Baltimore Ravens Preview: Five Positional Battles in Training Camp

Right about this time every year you hear about things other than football that are related to the NFL: arrests of current and former NFL players, possible suspensions, and maybe, if you're lucky, the possibility of a trade. But as far as actual football goes, what you're looking forward to is one thing: training camp, and the positional battles that come with it.

The Ravens, for all their Super Bowl aspirations, do have several important positional battles that will factor into who plays during this most hopeful of seasons. The defense is a year older, and the offense has added some toys... but ultimately some of these guys will have to step up for John Harbaugh's Ravens to go all the way in 2010.

No. 5: Sergio Kindle vs. Jarret Johnson

The Ravens traded out of the first round of the NFL Draft for the first time in franchise history this past year, and as such did not make a selection until Round 2. With their first pick, they took Texas DE Sergio Kindle, who will stand up and play OLB for the Baltimore Ravens.

In the 3-4 defense, the keys to the pass rush are usually the two outside linebackers—in Pittsburgh, James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley, for instance. The Ravens are paying Terrell Suggs like one of the NFL's premier players, and while he had a down year last season, I think it is reasonable to expect Suggs to have a rebound year at one OLB position.

That leaves the highly touted Kindle to face off against incumbent Jarret Johnson, who himself is no slouch and is definitely a guy I want on my team. It's definitely possible that Kindle will be used as a situational pass rusher on third down, but as we learned last year with Paul Kruger, the Ravens will not hesitate to keep a highly drafted rookie on the bench if he can't play.

I predict that Johnson will win the starting job and play on first and second down; when you're making a Super Bowl run you don't want to be forced to rely on rookies at key positions to do it. Kindle's ability to get on the field, much like Kruger's was last year, will be limited or enhanced by his ability to play special teams. If Kindle wins a spot in the coverage unit, he will probably play in third and long situations.

This battle would rank higher in priority if I didn't feel the Ravens were already pretty much set at the position. Kindle was added because of his tremendous potential down the line—not to be an immediate contributor. I personally loved the pick—Ozzie at his best right here—but don't expect Kindle to be a 10 sack guy as a rookie.

No. 4: Ken Hamlin vs. Tom Zbikowski

Like the previous positional battle, this one would rank higher except that I think the Ravens are pretty much set with either player. Hamlin, despite being cut by the Cowboys, is still a former Pro Bowler, and Tom Zbikowski has played well enough in spot duty when Ed Reed was out with injury last year. The other reason this battle ranks so low?

Once Ed Reed comes back, he starts ahead of either of these guys, without any question. Still, his recent declaration that he's only "35 percent" following hip surgery is a concern—the winner of this battle may need to start as many as three or four games before Reed can return.

In a normal year, the Ravens would have simply gone with their young talent—Zbikowski has played well in spot duty and I'm not at all nervous with him in the back of the defense. However, you don't bring in a former Pro Bowler to sit on the bench (unless, of course, he's a QB—thank you Marc Bulger).

I predict that Hamlin will be the opening-day starter at FS if Reed is not ready to go.

No. 3: Starting DL

As usual, the Ravens have a great deal of strong bodies that they will be able to use in the defensive rotation. However, aside from former first round pick Haloti Ngata, none of the starters are set in stone.

The incumbents, Trevor Pryce and Kelly Gregg, are getting up there in age—there's a reason that the Ravens added Cory Redding and Terrence Cody in free agency and the NFL Draft, respectively. They aren't replacing the older guys yet, but they don't want to depend on them completely for one more go.

As a 3-4 team, winning a starting spot could mean NT one day, LDE the next, and RDE later in the same game, so it's hard to single out specific positional battles, but as best as I can tell there are two main ones:

Terrence Cody vs. Kelly Gregg. I predict Cody will get the starting job.
Trevor Pryce vs. Cory Redding. I predict Redding will get the starting job.

Also factoring into the mix is last year's second round pick, Paul Kruger. However, as this will be his first year playing at DL, I doubt he will be more than the sixth rotational player. Even so, he'll have to make the most of his opportunities or the "bust" label will start to be thrown around.

However, all of these players are ultimately Ngata's supporting cast. They will all see significant playing time in 2010 and the Ravens are fortunate to be so deep along their defensive front.

No. 2: Tavares Gooden vs. Dannell Ellerbe vs. Brendon Ayanbadejo

In an earlier article I mentioned Ellerbe as a guy who needed to step up in 2010 for the Ravens to be successful. This positional battle is a holdover from last year's camp, and even all of last year, because no one really came out and seized the job. Ellerbe played well toward the end of the season, Gooden seemed to fade as the year went on, and Ayanbadejo's year was cut short by injury.

Bart Scott's old spot has yet to be filled by a permanent resident. As such I very much expect a competition to play alongside the ageless Ray Lewis to be fierce. Ayanbadejo will probably play spot duty no matter what—he was selected to the Pro Bowl on special teams in the past—but this could be Gooden's last shot, despite his high draft status... and it could be Ellerbe's only shot, due to his low draft status.

I expect Ellerbe to win the job, however. He improved too much as the year went on and I think the Ravens will prefer to use Ayanbadejo on special teams only, rather than tire one of their defensive starters on kick and punt coverage.

No. 1: Fabian Washington vs. Walt Harris vs. Lardarius Webb

At the second CB spot, the Ravens have something no team wants: mystery meat. It does seem like Domonique Foxworth will remain a starter, due to his $7 million salary and the fact that his performance at CB improved as the year went on. While he isn't ideal, he is definitely serviceable—and in reality, when you're talking about Foxworth as a "weak" player, your team is pretty good—he was one of Denver's better ones.

However, despite reports that Washington and Webb, particularly the latter, are ahead of schedule on their post-ACL tear rehabilitation. When players do come back from such injuries, there's no guarantee that they will be the same players.

Both are young—so it's reasonable to hope—but Walt Harris was a smart signing, even at age 35, as an insurance policy, just in case something goes wrong.

Still, Washington had his shot in Oakland and didn't seize it, and Webb's reports of his progress have been positively glowing. It's hard not to like Webb as the main candidate to be starting opposite Foxworth on opening day—if we're lucky, we might even see him in the last week or two of preseason.