Only 10 days. That’s the wait until the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs kick off the 2024 NFL season Sept. 5 at Arrowhead Stadium.
These next 10 days are also an interesting period in which Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta will look to add depth to a roster thin at several skill positions, as Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook mentioned on the NFL Daily podcast Monday morning.
Specifically, at running back, the Ravens will deploy free-agent addition Derrick Henry and backup Justice Hill. But Owen Wright, who Rosenthal said was going to make their team, fractured his foot in the team’s preseason finale at Green Bay. And with Keaton Mitchell recovering from injury, Rosenthal wants to see what DeCosta can do.
“They’re not done picking up some veterans,” Rosenthal said.
And in an AFC North expected by many to become one of the league’s best divisions, Shook wouldn’t be surprised if DeCosta signs another thorn in the side of the Ravens’ rival, the Cleveland Browns.
“They’ve been doing that for years,” Shook said. “They did it with Jadeveon Clowney. Every year, they get somebody and add it to that group, usually on the defensive side.”
Shook said the team’s key loss is Mitchell, who sustained an ACL injury in Week 15 last year and could open the year on PUP, forcing him to miss at least the first four games.
“He was a guy that really popped last year,” Shook said, “and I thought could really fill out that room. If he’s not going to be available, suddenly, you’re looking down the list and thinking, ‘Alright, we’ve got to find somebody here.’ We’ll see what happens with them.”