So far, March 2023 has not been a great month for the Baltimore Ravens organization. The NFLPA released report cards on every single team in the league, with grades voted on by the players. The Ravens had the worst strength grade in the league by a considerable margin, and once that news broke, current and former players took to Twitter to criticize the objectively terrible work of Baltimore’s strength and conditioning program.
As if that wasn’t enough, in completely unrelated news, wide receiver Rashod Bateman took personal offense to veiled criticism by General Manager Eric DeCosta, telling him in a since-deleted tweet to play to player’s strengths and keep the players healthy.
If this was just one or two players, you could write this off as a small sample of professionals that had a poor experience with the organization. However, this many players – both on and off the roster – coming together to criticize the Baltimore Ravens just goes to show that there is something fundamentally wrong with the organization, and it needs to get addressed.
Current, Former Ravens Offer Damning Criticism of Organization
The Failure of the Strength and Conditioning Program
One of the most interesting parts of the NFLPA report cards is that players from almost every organization in football believe that, to some extent, their strength coaches are doing a good job. The Ravens, however, are the exception to the rule, as their F- was one of only two subpar grades, alongside the Atlanta Falcons D-.
Once news of the voting broke, it didn’t take long for both former and current members of the organization to start airing grievances with the former strength and conditioning coach Steve Saunders. Quincy Adeboyejo, Bam Bradley, Carl Davis, Derek Wolfe, and Matt Judon all spoke out about Baltimore’s terrible strength team, with Adeboyejo’s story being especially horrifying.
https://twitter.com/QuincyA18/status/1631303635316482048?s=20
Rashod Bateman Fires Back At Criticism
As if this wasn’t enough bad publicity for the day, Rashod Bateman had some words after general manager Eric DeCosta spoke about the perceived lack of talent at the wide receiver position. In a since-deleted tweet, Bateman said that DeCosta should “play to your player’s strengths and & stop pointing the finger at us and [Lamar Jackson]…& keep us healthy”.
Players firing off and later deleting passion-filled tweets isn’t anything noteworthy in of itself, but the reaction around the league speaks volumes. Former Ravens receiver Marquise Brown showed some support, replying “let him cook” while running back Mike Davis said that Bateman is “100% right”.
I hate to say it or be that guy .. but being there. bate is 100% right. https://t.co/DWpsvxMiG8
— IG MikeDavisRB (@MikeDavisRB) March 2, 2023
Based on this overwhelmingly negative feedback, it’s clear that the Ravens have some real soul-searching to do. The first step to fixing any problem is acknowledging that the problem exists, and Baltimore appears to have taken that first step. Just over a week ago, the team fired Steve Saunders and replaced him with Scott Elliott, the assistant strength and conditioning coach. It’s clear that this move should have happened years ago, but better late than never.
Perhaps Saunders was the entire problem, and removing him from the equation will help restore the Ravens reputation. However, it’s hard for this writer to believe that one man could singlehandedly do this much harm. Whether it was turning a blind eye or actively enabling his atrocious practices, head coach John Harbaugh and the Ravens front office deserve a share of the blame for allowing this type of player treatment to continue over the past five years.
Hopefully, this report card was a wake-up call for the Ravens organization. However, only time will tell if the situation in Baltimore actually improves, or if Saunders was merely a symptom of a much bigger disease.
Main Photo: Brian Fluharty – USA Today Sports
