When the Baltimore Ravens played the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night last, they didn’t simply lose the game. They also lost, at least for a short period of time, their most important player on the defensive side of the ball: perennial Pro Bowl inside linebacker C.J. Mosley.
The 2014 first-round draft pick, taken soon after the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Ryan Shazier, became the heart and soul of the Ravens’ defense in the post-Ray Lewis era. He has mad the Pro Bowl in three of his four seasons to date, and was also second-team All-Pro in each of those three seasons.