Ravens Stars Share Florida Connection

Several of the Baltimore Ravens' top players return to their home state for their next game.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) hands off to running back Derrick Henry (22) in the second quarter of the NFL Week 5 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. The Bengals led 17-14 at halftime. / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

As the Baltimore Ravens prepare to travel down south and face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football, several of their top players can't help but feel giddy about returning to their home state.

A surprising amount of Ravens stars hail from the sunshine state, including quarterback Lamar Jackson, running back Derrick Henry, wide receivers Zay Flowers and safety Eddie Jackson, among others. Ahead of their trip down to Tampa Monday, the Florida natives couldn't help but share the bond that comes from growing up in the state.

"That's what we breed down there, just football. There's a lot of football players [in Florida]," Lamar Jackson told reporters Thursday. "Don't get me wrong, we have some basketball players here and there [and] probably some doctors and lawyers.

"We breed football players. It's something we do down there. It's like a big family gathering on Saturdays – youth football. It's always been that way from what I've known. There's just something about us loving football down there."

It's not just the fact that they all come fromt the same state that bonds them, but also the fact that they've known each other for so long.

For instance, Flowers knew Eddie Jackson as a football star in the South Florida area, despite being six years younger. In fact, seeing the safety star at Alabama and later in the NFL helped Flowers believe he can also make it to the professional level.

"It's how we're raised, it's football from the time we were born," Flowers said, per the Ravens' website. "You're going to meet everybody from down there before you even get out of South Florida. By the time you get to the league, you probably already knew the guy, or know somebody who knows the guy, or you've seen them before.

"We all know how hard it is to get here. It's motivation to the younger kids who are still down there. It's a rotation that never stops."

The last time the Ravens went down to Florida came in 2022, when they faced the Bucs and the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road just a month apart. At that time, the only one of the aforementioned players on the team was Lamar Jackson. Now, they have several more Floridians on the roster, and best believe they want to put on a show in their home state.

"[As] Florida boys, I think we just all mesh together well," Henry told reporters. "I don't know. It's just ... You can't really explain it. But I feel like, the Ravens – they like Florida boys, so it's been a thing around here. But yes, I think it just comes [naturally] – that we're all from Florida [and] that we've been around the same things. I'm [from] up north, [and] they're [from] down south, so it's a little different. But I think it's just natural to ... We're just Florida boys; it comes [naturally]."

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