Baltimore Ravens training camp: Five major questions

2. Who are the pass game alpha dogs?

Dennis Pitta? Gone.

Steve Smith? Gone.

Kamar Aiken? Gone.

Kenneth Dixon? Out.

These four players represented 313 targets in the Ravens’ passing game last season, all of which need to be replaced.

From an outside perspective, I found it surprising that Dennis Pitta led the team in targets at 121. Joe Flacco attempted 672 passes last year, which seems excessive considering the amount of points this offense produced, so they need to be more efficient in the passing game.

Who will eat up targets?

Mike Wallace and Breshad Perriman are big play threats, and we know that Flacco likes to heave the ball downfield. He will need someone to replace the consistency in the short-intermediate passing game, and that’s where Jeremy Maclin comes in.

While Smith was excellent even in his later years in the league, Maclin has the type of speed and quickness to work underneath and help ease the loss of the future Hall of Famer.

Someone’s going to have to step up at tight end with Pitta gone, too. The Ravens have a couple of guys they once invested high draft picks in, but it remains to be seen if any can be ‘the guy’.

Maxx Williams is back on the field and hopefully ready to take on that increased role.