One Baltimore Ravens rookie who could win a starting job out of camp
With teams on their month-long break from mid-June to mid-July in between minicamp and training camp, we’ve reached the deadest point of the NFL offseason.
But fortunately for football fans, there’s just three weeks left before training camp kicks off, followed by the preseason and regular season, which starts the week of Sept. 7.
Until then, we’ve done training camp previews and analyzed the top position battle to watch for all 32 teams. Next up in our offseason series is looking at one rookie from every team who could win a starting job in training camp this season, and today we’re looking at the Baltimore Ravens.
Baltimore’s 2026 Draft Class
- Olaivavega Ioane, OG, Round 1
- Zion Young, DE, Round 2
- Ja’Kobi Lane, WR, Round 3
- Elijah Sarratt, WR, Round 4
- Matthew Hibner, TE, Round 4
- Chandler Rivers, CB, Round 5
- Josh Cuevas, TE, Round 5
- Adam Randall, RB, Round 5
- Ryan Eckley, P, Round 6
- Rayshaun Benny, DT, Round 7
- Evan Beerntsen, Round 7
It’s all but presumed that Olaivavega Ioane will start for Baltimore at one of its guard spots. The team could plug him into the right side to replace Daniel Faalele, who’s now with the New York Giants, or it could start him at left guard and move Andrew Voorhees to the right side.
But outside of Ioane, Elijah Sarratt seems like the rookie best positioned to take hold of a starting job this offseason.
Zay Flowers (86 catches, 1,211 yards, and five touchdowns) is the Ravens’ unquestioned WR1, but the team doesn’t have much in terms of talent behind him. DeAndre Hopkins is a free agent, and Rashod Bateman had just 19 catches and 24 yards last year.
Enter Sarratt.
The 23-year-old was one of the more consistent WRs in college football over the last three years. He had a breakout 82-catch, 1,192-yard, eight-touchdown season at James Madison in 2023, and he followed it up with back-to-back seasons of 830 or more yards at Indiana.
Sarratt caught 15 touchdowns last year, making him a clear red-zone weapon for quarterback Lamar Jackson. Though Ja’Kobi Lane was drafted a round ahead of him, all report out of Ravens camp this offseason is that Sarratt has looked more impressive.
If that trend continues, look for Sarratt to quickly establish himself as Baltimore’s WR2.
