out there and it kind of feels a certain way." He said fourth-down calls specifically have been the product of extensive meetings with Minter, game management coordinator Charlie Gelman, and defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver — "nothing beats live reps," Doyle said, "so we'll get a chance to do that on Saturday."
3. A Crowded, Physical Tight End Room
Mark Andrews remains the unquestioned leader of Baltimore's tight end room, but he's the only holdover from a year ago, and the group around him is packed with new faces trying to live up to the position's history in Baltimore. First-year tight ends coach Zack Grossi has been impressed early with rookies Josh Cuevas and Matt Hibner. "They play fast. They know what to do. They are smart kids. They are wired the right way," Grossi said, while cautioning there's "a long way to go."
Grossi also praised veteran Durham Smythe, who spent last season in Chicago under Doyle and brings eight years of experience in Miami before that. "He is as steady as the day is long," Grossi said. "He teaches them about recovery. He teaches them about the ecosystem of the NFL, the ups and downs." Cuevas, for his part, said adjusting to the pro game has been an ongoing process. "It really is like drinking from a firehose," fellow rookie Hibner said of learning Doyle's offense, "and it's actually still a little bit like that."
4. The Center Competition Is Still Unsettled
If there's one position battle carrying the most uncertainty into this game, it's center. Baltimore Sports Feed profiled the competition when the Ravens signed veteran Ethan Pocic last month, seven months removed from a torn Achilles suffered in Cleveland. Pocic arrived as the most experienced option on the roster — 97 career starts across nine seasons — and the presumptive favorite to replace Tyler Linderbaum, who left for Las Vegas in free agency.
"You might not have as established players as some other positions, so you're bringing in a guy that's got some 'skins on the wall,' has played a lot of football," Minter said when camp opened. "I expect him to jump in there and compete for that position, and we'll see if the best man wins."
That competition has taken a different shape than expected. Pocic hasn't been an active participant in practices, while Danny Pinter — the presumptive Week 1 starter before Pocic ever signed — has kept working with the other options, including Jovaughn Gwyn, a former seventh-round pick who has yet to start an NFL game. Pinter and Gwyn will both play Saturday, along with the rest of the center group still in the mix; Pocic will not.
Offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford has been careful not to declare anything settled. "All three of the guys that we have — Danny, Jovaughn, and Ethan — all of them bring [something] a little bit different," Ledford said. "I look forward to training camp and once we get to these joint practices and preseason games to watch this whole thing unfold." With one of those three not even playing this week, it's a spot that'll still be very much up for discussion over the next several weeks of preseason — check Baltimore's full Week 1 depth chart for where things stood entering camp.
5. Depth at Cornerback Gets a Real Test
Baltimore's secondary took two real hits this week. Nate Wiggins was carted off Tuesday's practice with a left leg injury after tangling with rookie receiver Ja'Kobi Lane, and Marlon Humphrey left practice early Wednesday with an undisclosed issue. Both scares came with relief attached — Wiggins avoided structural damage, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, and Minter said Thursday that both players are "trending very well to potentially be back early next week." That timeline likely means neither plays Saturday, which puts real weight on how Chidobe Awuzie, T.J. Tampa Jr., Keyon Martin, and rookie fifth-round pick Chandler Rivers hold up as the top of the depth chart for a night.
6. Rookies Get Their Stage
With Lamar Jackson not playing and most veterans expected to see limited snaps, Saturday belongs to the rookie class trying to make a roster. Third-round receiver Ja'Kobi Lane has been the most talked-about name in camp, and this is the first chance to see that translate against an opponent other than Baltimore's own defense. Watch also for edge rusher Zion Young, offensive lineman Vega Ioane, and receiver Elijah Sarratt, all candidates to see meaningful preseason snaps as they compete for roster spots. Veteran Tyler Huntley is set to start at quarterback in Jackson's place.
7. Tyler Loop's Return to a Real Game
Few Ravens carry more weight into this preseason than kicker Tyler Loop, whose 44-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right as time expired in a Week 18 loss to the Steelers, costing Baltimore the AFC North title and a playoff spot, and precipitating John Harbaugh's firing after 18 seasons as head coach. Loop had been 30-of-33 on field goals that season before the miss.
Speaking to reporters at minicamp this summer, Loop described moving past it as a matter of process more than anything else. "I would say the biggest thing I did was just acknowledge and accept it, and it took a day or two," he said. "I'm confident in the process that I've developed. I'd say the biggest part of moving on was just letting the people that I care about and the people that care about me know, 'Hey, I'm good. Nothing's changed for me. I still feel confident in my abilities.'" He said fellow kickers around the league reached out in the days after, including some whose wives contacted his own fiancée at the time. "No one wishes they had that kick back more than me, but you have to move on."
Asked whether he holds onto any of it as motivation, Loop was direct: the emotional side gets flushed, but not the film. "It has to be completely flushed away next kick on the emotional side of it. I play a very factual position. You either made the kick, fact, or you missed the kick, fact," he said. "There may have been a hiccup or something that went wrong, and you need to be able to look at that, address it and then say, 'Alright, I'm good. We're going to the next one.'" Asked directly what actually went wrong, he didn't dodge it: "I think it was a late lockout. I just kind of swung into the ball... I hit it thin, and it went right."
He's carried that same process into camp, including a recent 40-yard make at the end of a practice that got the team excused from meetings early. "It's the same swing, same foot-to-ball that I've been doing for years and years and the same process," Loop said. "So, going out there for it felt good, and it was exciting." Saturday is his first chance to kick in a real game environment since that night in Pittsburgh.
8. A Real Measuring Stick, Even in August
The opponent matters too. Philadelphia remains a quality, playoff-caliber roster regardless of this year's result, giving Baltimore's revamped staff an early, high-level look regardless of how many starters either side plays. The Eagles are dealing with their own summer story lines, including veteran tackle Lane Johnson indicating this season will likely be his last. However many first-teamers actually take the field Saturday, it's the first real external test of everything both franchises have been building all camp.