Like His Team, DeCosta is Struggling in 2025

During the offseason the Ravens seemingly cobbled together an impressive roster, one that many concluded was the best in the team’s illustrious history. And its architect was none other than General Manager Eric DeCosta.

In every way that is good, the 30-year organizational veteran is a savage. He tirelessly seeks ways to improve the team while being keenly mindful of the salary cap impact of any personnel move. He considers every nuance of every decision in a manner that improves the probability of its success. Of course there are no guarantees, but generally speaking, DeCosta operates like a Grandmaster on the chessboard, while others play checkers.

But this season, DeCosta looks like the one playing checkers and a roster that appeared to be foolproof has fooled the GM who now finds himself saddled with an underachieving roster, a plethora of injuries and a (1-5) record. To borrow from the checkers vernacular, he’s in danger of being triple jumped.

How did things go so wrong, so quickly?

Can DeCosta make the right moves to save the season without sacrificing the next?

And perhaps the most daunting question, is the season so far gone that a fix isn’t even worth the try?

Before the Ravens even took the field in Orchard Park to kick off the 2025 campaign, the roster, despite its obvious strengths, had some glaring weaknesses. DeCosta either ignored the signs or concluded that the team’s deficiencies could be more than offset by the club’s strengths. If so, that was a big risk that for the moment hasn’t paid off. If the last four games during which the Ravens were outscored by a total of 73 points is any indication, there’s no end in sight to the team’s futility unless DeCosta is willing to make some bold moves. But at what cost?

Inside Linebacker

Since the departure of Patrick Queen, the Ravens have lacked quality depth at inside linebacker. Roquan Smith was supposed to be the team’s defensive anchor, that alpha dog in the mold of Ray Lewis who through his preparedness and awareness could elevate the play of those around him. Early during Smith’s tenure with the Ravens, it looked as if things might play out that way. But a season into Smith’s 5-year, $100M contract, he didn’t look like the same player. He didn’t play as fast or as violently and seemed a step off. Many thought he allowed Queen to shine but since his departure to Pittsburgh, it now seems as if it was Queen who made Smith better.

Chris Board and Malik Harrison filled in for the departed Queen last season, but neither matched the Ravens 2020 first-round pick’s effectiveness. As Smith’s level of play has slipped in 2024 and 2025, that $100M contract looks like an albatross. Next season Smith’s cap figure swells to $32.7M. And now that he’s hurt, again, the position has become a bit of a liability particularly when defending the pass.

Edge Rusher

Maybe DeCosta expected something from Odafe Oweh. Maybe he thought that Kyle Van Noy could continue to laugh in the face of Father Time and post double-digit sacks again. Maybe he thought David Ojabo would finally deliver something – anything. Maybe he thought Adisa Isaac was ready. Maybe he thought a 2nd-round gift that landed in his lap in the form of Mike Green would help and that somehow, all of it would add up to produce a competent pass rush.

If so, he was wrong!

The Ravens rank 27th in the NFL in QB sacks with 8, and four of those sacks belong to Nnamdi Madubuike (2) and Tavius Robinson (2). Madubuike is out for the season and Robinson is looking at 6-8 weeks of downtime with a broken foot.

It’s been said that the NFL is a copycat league. Not for DeCosta. After watching the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Philadelphia Eagles dismantle Patrick Mahomes in two separate Super Bowl games because they were able to get after Kermit with just four defenders, you’d think that the Ravens might want to emulate that success to change their misfortunes against Kansas City. Nope. They just keep adding pieces to their secondary. They just keep building their defense from the back forward.

It’s a bad strategy. They have five former first-round picks in the defensive backfield, one of which (Jaire Alexander) has been active in just three games and in the last one against the Rams, he never stepped on the field for a single snap. So despite all of the cap dollars and draft capital invested in the secondary, the Ravens entered Week 6 with 31st-ranked pass defense and the 32nd-ranked defense in terms of points allowed.

DeCosta thought he found a steal in Alexander at $4M but really, who’s robbing whom?

Offensive Line

The Ravens did next to nothing to improve their offensive front. It could be argued that they are slightly weaker in 2025 due to the loss of Patrick Mekari. Filling in for Mekari at left guard is Andrew Vorhees who had been struggling mightily until the recent game against the Rams. DeCosta opted to bank on a 2023 7th-round pick who according to sources close to the team, was internally labeled a 2024 disappointment.

At right guard the Ravens send Daniel Faalele out there every week and all he does is provide weekly video content for football follies.

77 even misses blocks on goal line plays too…

How can this tape be out there and he is still starting? pic.twitter.com/1lJEFu5EIB

— Azzuri (@KingAzzuri) October 12, 2025

Ring around the Rosey… pic.twitter.com/9DMXhAjAwD

— Cole Jackson (@ColeJacksonFB) October 13, 2025

The two guards combined earn $2.13M. Not a misprint! It’s as if DeCosta has opted to go bargain shopping for offensive line help knowing that Lamar Jackson has the talent to make a substandard, patchwork O-line appear just adequate. If that was the plan, and signs clearly point in that direction, it has morphed into a ginormous failure that not only affects Lamar’s effectiveness, it threatens his health and it diminishes the effectiveness of Derrick Henry.

Making all this even worse, DeCosta opted to sign Cooper Rush to a two-year, $6M deal to be Lamar’s backup. A backup QB should be someone who could come in, execute the game plan and win a game or two while the starter heals. And maybe they looked at Rush’s success in Dallas when he spelled Dak Prescott. But DeCosta apparently overlooked his miserable offensive line. Rush doesn’t have the talent or anything remotely close to the elusiveness that Lamar has to help circumvent the deficiencies up front. Rush’s mobility is just a tad better than the statue of John Unitas outside of The Bank. And now the Ravens are paying the price for these roster decisions.

Cooper Rush in Lamar Jackson’s absence:

— 0-2 Record
— 64.1 CMP% (25/39)
— 42.7 Passer Rating
— 251 Pass YDS
— 0-4 TD/INT
— 0 Rush YDS

Grade his performances from 1-10 pic.twitter.com/d9RayrB86G

— JacksonMuse (@Jackson_muse) October 13, 2025

And speaking of paying the price, Lamar’s bargaining power and price to extend just continue to climb. When Lamar is under center the Ravens are averaging 32.8 points per game. Without him? SIX. AND. A. HALF. POINTS. Even the Ravens 2000 defense needed more than that to win games.

So not only does Lamar make a huge difference in scoring offense, but he also makes a sieve of an offensive line tolerable and when healthy and a running threat, he opens things up for Derrick Henry. And ideally, if the Ravens are churning things up on the ground, they keep the ball away from opponents and/or score enough to make opponents one-dimensional which for most defenses allows them to get after the quarterback. But maybe not for the edge rush deficient, soft coverage Ravens defense.

That said, all this just builds more and more leverage for Lamar when it comes time for extension talks. And oh, by the way, those talks need to take place well before the new league year in March 2026 if the Ravens plan to bring back a few unrestricted free agents and fill in some of the aforementioned holes via free agency. Otherwise, Lamar’s cap number in 2026 will be $74.65M making it difficult for DeCosta to build a better roster.

And if all the above wasn’t enough leverage for Lamar, there’s this added humiliating kick in the crotch for DeCosta at the bargaining table. Lamar’s current contract states that the Ravens cannot use the franchise tag on him. So, if there’s no extension in 2026, and we all clearly remember how challenging the last extension was, and they fail to get one done in 2027, Lamar becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2028. He walks. See. You. Later.

DeCosta is a highly capable executive. He’ll leave no stone unturned. But the team has painted themselves into a corner. Their weaknesses both short and long-term are obvious, but they might not have the salary cap wherewithal to fix them, at least not without Lamar’s help.

It’s safe to say that the Ravens are Lamar’s team in more ways than one.

For now…

[Related Article: Good, Bad & Ugly from the Ravens 17-3 Loss to the Rams]

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