Baltimore Ravens president Sashi Brown set an important priority involving Lamar Jackson for the 2026 season.
The 2025 season for the Baltimore Ravens was one that the organization will need to learn from. After seeing Lamar Jackson go down with a hamstring injury and multiple other ailments, protecting him should be the main priority.
While speaking on "The Lounge," Brown said just that. While winning is the top priority, he made it a point to state that protecting Jackson goes hand-in-hand with that goal. He may be stating the obvious, but this should be a call to general manager Eric DeCosta to bolster the offensive line.
Jackson gives the Ravens the chance to be a competitor when he out on the field, but the 2025 season painted the stark reality of what can happen if he is not. Following his hamstring injury, Baltimore bounced between using Cooper Rush and Tyler Huntley to help keep things moving without the MVP quarterback.
Unfortunately, a four-game losing streak pushed the Ravens into a tough spot.
Jackson would return in Week 9, propelling the team to a five-game win streak, one win of which was enacted by Huntley in Week 8. Despite the win streak, the Ravens did not do enough to bounce back.
A final 2-4 record in the tail end of the season led to an uncharacteristic 8-9 record and a missed playoff berth.
Now, Brown pointed to protecting Jackson as one of the team's main priorities in 2026.
"Winning is always number one. Uh we got to get back on top of this division, and protect Lamar, run the ball, play solid defense on the field, which uh I'm confident we will do. Uh and then I think the second thing is just to stay relentless about you know our fan experience or game day experience and our fan engagement overall. That's really the second most important thing that we can do," Brown said.
The comments made by Brown might seem obvious, as winning is the true barometer of a successful team in the NFL. However, protecting Jackson coupled with that statement matters more.
When on the field, Jackson's elite dual-threat ability turns the Ravens into one of the most unpredictable and hard-to-deal-with teams. However, everything quickly unravels when he is injured.
The Ravens took to dealing with the injury issue by bringing in a brand-new vice president of health and performance, a former rugby doctor, Dr. Nic Gill. Gill was brought in to help guide the team back to remaining healthy.
Losing Jackson wasn't the only injury that heavily impacted the season, but he is the most significant.
Brown's comments might also be obvious in nature but it can also point to making it known that the offensive line needs to be upgraded. DeCosta has an important task at hand in the draft, which is to ensure the team can fix the line.
For multiple years, the Ravens have had a questionable line. While Ronnie Stanley and Tyler Linderbaum held things down, Linderbaum is now gone.
Baltimore remains without a clear starting center, and though John Simpson, Jovaughn Gwyn, and Danny Pinter were brought in for depth and competition purposes, they might not be enough to be the center. The draft is where the Ravens will search, but a miss will come down hard on DeCosta.
Losing Linderbaum will have a profound effect on the team in 2026, and DeCosta will need to go against the grain to ensure the team takes a lineman at No. 14. While the usual case has been to go for the best player available, taking a deep need instead should happen.
If not, DeCosta may come under even heavier scrutiny than he did with the Maxx Crosby fallout and losing Linderbaum.