Ravens Hit With Unfortunate Season Outlook Amid Jacoby Brissett Trade

The Baltimore Ravens made a move to land Jacoby Brissett, giving up a 2027 fourth-round pick and more to the Arizona Cardinals. While Brissett is a proven veteran, he fell down the depth chart for a reason.

There is hope that the addition of Brissett can lead the Ravens to some wins while they await the chance of Lamar Jackson coming back. However, the need for all these things to line up has led to an unfortunate end-of-season outlook.

Brissett had some early-season struggles with the Cardinals, leading to his being replaced by Gardner Minshew. After falling to third string behind Minshew and Carson Beck, this led to the trade to the Ravens.

Baltimore needs stability at the quarterback position after rookie Joe Fagnano proved he is not ready to lead. 

Jackson is out due to a significant thumb injury, while backup Tyler Huntley suffered a season-ending turf toe injury.

Brissett could be the man to lead, but without knowing the Ravens' offense well enough, that could be hard to do. Granted, he is a professional and proven veteran, there are bound to be some struggles.

Baltimore's offensive line has also not played well enough, leading to the aforementioned injuries, and what could be a major roadblock for the success off Brissett. 

ESPN's Seth Walder pointed to many obstacles the team will face, even with Brissett taking over under center. 

"Brissett is a respected bridge quarterback and has played around expectations this season in Arizona. He has a 48.9 QBR, which ranks 23rd out of 30 qualifying starters. That number alone is probably selling Brissett's performance short this season, though, considering he was playing behind the O-line unit that ranked 31st in pass block win rate and was able to use play-action just 18% of the time (27th most)," Walder wrote.

What is most notable about Walder's assessment is that Brissett was under duress a lot behind the shaky Cardinals offensive line. They rank 31st in pass block win rate, which the Ravens are clearly an upgrade in.

Currently, the Ravens have a 21st-ranked 47 percent pass block win rate, so Brissett will get more time to throw the ball behind the Baltimore line. 

Even with the addition of Brissett, the Ravens still only have a three percent chance at making the playoffs. It will take a great effort from the entire team to string together wins to put themselves in a position to even have a remote chance at the postseason.

Currently, Baltimore sits at 4-5 and fourth place in the AFC North. 

Both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals sit at 6-2, with the Cleveland Browns at 5-4. 

This is just the Ravens' division. There are multiple other AFC teams angling for their own chance to lock in a playoff spot. 

If the playoffs were to end today, the Browns and the 5-4 New England Patriots would take the Wild Card spots. Baltimore sits at No. 10 overall. 

More needs to be done, and that more is simply winning games. If the Ravens can string together at least a few wins in the coming weeks, they will undoubtedly be in a much better place in terms of the playoff picture.

The issue is that the Ravens have a tough schedule to end the season. With matchups against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Steelers, Browns, Bengals, and the Steelers again, it will be very difficult to end the season on a high note.

Baltimore is not out of the running for anything, but they need Brissett to come in and play well enough for the team to get multiple wins.