Ravens Who Earned, Lost Roster Spots in Preseason Finale

The Baltimore Ravens' final preseason game may have made their roster decisions a bit easier.

Jon Alfano | Aug 25, 2024

Aug 24, 2024; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Baltimore Ravens safety Sanoussi Kane (28) following the game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports / Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

In this story:

Baltimore Ravens

The preseason is officially in the rear-view mirror for the Baltimore Ravens, and based on how they closed it out, they're probably glad to be moving on.

Baltimore simply ended the preseason with a thud, falling to the Green Bay Packers 30-7 at Lambeau Field. The 23-point loss is the largest margin of defeat in the John Harbaugh era, a far cry from the Ravens' preseason dominance over much of the past decade.

Enough about the final score, though, that'll become much more important once the regular season gets underway in a couple of weeks. For now, the focus is on trimming down the roster to 53 players ahead of Tuesday's looming deadline, and Saturday's game certainly gave the Ravens a lot to think about.

With that said, here are a few players who stood out, both good and bad, against Green Bay.

Winners

S Sanoussi Kane and S Beau Brade

Yep, it's a two-for-one special to start out. The two rookies - Kane a seventh-round pick out of Purdue and Brade an undrafted free agent out of Maryland - have been competing for what is likely the last safety spot on the 53-man roster. That decision will be extremely tough, as both of them had strong showings on Saturday.

Brade led the Ravens with eight tackles for the second game in a row, also notching a tackle for loss and some big hits. Meanwhile, Kane added six tackles of his own and threw some big hits as well. After the game, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh gave both players a shoutout, a good sign that at least one of them will make the cut.

"I think [Brade and Kane have] shown flashes of physicality, both on defense and special teams," Harbaugh said. "They've shown up here and there, pretty well today, even. [It's a] big-picture evaluation. Again, you have to see all of the plays to have a feel for that, but they did flash a few times."

LB Joe Evans

Another undrafted free agent, Evans had an impressive game with five total tackles and two quarterback hits, both in the first quarter. The Iowa product, who had 16 sacks over his final two college seasons is still a long shot to make the cut, but his play could earn him a role somewhere. It also helps that he's been impressing his teammates, with veteran Kyle Van Noy recently calling him "Mr. Iowa."

Losers

QB Devin Leary

If there was anything to take away from this game, it was how badly Leary struggled. The sixth-round rookie out of Kentucky completed just six of 13 passes for 34 yards and two interceptions. He also took a huge sack (which was mostly on the offensive line, to be fair), and fumbled over 20 yards backwards for an easy Green Bay defensive touchdown. Add it all up, and Leary finished the day with an atrocious passer rating of 13.5.

Leary was already on the bubble, as the Ravens typically like to carry just two quarterbacks and he wasn't beating out Josh Johnson. After this performance, though, there's reason to wonder if he will stay on the practice squad over fellow rookie Emory Jones, who showed much mroe last week than Leary has in any of the three preseason games.

CB Damarion "Pepe" Williams

Williams may just want to go ahead and throw out his film from this game. The 26-year-old corner was beaten on quite a few plays Saturday, most notably on an 18-yard touchdown by Packers receiver Bo Melton in which he barely made a play on the ball. He also struggled to seal the edge on a few key running plays.

There's no such thing as too much cornerback depth, and the Ravens know that better than anyone. However, there's only so many roster spots to go around, and Williams' lackluster showing on Saturday may have placed him on the wrong side of the bubble.

Make sure you bookmark Baltimore Ravens on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!

Published Aug 25, 2024

JON ALFANO