{"id":54747,"date":"2025-06-10T00:20:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T00:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=54747"},"modified":"2025-06-10T00:20:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T00:20:05","slug":"ravens-running-back-poised-to-breakout-as-under-the-radar-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=54747","title":{"rendered":"Ravens\u2019 Running Back Poised to Breakout as \u2018Under-the-Radar Star\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-1776835469-e1749490804865.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-1776835469-e1749490804865.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-1776835469-e1749490804865.jpg?quality=45&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-1776835469-e1749490804865.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Third-year back Keaton Mitchell is an &quot;under-the-radar star&quot; with the potential to &quot;blossom into a key contributor&quot; for the Ravens in 2025.\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" data-img-load-time=\"1762\" data-dom-ready-time=\"1902\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Keaton Mitchell #34 of the Baltimore Ravens celebrates after a touchdown during the second half in the game against the Seattle Seahawks at M&amp;T Bank Stadium on November 05, 2023 in Baltimore, Maryland.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Even before the\u00a0Ravens\u00a0signed\u00a0Derrick Henry\u00a0away from the\u00a0Titans, they boasted the league\u2019s best rushing attack. Obviously, it helps quite a bit to have the greatest running quarterback of all time.\u00a0Lamar Jackson\u00a0led the team with 821 rushing yards.\u00a0Gus Edwards,\u00a0Justice Hill\u00a0and\u00a0Keaton Mitchell\u00a0all contributed heavily in 2023. But Baltimore struggled with injuries to their backfield, especially Mitchell. Heading into the 2025 season, the third-year back is ready to serve as an \u201cunder-the-radar star\u201d who has the potential to \u201cblossom into a key contributor\u201d for the Ravens, according to Tyler Sullivan of\u00a0CBS Sports.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Under-the-Radar Star\u2019 Ready to Embrace \u2018Change-of-Pace\u2019\u00a0 Role<\/h2>\n<p>Mitchell exploded onto the scene during the Ravens\u2019 Week 9 blowout of the\u00a0Seahawks\u00a0in 2023. The undrafted rookie ran for 138 yards and a touchdown on just 9 carries. That sparked an excellent start to the second half of the season. Despite just 2 starts, Mitchell ran the ball 47 times for 396 yards and 2 touchdowns from Week 9-Week 15. He added 8 catches for 84 yards, as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor a six-week stretch during the 2023 season, Mitchell was a lightning rod,\u201d writes Sullivan. \u201cThe back averaged 8.4 yards per rush and 10.5 yards per reception.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, he tore his ACL during the 4th quarter of their Week 15 win. The injury ended up costing him the first 9 games of his 2024 season. Now that he\u2019s back healthy, Mitchell is confident that he\u2019ll be even better for Baltimore this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like I\u2019m back better than when I first got here,\u201d he said, according to\u00a0Baltimore Ravens\u00a0Editorial Director Ryan Mink.<\/p>\n<p>Derrick Henry will continue to handle the bulk of the carries for Baltimore, especially given his new contract this spring. But \u201cMitchell could prove to be a change-of-pace option with home run ability for what is already one of the best rushing attacks in the NFL,\u201d writes\u00a0Sullivan.<\/p>\n<h2>Mitchell Has Proven He Doesn\u2019t Need Many Touches to Make an Impact<\/h2>\n<p>While the focus will be on Henry, who could run the ball 300+ times yet again this season, the Ravens have backs who can spell him when needed. Justice Hill is coming off a career year in 2024, racked up over 600 yards from scrimmage and 4 touchdowns. So, with two backs ahead of him on the depth chart, Mitchell will need to take advantage of the opportunities that he has this year.<\/p>\n<p>One of the ways Mitchell can still make an impact with limited playing time will be on special teams. The second-year back appeared in only 5 games last season, but he made the case to carve out a larger role on special teams. He returned only a total of 5 kicks, but averaged over 31 yards per return. If the Ravens are looking for a change-of-pace back and capable returner, Mitchell\u00a0has the chance to establish himself as an \u201cunder-the-radar star.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"AdThrive_Content_3_desktop\" class=\"adthrive-ad adthrive-content adthrive-content-3 adthrive-ad-cls\" data-google-query-id=\"\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/18190176,25816858\/AdThrive_Content_3\/5ad7479721520f50ab7da88e_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"google-ad-manager-fallback-container\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to Ravens Editorial Director Ryan Mink, Mitchell has \u201clooked reminiscent of the player of a couple seasons ago\u201d during OTAs.<\/p>\n<div class=\"d3-l-col__col-8\">\n<div class=\"nfl-c-article__container \">\n<div class=\"nfl-c-body-part nfl-c-body-part--text\">\n<p>\u201cMitchell ran a double move rail route down the sideline during last week\u2019s OTA practice, dusting the defender and making a catch over his shoulder for a long gain,\u201d writes Mink. \u201cHe also turned the corner a couple of times on outside runs for what could\u2019ve been long gallops.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mitchell has also caught the attention of head coach John Harbaugh this offseason.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"nfl-c-body-part nfl-c-body-part--text\">\n<p>\u201cIt looked like he had the speed and then just the ability to adjust and track,\u201d said Harbaugh, according to\u00a0Mink. \u201cLast year, probably, you could tell he was thinking through the knee [injury] a little bit it seemed like. I haven\u2019t seen any of that so far this spring, so it\u2019s good to see.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"d3-l-col__col-8\">\n<div class=\"nfl-c-article__container \">\n<div class=\"nfl-c-body-part nfl-c-body-part--text\">\n<p>\u201cThe emotions are crazy,\u201d said Mitchell, according to Mink. \u201cThey\u2019re everywhere. I finally get a full offseason and I feel great,\u201d he said. \u201cJust very humble right now knowing that this game could be taken away from you. You don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"nfl-c-body-part nfl-c-body-part--text\">\n<p>\u201cI tell guys a lot that talk to me that I\u2019m starting all over,\u201d Mitchell said, according to Mink. \u201cThey don\u2019t even know what I can do. I\u2019m just starting all over again, proving what I can do and taking it day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Keaton Mitchell #34 of the Baltimore Ravens celebrates after a touchdown during the second half in the game against the Seattle Seahawks at M&amp;T Bank Stadium&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ravens\u2019 Running Back Poised to Breakout as \u2018Under-the-Radar Star\u2019 - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=54747\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ravens\u2019 Running Back Poised to Breakout as \u2018Under-the-Radar Star\u2019 - 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