AFC Notes: Lamar Jackson, Ravens, Steelers

Lamar Jackson

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson was tremendous in his first year in OC Todd Monken’s system, but the season ended with an underwhelming performance in the AFC Championship game. Baltimore QB coach Tee Martin outlined what they are focusing on this offseason to elevate Jackson’s game even further.

“Just improvement in all areas,” Martin said, via the team’s website. “Last year was really a great year in a sense of doing things from a technical standpoint, a new system, new obligations, new responsibilities, progressions, schemes, things of that nature and just building upon what we started last season; and this offseason has been a lot about that.”

“We started with a self-scout of him, and the things from a passing standpoint that we wanted to improve on, technique-wise, reads, things of that nature, from a run game standpoint and then build from that to, how can we push that even further and give him more responsibilities within the offense and doing more things that he likes to do and listening to him and things that he likes and building around that. We’re off to a good start, and [I’m] looking forward to training camp to really get to the identity that we want to have before the first game.”

Ravens

Baltimore has undergone a massive change on the offensive line, as they lost three starters from 2023 this offseason. Ravens OL coach Joe D’Alessandris touched on how they are mitigating the loss and who has stepped up with the increased opportunity. 

“You know what, I’ve seen good competition,” D’Alessandris said, via the team’s website. “I’ve seen each guy working, and I move them around quite a bit – for their benefit and also for our benefit – because the more they can do, guess what, [they] get to stay in this league longer, because you can play multiple positions, and they’ve all accepted that role and that opportunity. Andrew [Vorhees] is doing a great job.”

“‘Sala’ [Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu] is doing a good job. Josh Jones is doing a good job. Ben [Cleveland] is doing a good job inside there, so you just keep seeing all these young men doing it, and the good news is, this is the time of year where you’re learning assignment, communication [and] playing fast. The contact is not there. That’s going to come. Training camp is what that’s built for along with games. Then, we’ll see how it plays out from there.”

Steelers

Steelers OLB coach Denzel Martin has been impressed with rookie German OLB Julius Welschof’s work ethic.

“It’s fun because Julius — you should see him, he’s up in my office early mornings trying to get everything he can out of this experience,” he said via Brian Batko. “He takes it so serious, and it’s so fun to coach a guy like that. If you’re watching him out here, he’s getting better. He’s taking the things we’re asking him to do in individual [drills], he’s putting it on tape every day, and that’s all you can ask for.”