Ravens No. 3 QB Skylar Thompson Going On IR Is A Bigger Problem Than You Think

The Ravens placed veteran third-string quarterback Skylar Thompson on Injured Reserve Wednesday, likely ending his season and delivering a significant blow to their summer plans. Thompson has an NFL resume, he has performed gamely in a postseason start and offered the team a high level of competency to execute their offense in the preseason.

They signed journeyman Austin Reed to take his roster spot, and they had better get on the phone immediately to try to upgrade that position on the depth chart. If nothing else, the Ravens will be very active scooping up a veteran QB when final roster cuts are made. Two-time MVP Lamar Jackson is not expected to play at all in the preseason and we’ll see how much they want to put No. 2 Snoop Huntley behind a second-string offensive line that has looked compromised in camp.

The Ravens are short on proven playmakers on offense by any standard, their tight end room looks particularly suspect, with Mark Andrews nearing the end no matter what the Ravens opt to pay him. Zay Flowers, nursing a minor injury, is the only consistent playmaker in his prime in the entire passing game. They are counting on four rookies offering them something this season – receivers Ja’Kobi Lane and Elijan Sarratt and tight ends Matthew Hibner and Josh Cuevas – and the preseason games are vital to establishing baselines on their ability.

You risk putting those young players, who don’t really understand the game yet, in harms way if forced to rely on highly inaccurate and skittish quarterbacks with virtually no pro experience themselves playing significant stretches of these preseason games. The Ravens spent considerable time evaluating quarterbacks in the last two drafts only to use those picks on other positions – we implored them to draft Georgia Tech UDFA Haynes King in the late round, who starred in the Hall of Fame Game FWIW) – and the lack of a true No 3 or developmental prospect with real potential is a double whammy of sorts.

Thompson is highly functional and could put youngsters in positions to succeed and showcase what they can do in the exhibition games. He also, in my opinion, was in a similar tier to Huntley in terms of ability (I espoused a true competition between them), and provided real depth at the most important position in pro sports. The team did not disclose the nature of Thompson’s injury and earlier this week head coach Jesse Minter expressed hope he could come back and play in Saturday's preseason opener.

The Ravens enter practice Wednesday with undrafted rookie free agent Joe Fagnano (UCONN) as their third quarterback – sorry, that’s a problem folks – and they will try to get Reed up to speed ASAP when he arrives. Reed recently completed a season in the UFL and played at tiny Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky in college and is not close to in the same caliber of standing as Thompson.

Reed spent the 2024 preseason in Chicago – prior to Ravens coordinator Declan Doyle’s arrival there – so there aren’t really any obvious ties in that regard. Longtime back up QB/hybrid Wildcat Joker Taysom Hill remains an unsigned free agent; he is at the end of his career but worked with Doyle on Sean Payton’s staff in New Orleans.

Payton probably isn’t in a hurry to part with No 3 QB Sam Ehlinger, who also has regular season starting experience, with starter Bo Nix coming off season-ending surgery. But Payton also might not carry three QBs and Ehlinger understands Doyle’s verbiage and concepts from his time in Denver.

The Bears signed Case Keenum to add depth to their QB room and, according to league sources, rebuffed overtures about young back-up Tyson Bagent in the past – who has legit NFL starting experience and impressed the Bears coaching staff last season as i hear it. Especially if anything happens to Huntley, even minor, in these preseason games, the Ravens might need to start probing Chicago for help.

Landing a QB who has been in this coaching family tree should have been an offseason priority, given how new all of this is, and had better be on their minds now with the season fast approaching.

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