Mike Preston: Ravens still have to prove they can be physical

BALTIMORE — The Ravens have been in training camp for almost five weeks, and uncertainty remains about their offensive and defensive lines.

If one theory has been proven over the past two years, it’s that teams that dominate the line of scrimmage win Super Bowls, like the Philadelphia Eagles two years ago and the Seattle Seahawks last season.

As for the Ravens, they have a general idea, but nothing final yet.

Who will start on the offensive line? It appears John Simpson and rookie Vega Ioane will line up at left and right guard, respectively, but who will be the starting center? Is it Jovaughn Gwyn or Ethan Pocic, the former longtime center of the Cleveland Browns?

It’s muddled on the defensive line, too.

Travis Jones is supposed to start at nose guard with Nnamdi Madubuike at one tackle spot and the ageless one, Calais Campbell, 40, on the other, but there wasn’t much of a sign from Jones until Aug. 6, when he was cleared to come off the physically unable to perform list with a pectoral injury.

The same can be said for Madubuike, who hasn’t practiced regularly since a neck injury sidelined him after Week 2 of the 2025 season, and Campbell, who recently endured the death of his mother, Nateal, 71, on June 30 in Atlanta.

So, are the Ravens as physical as they have been the past couple of seasons, with their second- and third-string players dominating, or can we expect something different in the regular season?

Inquiring minds want to know.

So far, Ravens coach Jesse Minter has emphasized physical play and pointed to the past two Super Bowl champions as the standard for physical superiority, but the Ravens have a lot of “ifs” and “maybes” this year.

They have one of the most physical running backs in NFL history in Derrick Henry, who shows no signs of slowing down at age 32. The Ravens also have the best dual-threat quarterback to ever play the game in Lamar Jackson, winner of two NFL Most Valuable Player Awards in 2019 and 2023.

But let’s be realistic.

Jackson has spent most of his college and NFL career working out of the shotgun and pistol formations, not directly under center, as he often will be in coordinator Declan Doyle’s offense. It’s a different look for Doyle because the Ravens can run more misdirection plays, including waggles, bootlegs, designed runs and their infamous screens, but it’s all foreign to Jackson.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t played at all in the preseason, so we really don’t know what to expect.

That’s part of the problem.

Against Minnesota and Washington, the Ravens’ protection struggled with the pass rush, as they did a season ago when they allowed 45 sacks. Granted, they went out and signed Simpson, 29, early in free agency to a three-year contract worth $30 million, and they drafted Ioane with their first pick in April, but it’s different when Ioane is playing against Pittsburgh’s Cam Heyward, Tennessee’s Jeffrey Simmons or Kansas City’s Chris Jones as opposed to some Joe Palooka for the Commanders.

The center position is still up for grabs. Will it be Gwyn, who played for offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford in Atlanta, or Pocic, who previously started and played the last four seasons in Cleveland before signing a one-year, $3 million contract with the Ravens after tearing his Achilles tendon late in 2025?

“I think we are still evaluating that,” Minter said of the center positions. “We will probably have, over the next week or so, kind of figure that out, but I still think that is a real competition.”

The defensive line situation is in flux, too.

It’s hard to tell if Minter is taking it light on Campbell because of his age, or because of the family tragedy he suffered. Campbell seems to practice every other day, and that’s great if it works out. Jones is a specimen and is virtually impossible to move when he’s on his game.

Madubuike has become a player of interest, even though I would have retired from the NFL with a neck injury. A week ago, he was on the blocking sled working with the starters for the first time, but it doesn’t appear as though he will be ready for the season opener against Indianapolis on Sept. 13.

“Madubuike is just going more and more. We will kind of leave it to the plan and leave it to what we are doing, but he is in a really good position,” Minter said.

Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said he didn’t know what to expect for the first game either.

“I think in looking at this year — one instance — we have got some defensive linemen, I do not want to call them old, but they are more experienced,” said DeCosta. “We had a few guys with some injuries. Did that factor into us keeping six [defensive] linemen? [It] probably did in some respects.”

He’s optimistic, but unsure, about the offensive line.

“I feel really good about how the group has done overall,” he said. “[I] have not seen them play in games, so there is always an unknown, but the energy is great. I do not know what it is going to look like Week 1, but I am excited about it, and I think that we will probably build and build and build, and hopefully in January and February we are playing our best football.”

If Madubuike can play the way he did before the injury, the Ravens have a good nucleus with both him and Jones. If he can’t return, it will be interesting to see the rotation with backups like tackles John Jenkins, Broderick Washington Jr. and Aeneas Peebles.

Right now, it all seems to be in place. Minter has established a strong work ethic in Baltimore. So far in the preseason, the Ravens have established an identity. Offensively, they run the ball hard and pick up the pace in the second half. Defensively, they have dominated, but there are still questions about cornerback Marlon Humphrey playing on the outside against speedy receivers and who could join Hendrickson as a top pass rusher.

But it all comes down to the starting offensive and defensive lines. Regardless of Henry and Jackson on offense and safety Kyle Hamilton and middle linebacker Roquan Smith on defense, the game of football has always been decided by blocking, tackling and, finally, execution.

We’re still waiting for the Ravens to show their physicality.

We haven’t seen it yet.