Ravens Among NFL's Best Analytical Teams

The Baltimore Ravens are one of the NFL's most analytically advanced teams.

Sep 15, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) runs the ball during the second half against the Las Vegas Raiders at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images / Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

In the modern NFL, every team wants to have the analytical edge that sets them apart from the competition. In that regard, the Baltimore Ravens are well ahead of the curve.

ESPN recently ran a survey of analytics staffers from 22 NFL teams (all 32 teams received the survey but only 22 responded). According to that survey, the Ravens were the second-most analytically advanced team and the second-best team at producing high-level analytics work, as well as third among teams that most incorporate analytics into their decision making. The Cleveland Browns placed No. 1 in all three categories.

"Baltimore has the big staff and they're doing good work from what you can tell," said an anonymous analytics director who voted for the Ravens as most analytically advanced. "I know their facility is extremely technically rigged. I know that they're tracking everything."

The Ravens previously held the title as the league's most analytically advanced team in ESPN's annual survey, but lost it to the Browns in 2021 and haven't reclaimed it since.

General manager Eric DeCosta has long been a proponent of analytics. So much so that when he was tasked with building up the analytics department in 2011, when he was an assistant general manager, he consulted with several teams leading the way in the field across different sports. He took special inspiration from MLB's Houston Astros, who were then planting the seeds of their later dominance.

“They were the gold standard in sports,” DeCosta told The Athletic. “For us to build a relationship with them in terms of analytics was a big deal for us.”

Analytics have helped the Ravens become one of the league's most-successful teams in recent years, though now that they're in an 0-2 hole, they'll have to trust that what they've built is good enough to overcome a slow start.

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