kendrick lewis

The Baltimore Sun is breaking down where the Ravens stand at each position, including predictions on how many players the team will keep at each spot and which players are locks, long shots or ¿on the bubble.¿ Today, we highlight cornerbacks and safeties.

The Ravens placed tight end Dennis Pitta and free safety Terrence Brooks on the physically unable to perform list, an unsurprising development considering the severity and timing of their respective injuries.

Mike Preston commentary. Upon further review, the Ravens might end up being the best team in the AFC.

There seems to be a consensus among football pundits leaguewide: The Ravens, who annually lose veteran talent and replace it with young and unproven players, will again enter the season as one of the better teams in the AFC, and in good position to make the playoffs for the seventh time in head coach John Harbaugh's eight seasons.

With just a couple of weeks remaining until training camp begins, let's review the top 10 news stories associated with the team this offseason.

The Ravens upgraded a secondary that ranked 23rd in the NFL last season by signing a few free agents. But the most important change might be the health of Lardarius Webb and Jimmy Smith.

The Ravens managed to lower veteran punter Sam Koch's salary-cap figure by $700,000 when they signed him to a five-year, $16.25 million contract extension, according to NFL Players Association records and league sources.

Getting Sam Koch and Jimmy Smith signed were big first moves, but the Ravens will have plenty more to do next offseason.

The Ravens were 10-6 last season and were just seconds away from the AFC title game, but there are plenty of areas where they can get better.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh will preach about the importance of players earning their spot, but there are few starting jobs up for grabs for AFC North team.

The Ravens had just 11 interceptions last year, an unacceptable number for a defense that prides itself on taking the ball away.

Although Kendrick Lewis occasionally has to dial back on his aggressiveness and not bite on play-action fakes, so far, he's been as advertised as the Ravens try to upgrade a secondary that was vulnerable last season.

After watching the first of a three-day Ravens minicamp at The Castle on Tuesday afternoon, there were a few things that raised some eyebrows.

The 2015 Ravens will be together as a full team for the first time this week with workouts scheduled from Tuesday through Thursday at the Under Armour Performance Center. Players will practice for the final time before the start of training camp in July.

It was a practiced motion, unremarkable except that Brooks tore the anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his right knee in December against the Jacksonville Jaguars while covering a kickoff.

Defensive coordinator Dean Pees said safety Matt Elam is having the "best camp he's had" after the third round of OTAs.

The Ravens are $7.331 million under the NFL salary-cap limit of $143.28 million.

Since signing a three-year, $5.4 million contract this offseason, Lewis has made a smooth transition to his new football team.

The Ravens had generally high attendance at their organized team activity with the exception of the entire starting offensive line being absent from the voluntary practice Thursday.

Nick Perry, a safety, and Trey DePriest, an inside linebacker, are products of the University of Alabama, the alma mater of Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome and a frequent source of Ravens defensive talent. They play positions where undrafted players frequently stick on the Ravens roster.

The Ravens are $7.384 million under the NFL salary-cap limit of $143.28 million.

What Hill really wants, though, in his second season with the Ravens after signing his $1.542 million restricted tender, is an increased chance to inflict some punishment on opponents.

Kyle Arrington's addition provides depth and experience to the Ravens secondary and it also could mean a more simplified role for much-maligned safety Matt Elam.

The Ravens were among eight NFL teams that put in waiver claims on former Houston Texans safety D.J. Swearinger, according to a league source.

The NFL had the Ravens and teams with a similar free-agent philosophy in mind when the league shifted a key date this year. Instead of having the compensatory draft pick formula count against teams when they signed unrestricted free agents prior to June 1, the league moved the date up to Tuesday.

All eyes were on the Ravens' wide receivers at the rookie minicamp over the weekend.

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome hasn't sugarcoated his take on the 2013 first-round safety and former University of Florida consensus All-American Matt Elam following two disappointing NFL seasons.

Until April 30, the first round of the 2015 NFL draft, The Baltimore Sun will examine the Ravens¿ depth at each position, the potential of them adding to that spot early in the draft and some of the players who they could target.

As they prepare for this year's draft, which gets underway with Thursday's first round, the Ravens seemingly have more needs on offense than defense. They want another running back and a tight end and they are thin on outside targets for quarterback Joe Flacco. If there was a draft where the Ravens would target offense, this would seemingly be it.

That included Ravens Pro Bowl inside linebacker C.J. Mosley and former Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith, defensive tackle Tony Siragusa and defensive end Michael McCrary.

Following their four-year, $48 million contract extension for cornerback Jimmy Smith, the Ravens are $10.673 million under the NFL salary-cap limit of $143.28 million.

The Ravens are $7.685 million under the NFL salary-cap limit of $143.28 million. That includes a $2 million salary-cap figure for new backup quarterback Matt Schaub.

When veteran cornerback Lardarius Webb recently restructured his contract, he did so with the intention of finishing his career with the Ravens.

Despite the losses of Haloti Ngata and Pernell McPhee and the ongoing questions about the secondary, Ravens coach John Harbaugh didn't sound all too worried about the state of his team's defense.

The Ravens are $7.875 million under the NFL salary-cap limit of $143.28 million, a solid financial situation at this stage of the offseason.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh met with reporters for about an hour on the second day of the NFL owners meetings at the Arizona Biltmore hotel. Here are a couple of tidbits.

Now that the details of safety Darian Stewart's two-year contract with the Denver Broncos are known, it's clear the Ravens are currently set to get a compensatory pick for losing him.

Free agency has quieted down significantly, but the Ravens aren't going to rely entirely on the draft to fill their needs.

The frenzied start of the free agency and trade season has slowed in recent days, but the annual league meetings will get things going again.

The Ravens' three-year contract for new free safety Kendrick Lewis was relatively inexpensive with a total value of $5.4 million

Kendrick Lewis, 26, started all 16 games at free safety for the Houston Texans last season and led them with 84 tackles to go along with two interceptions. The season before, he started 15 of 16 games with the Kansas City Chiefs, making 61 tackles and one interception.

Following another disappointing season for 2013 first-round safety Matt Elam, Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome didn't sugarcoat his stance about what he expects from the former University of Florida consensus All-American.

The fact that the Ravens have sustained so many free-agent losses shouldn't be a big surprise, but their failure to add a wide receiver or a cornerback to this point is highly unexpected.

The Baltimore Ravens are handling this offseason just as they have every other one, so don't panic.

The Ravens have signed former Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs safety Kendrick Lewis to a three-year contract, according to a league source.

Jeff Zrebiec looks at who's better at what in Sunday's showdown between the Ravens and Houston Texans.

Ravens wide receiver LaQuan Williams is active for the first time this season for today's game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

Chiefs' cornerbacks Stanford Routt and Brandon Flowers have aggressive style