Two quarterbacks or three? Nine offensive linemen or 10? How many spots need to be reserved for special teams?
These are the questions general manager Eric DeCosta and coach John Harbaugh face annually. Otherwise, there isn’t a ton of buzz about the Baltimore Ravens’ pending roster subtractions heading into this year’s cutdown day. A few injuries thinned out position competitions. Nobody from the undrafted rookie class really made a significant push on a roster that had very few openings when training camp began.
With the preseason mercifully over, the next task for the Ravens is to cut their 90-man roster to 53 by Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline. There will likely be a couple of players moved to injured reserve. Running back Keaton Mitchell is expected to revert to the reserve physically unable to perform list. DeCosta is always looking at potential trade opportunities. But the heavy roster lifting will be done with cuts. If the Ravens have their way, a number of their cuts will clear waivers and return to the team on the practice squad.
Projecting Baltimore’s 53-man roster only got more difficult after Saturday’s 30-7 preseason loss to the Green Bay Packers as a few “bubble” players, including running back Owen Wright and center Nick Samac, went down with injuries.
New rules allow teams as part of the cutdown to 53 to put two players on IR who can return after missing at least the first four weeks of the season. If the Ravens want other players beyond the two to return from IR, they’ll have to be on their initial 53 and then moved to IR later in the week.
DeCosta and the Ravens are no strangers to roster gymnastics this time of year, and they’ll probably be forced to use some machinations again, given they have a number of players who have missed parts, or all, of training camp with injuries. They also have a handful of rookies, who don’t appear to be in line to have notable roles early and have missed some time over the summer, who could be pushed to IR to ease the roster crunch and prevent the Ravens from losing them on the waiver wire.
So there’s a lot of things that could come into play before 4 p.m. Tuesday. And the initial roster almost certainly won’t be the same one that will take the field on Sept. 5 and face the Kansas City Chiefs in the regular-season opener. But this is the best guess at how things could play out.
Read the Ravens roster projections here.
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Ravens final 53-man roster projection: Toughest calls on defensive side of the ball
