How Have Baltimore Ravens Addressed Biggest Weaknesses from 2014?

The Baltimore Ravens may have won 10 games and made the playoffs last year, but they did so with some crippling weaknesses.

Those ultimately prevented Baltimore from advancing past the divisional round. While that was a nice finish, Baltimore is a franchise that strives for championships, not one or two playoff wins. 

In order to become a strong title contender, the Ravens went out and addressed their biggest weakness through free agency and/or the NFL draft. 

Here's a look at some of the additions Baltimore made to address their biggest weaknesses of a year ago. 

Tight End

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Tight end wasn't too much of a weakness in 2014, but it wasn't a strength either.

There were spurts of good play by Owen Daniels, but he was never the consistent threat Joe Flacco loves having as an outlet. 

Daniels was filling in for an injured Dennis Pitta, who was doing well until suffering a season-ending hip injury in Week 3. At 32 years old, though, Daniels wasn't able to consistently produce. 

Daniels has nine games in which he registered less than 45 receiving yards. He also caught just two touchdowns in Baltimore's final 14 games of the regular season. 

Rookie Crockett Gillmore was nonexistent as the No. 2 tight end. He caught just 10 passes for 121 yards and one score. 

Even though Gillmore was the backup, your No. 2 still needs to produce more than that. It didn't help this position that Daniels left this offseason to sign with the Denver Broncos. 

The Ravens addressed this by taking two tight ends in this year's draft. It began in Round 2 when they traded up to take Minnesota's Maxx Williams. 

The No. 1 tight end prospect this year, Williams hauled in 36 passes for 589 yards and eight touchdowns in 2014. He'll immediately start or play significant snaps as a rookie. 

Baltimore grabbed another tight end by taking Delaware's Nick Boyle in Round 5. An FCS star, Boyle snagged 101 passes for 984 yards and 12 touchdowns during his college career.

Those two will help upgrade what was a clear weakness before the draft. If Pitta can play in 2015, that will also serve as an upgrade after missing 13 games last year. 

Wide Receiver

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Like tight end, this position had spurts of good production, but not enough. 

Torrey Smith and Steve Smith Sr. both looked like dominant receivers at times, but they also disappeared in games too often. Smith Sr. topped the 100-yard mark in four of his first six games in 2014. However, he did not hit that mark again until Baltimore's Wild Card Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

As for Torrey, he never hit the 100-yard mark in 2014. He also finished the year with a career-low 767 yards.

He left to sign with the San Francisco 49ers this offseason. That made an already-weak position even weaker. 

Just as they did at tight end, Baltimore addressed this weakness by drafting two players at this position. The first was UCF's Breshad Perriman in the first round.

A deep-ball specialist with blazing speed, Perriman caught 115 passes for 2,243 yards (19.5 average) and 16 scores in three years. He'll compete for a starting job on Day 1 as a rookie.

Baltimore got another receiver by drafting Georgia Tech's Darren Waller in Round 6. Another deep-threat option, Waller caught 51 passes for 971 yards (19 yards per catch) and nine scores in his career. 

Those two will open up the passing game more and provide Baltimore with a much-needed upgrade at receiver.

Cornerback

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This was the position that prevented the Ravens from advancing further in the postseason. 

Their secondary simply could not hold up against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the divisional round. That's what led to their downfall, and that's the position that should be significantly better in 2015.

However, the biggest reason is not who they added, but who they'll get back. Baltimore's secondary was good at the start of the year with Jimmy Smith and Asa Jackson starting. 

This was while Lardarius Webb was out with a back injury. He returned later to be a quality starter. The problem is both Jackson and Smith suffered season-ending injuries midway through the year. 

Getting them back will serve as an upgrade, but Baltimore did add several players to ensure there's enough depth.

In the draft, the Ravens took Texas Southern's Tray Walker in Round 4. 

The 6'2", 180-pound Walker was a ball hawk in college. He grabbed four interceptions this past season and finished his career with 10 picks.

In free agency, Baltimore signed Kyle Arrington and Cassius Vaughn for more corner depth. Arrington is another ball-hawking corner who led the NFL in interceptions (seven) in 2011. 

Vaughn played in 13 games for the Detroit Lions in 2014, including five starts. He notched 18 tackles, five pass deflections and two interceptions.

Those three additions, combined with Baltimore's injured corners getting healthy, will significantly upgrade this weakness in 2015. It may also be the key to getting Baltimore over the hump and back into the Super Bowl.