New Ravens head coach Jesse Minter is taking over a team with very high expectations.
The betting odds have the Ravens’ win total at over/under 11.5, the highest win total in the NFL. That means Minter’s team would have to go at least 12-5 to exceed expectations in Year One.
In 2025 the Ravens finished a disappointing 8-9, leading to the departure of head coach John Harbaugh. Minter was brought in to take the Ravens back to where they were in 2024, when they went 12-5. That’s where expectations are this year.
Behind the Ravens, nine teams are tied for the next-highest win total: The Bills, Chiefs, Chargers, Lions, Packers, Rams, Eagles, Seahawks and 49ers all have their win totals set at over/under 10.5.
Flag football is very different from tackle football. And the current and former NFL players facing the U.S. men’s national flag football team are learning that.
The first half of the game between the U.S. team and the Wildcats (captained by Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels) did not go well for the pro players. The first drive by the Wildcats failed to result in a first down. The U.S. team went right down the field, with the NFL players struggling to master the skill of grabbing flags.
The opening drive by the U.S. team included multiple penalties against the Wildcats for excessive contact. After quarterback Darrell “Housh” Doucette III scored a touchdown on a running play (which included another penalty for illegal contact), Doucette chirped at non-football player Logan Paul. Paul removed Doucette’s sunglasses and threw them, drawing another foul.
Then came a pick six of Burrow, two plays later.
The Wildcats finally woke up, with a long touchdown pass by Burrow to DeAndre Hopkins, who easily boxed out the defender caught the undersized ball with one hand.
The U.S. team scored on the next drive, pushing the score to 19-6 after one half.
While the NFL players are generally bigger and faster and stronger (that said, Doucette seems to be able to weave through and around them), the tackle football players are clearly out of their element. If NFL playershope to represent the U.S. in the 2028 Olympics, they’ll need time to learn the game, and to figure out the rules. Which will take more than a casual commitment.
Free agent defensive end A.J. Epenesa is signing a one-year deal worth up to $5 million with the Browns, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
Epenesa, 27, has spent his entire career in Buffalo since the Bills made him a second-round pick in 2020.
In 2025, he played 16 games with two starts and totaled 32 tackles, 2.5 sacks, nine quarterback hits, two interceptions and four passes defensed.
In his career, Epenesa has recorded 135 tackles, 24 sacks, 53 quarterback hits, four interceptions, 21 passes defensed and five forced fumbles.
The Browns are also signing wide receiver/returner Tylan Wallace, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports.
Wallace, who turns 27 in May, is following Todd Monken from Baltimore after spending his career with the Ravens.
A fourth-round pick in 2021, Wallace played 14 games with two starts last season. He caught four passes for 45 yards and a touchdown and averaged 24.6 yards on five kickoff returns.
He has only 22 receptions for 305 yards and two touchdowns in five seasons, with one punt return touchdown.
Wide receiver Hollywood Brown will be joining the Eagles, but his search for a team almost brought him back to the first stop in his NFL career.
Brown was a 2019 first-round pick in Baltimore and spent three seasons with the team before being traded to the Cardinals. That trade came after Brown requested a move because he didn’t feel the offensive system was the right one for him.
That system has changed since Brown left the team. Jesse Minter is now the head coach with Declan Doyle on the staff as the offensive coordinator and those changes may have helped lead Brown to think about a second stint with the Ravens.
“I was really considering going back to Baltimore,” Brown said on the Speakeasy podcast. “I got good relationships there. I really let my agent handle it until it got down to what it got down to. This is my second time in free agency, so I kinda don’t want the small talk. I let him deal with it. When it got down to who really wants me, who he thinks is really showing interest, then I want to talk and get involved.”
Brown didn’t delve into how close things came with the Ravens and what ultimately swayed him to the Eagles, although he did say that they had been his favorite team growing up and that he’s looking forward to playing with quarterback Jalen Hurts.
The Ravens have not added any wideouts to the roster this month, but being in the mix for Brown might be a sign that they are looking to bolster that group ahead of the draft.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator and a new offseason training method.
High-performance boxing and strength coach Dawson Saint Jour posted social media videos showing Jackson throwing a series of punches into gloves and pads, Jamison Hensley of ESPN reports.
“Had a great time with one of the best athletes out there,” Saint Jour wrote. “He’s getting sharp.”
In 2017, then-Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco added boxing into his workouts to improve his balance and core strength.
Jackson, a two-time MVP, missed four games with a hamstring injury and a back contusion last season, his first time with a losing record (6-7) in his eight-year career. In 13 games, Jackson threw for 2,549 yards, 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions, while rushing for 349 yards and two scores.
Jackson has given up $1.5 million in workout bonuses by not participating in the minimum number of voluntary practices the past two offseasons. New offensive coordinator Declan Doyle recently said he “would expect” players to attend the offseason program despite it being voluntary.
Jackson has another $750,000 available this offseason if he participates in 80 percent of the program.
