4 Reasons the Baltimore Ravens Should Feel Confident Heading into OTAs

OTAs began this week for all 32 teams in the NFL, and when it comes to the AFC North, this is a very important week for the Baltimore Ravens.

For many Ravens players, this is their first offseason with team workouts thanks to last year's lockout. The team has a number of questions which need answers over the next few months, and those should start to take shape based on what happens this week.

However, the Ravens have a lot to be optimistic about as OTAs begin. In the following slides, I will detail the four biggest reasons why.

They're Defending AFC North Champions

The Baltimore Ravens aren't trying to build their way back from having a disappointing 2011 season—instead, they're working to maintain their dominance over the difficult AFC North division for a second straight year.

Yes, the Ravens have lost a number of key players on offense, defense and special teams to free agency and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Terrell Suggs will miss at least part of the season with a torn Achilles' tendon, but the Ravens remain a strong team despite all of these setbacks.

While every team has areas that need improvement and successes worth building upon, the Ravens at least head into their offseason workouts with the knowledge they're still one of the most competitive and talented teams in the league.

The Ravens Have Time to Solve Their Linebacker Problems

Maybe calling what the Ravens are dealing with at linebacker right now "problems" is a bit harsh, considering that their talent pool is deep. However, they have issues at the position to address, and lucky for them, they have a full offseason with which to do so.

If these issues had occurred last year during the lockout, the Ravens would be in dire straits. They'd have little chance to figure out which of their linebackers could take up the spots left vacant by Jarret Johnson's free-agency departure and Terrell Suggs' injury.

Rookie Courtney Upshaw and veterans Paul Kruger, Albert McClellan and Sergio Kindle—the latter having yet to play a game since fracturing his skull in a fall in 2010—will all be fighting it out for those two spots.

Kruger's likely to win one of those two jobs—Suggs', probably—while the remaining three will be angling for Johnson's. The Ravens have time to sort out their linebackers and determine just who is the best fit, starting with this week's OTAs.

Joe Flacco Actually Has a Chance to Develop Chemistry with His Receivers

Last year, the Baltimore Ravens receiving corps got significantly younger, but with the lockout, quarterback Joe Flacco didn't have much time to build a rapport with them.

This year, the receivers are still quite young and the team has a new veteran addition at the position in Jacoby Jones, formerly of the Houston Texans.

Flacco will need to have as much time as possible to develop the kind of chemistry with his receivers that will hopefully translate into an improved passing game come September.

The one area in which the Ravens need the most improvement is passing the ball. Flacco needs to be more consistent, which should come with an increased level of comfort with his receivers. OTAs are the first step in getting there.

Without Ray Rice, the Ravens Can Concentrate on the Battle for No. 2 RB

There should be little worry among Ravens fans about the contract status of running back Ray Rice.

Though the two sides are reportedly as much as $10 million apart, a deal will either get done over the summer or Rice will eventually sign his franchise tender, report to camp and continue negotiations through the season and into next year.

Rice's current absence from OTAs (and likely from the upcoming minicamp) presents a good opportunity for the other backs on the Ravens' roster.

Without Rice around, they can be assured to have more snaps in practice, which will help the Ravens determine not only who has the skills to be Rice's backup, but can also become a change-of-pace player this year.

Competing for that job are second-year backs Anthony Allen and Damien Berry, rookie Bernard Pierce and two undrafted free agent rookies, Brandon Pendergrass and Bobby Rainey.

While Allen seems to be the front-runner for the job, Pierce has the skill set and background to snatch the job away. The remaining three players are sure to have opportunities to impress as well.

It's not ideal that Rice is sitting out practices at the moment, but it does provide some other peripheral benefits to both the Ravens and the group of backs behind him.

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