Rounding Up Baltimore Ravens' Offseason Buzz, Post-Minicamps

Minicamps have wrapped up for the Baltimore Ravens and the rest of the NFL.

With it, organized team activities are also finished as the Ravens head into a summer break before hitting the field for training camp in late July. 

It's been a productive offseason in Baltimore, highlighted by several positive developments coming out of OTAs. Unfortunately, the team must address a few negative stories in training camp, or else they'll become bigger issues in the regular season. 

While these were padless practices, they still are critical for development and refinement prior to training camp. Here's a look at the biggest buzz-worthy stories to come out of Ravens minicamp.

Drops an Issue for Breshad Perriman

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

The Ravens' biggest acquisition this offseason was getting Breshad Perriman in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft. 

Perriman was an explosive playmaker at UCF over his three-year college career. This past season, he caught 50 passes for 1,044 yards (20.9 average) and nine touchdowns.

He later declared for the draft before being selected 26th overall by Baltimore. He's now expected to replace Torrey Smith, who left this offseason to sign with the San Francisco 49ers. 

Like Perriman, Smith was an explosive pass-catcher who stretched the field for Baltimore's offense better than anyone. With Smith gone, Baltimore will count on Perriman to replicate his production. 

Unfortunately, Perriman hasn't gotten off to a great start. He had issues with drops in college, and they reared their ugly head in minicamp, as Mike Preston of the Baltimore Sun noted: "But within the first 90 minutes of a two-hour practice, he dropped four passes. Granted, two were difficult, including one fade in the end zone, but he also dropped two passes on short turnarounds. These were clunkers that hit him square in the hands."

Perriman has to clean that up and improve his focus. He's attributed his drops to lapses in concentration, which is no excuse. 

If he wants to be an integral part of this offense, Perriman needs to improve this area and cut down on drops.

Joe Flacco Comfortable with New Offensive Coordinator

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It's been an odd three-year stretch for Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense. 

For the third straight offseason, he is learning a new offensive system thanks to a new coordinator being hired. 

In 2013, Flacco had Jim Caldwell for the first full offseason after Caldwell was promoted to OC in the middle of the 2012 season. 

Caldwell left to become head coach of the Detroit Lions in 2013 and was replaced by former Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak. 

Under Kubiak, Baltimore ranked 12th in total offense last year, while Flacco finished with a 91.0 QB rating, the second-highest mark of his seven-year career. 

That led to Denver Broncos hiring Kubiak as their new head coach this offseason. With him gone, the Ravens tabbed former Chicago Bears head coach Marc Trestman as their new OC.

Flacco is now learning a new system all over again, but he's adjusting well thus far. 

As ESPN.com's Todd Karpovich reported, Flacco has looked comfortable thus far in Trestman's offense. Trestman is also pleased with how well Flacco has adjusted to his system:

"

I think it’s a statement to him how flexible he is. He just has the ability to work with different guys and positive things happen. That’s a good sign and I just enjoy working with him. He’s been extremely flexible and open-minded. We are working together. We’re doing this together to try to not only be consistent with the play that he’s had, but to try to get better. He wants to get better and that’s exciting.

"

Flacco is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and he should be able to succeed in any system under any OC. Still, it's good to see him transitioning well to yet another new OC. 

A good transition to Trestman's offense in OTAs and minicamp should parlay into a good training camp for Flacco and the offense. That in turn could lead to a fast start in the regular season as Baltimore looks for another playoff berth and subsequent postseason run.

Matt Elam Having Strong Offseason

Nick Wass/Associated Press

The Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2013 in large part due to a great secondary that made it hard for any quarterback to throw against.

Bernard Pollard and Ed Reed combined to form one of the better safety tandems in football, and they played a big part in Baltimore hoisting the Lombardi Trophy that year. 

However, contract disputes led to Baltimore letting go of both starting safeties that offseason. As a result, Baltimore selected Florida's Elam with its first-round pick in 2013.

Elam was viewed as the future of the Ravens safeties, but he's been anything but during his first two years in the NFL. After spending most of his rookie season at free safety, he played more of his natural strong safety spot in 2014 and even played some slot cornerback. 

Despite the move, he continued to struggle and was eventually benched in favor of Will Hill. Elam finished with a team-worst minus-16.6 Pro Football Focus grade in 2014 after having a minus-3.6 mark in 2013. 

There's no question Elam has been a bust to this point, but he's responding with what defensive coordinator Dean Pees is calling the best showing OTAs he's had as a pro. 

“Best camp he’s had, bar none. Not even close,” Pees said, via Garrett Downing of BaltimoreRavens.com. “I expect big things out of Matt. I really do. We don’t know [the tackling] yet, but as far as his communication, knowing the defense, being in the right spots, all of those things, it’s the best camp he’s had."

Elam is facing an uphill climb to win a starting role with Hill and Kendrick Lewis favored to be the starting safeties. However, Elam could still get plenty of playing time as a part-time safety and slot cornerback like he was last year. 

You can't put too much stock into how well Elam has looked in padless practices given how bad he's been with the pads on, but this is still a great development to see from him.