Defensive end Charles Omenihu signed with the Commanders as a free agent this offseason, but he spent the last three seasons with the Chiefs and that gave him experience in trying to stop two of the league’s top quarterbacks.
Omenihu was asked to weigh in on facing Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. He didn’t hesitate before saying he thought Allen would win a Super Bowl first if the two players switched teams and that Allen’s habit of turning the ball over isn’t enough of a drawback to make up for the book that defenses have put together on stopping Jackson.
“I don’t think the league has truly figured [Allen] out,” Omenihu said on the Speakeasy podcast. “With Lamar, honestly, you bring a five-man rush on him and collapse that pocket, he’s drifting backwards and, unfortunately, he might make a play that isn’t going to be the best play for the Ravens. With Josh, he’s going to drift backwards, run around, and he’s so hard to tackle. He’s a large human being, hard to get down, he can make every throw. Every throw from no matter where he’s at. His arm strength is unbelievable. I don’t think Lamar has that big amount of arm strength like Josh does. Like I said, I think you’ve figured out Lamar. You come after him, you close all the lanes, you five-man rush him and you cover his guys, and I think you get it done. It’s been shown.”
Neither Alllen nor Jackson has made it to the Super Bowl yet, but the Bills and Ravens are currently the betting favorites to be the AFC Champion so that could change at the end of the 2026 season. If it does, the quarterback left standing will have a big leg up in the legacy building battle.
It’s been an offseason of major changes for the Ravens, but none of them have involved tight end Mark Andrews.
There have been moments in the past when it looked like Andrews might move on from Baltimore, but no break ever came and Andrews is the only tight end back from the team’s final season with John Harbaugh as their head coach. Isaiah Likely followed Harbaugh to the Giants while Charlie Kolar signed with the Chargers in moves that set Andrews up as the clear No. 1 tight end for new head coach Jesse Minter and offensive coordinator Declan Doyle.
Andrews said on Wednesday that he has “always felt” like the top guy and that he thinks the new offensive scheme is going to suit him well.
“I don’t think that ever changes,” Andrews said, via the team’s website. “But I think that for [Likely], I’m excited for him and his opportunity. I’m excited for Charlie and his opportunity. I’m going to continue to get better and grow my game, and I think there’s going to be a lot of opportunities in this offense.”
Andrews had 48 catches for 422 yards and five touchdowns last season. That yardage total was the lowest of his career, but it sounds like he expects his production to reverse course this fall.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has skipped most of the voluntary offseason workouts during his eight-year NFL career. He showed up on Day 1 of the Jesse Minter era, though.
Wide receiver Zay Flowers said on Wednesday that he believes the two-time NFL MVP is more motivated than ever.
“He’s always ready. . . . He’s even more ready this year,” Flowers said, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “He’s excited about the coaching staff. He’s excited about getting to work with [new offensive coordinator] Declan [Doyle]. So yeah, he’s ready to go. He wants to finish. He wants to get a ring.”
Other team leaders, including Derrick Henry, Kyle Hamilton and Roquan Smith, were also present for the start of the strength and conditioning work this week.
The Ravens have not reached the Super Bowl since 2012, getting as close as the AFC Championship Game in 2023. Jackson is 76-31 in the regular season but only 3-5 in the postseason.
“It doesn’t matter who it is, you are going to have a window, and you have to just seize your opportunity,” Flowers said. “And this is our window, I feel like.”
The Ravens were 6-7 with Jackson as the starter in 2025, his first losing season, and the team missed the playoffs for the first time since 2022. The Ravens fired John Harbaugh after 18 seasons, replacing him with Minter, and giving Jackson and the team a fresh start.
The Seahawks set a new standard for the wide receiver market when they signed Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a contract extension last month and one of the players who could be impacted by the deal is Ravens wideout Zay Flowers.
Flowers was selected a couple of picks after Smith-Njigba in the first round of the 2023 draft and is also eligible for a contract extension this offseason. On Wednesday, Flowers offered congratulations to the Seahawks receiver while saying that he isn’t “really paying attention” to his own contract as he prefers to focus on football while his agents work on the business side of things.
Flowers did add that he’s not looking to play anywhere but Baltimore.
“I don’t want to go nowhere else,” Flowers said, via the team’s website.
The Ravens can exercise their fifth-year option on Flowers’ contract, which would set him up to make $27.298 million for the 2027 season. That will likely happen if the two sides can’t agree to a longer deal before the option deadline on May 1.
Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton told reporters on Wednesday that he was shocked to learn of John Harbaugh’s firing in January, but the start of the team’s offseason program under new head coach Jesse Minter has him “excited for a new era” in Baltimore.
Hamilton is particularly excited about the impact that Minter and new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver can have on the team’s defense. The team fell to 18th in points allowed while going 8-9 last season and Hamilton said there’s been clear messaging from the new staff that the work on that side of the ball has been unacceptable.
“I don’t think we’re reinventing the wheel or anything,” Hamilton said. “We just got to get back to or just re-establish dominance, especially defense. Offense, they got their own thing going on and I’m sure they’ll be alright. I think defensively it’s been pretty disappointing, just some results that we’ve had. We’ve had some good seasons, but we’ve also had some bad seasons and those are inexcusable. Especially here. I think confronting that, him along with coach Weaver, they’ve both done a great job so far laying out what’s been in the past and where we want to go in the future. The standard has not been met and upheld and we need to kind of fix that.”
Minter coached under Harbaugh earlier in his career and the expectation in Baltimore is that he’ll be able to get the team moving in the right direction quickly. The defense will have a lot to do with his chances of success and Hamilton’s early review is an encouraging one for the unit’s mindset.
