The end of the Ravens’ season wasn’t even 72 hours old Wednesday morning as general manager Eric DeCosta and coach John Harbaugh emerged inside the team’s auditorium for another end-of-year news conference that came too soon.

The sting of a painfully familiar mistake-filled defeat in the postseason — this time to the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round after reaching the AFC championship game last season — still resonates. Yet, the first steps to try to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2012 season are already underway, and there is reason to believe Baltimore will be back on the precipice in 2025.

Mostly because many of the same core elements of a team that went 12-5, won the AFC North, boasted the NFL’s top offense and put together league’s best defense over the final two months of the regular season will largely still be in place.

That, of course, starts with the coach himself.

With Harbaugh entering the final year of his contract, he is in line for an extension. It’s highly unlikely that owner Steve Bisciotti would make a change, and he has shown in the past that he does not like to have a lame duck situation.

While Harbaugh didn’t get into specifics, something figures to be worked out soon.

“I’m happy, man,” Harbaugh said when asked about his contract. “However that goes, I trust God. I trust the people I work with every day who I love, who are my friends, but more importantly, we’re on a mission together, and as long as that goes, as long as God permits that to go, I’m all about it. I’m fired up for it, and I’m not worried about those kinds of things. They take care of themselves.”There is much else for Baltimore to take care of in the offseason as well, though, after what was a “successful season,” as DeCosta called it, but also a disappointing one.

“We’re all disappointed,” DeCosta said. “We had higher aspirations and we didn’t achieve those aspirations and goals, but I think it was a successful season. I’m very proud of the team, the players, the coaches, support staff, everybody, and I’ve already moved on.”

That’s perhaps easier said than done for some, from fans to tight end Mark Andrews, who hasn’t spoken since a costly fourth-quarter fumble and dropped 2-point conversion attempt inside the final two minutes against the Bills that proved to be the difference in the 27-25 defeat.

Plenty have come to the defense of the veteran, former All-Pro and franchise leader in career touchdowns, though.

Teammates stuck up for Andrews in the hours and days after the game, with several players noting that a lifetime of achievement won’t be undone with one play. A Bills fan group even started a fundraiser for a diabetes charity Andrews supports in the wake of all the vitriol that has been directed his way.

On Wednesday, Harbaugh and DeCosta both said they’ve spoken to Andrews and likewise were effusive.

“One of my messages to him was we are not where we’re at throughout the course of the season or in the game without the contributions of Mark, specifically in the game and the plays that he made, spectacular plays all season and then the unsung aspect of all the blocking he did in line and on the perimeter,” Harbaugh said. “Mark Andrews is a great football player and he’s also a very tough-minded individual. He takes it hard.

“I love Mark Andrews, Eric loves Mark, all of our players love Mark. Mark is a huge part of our future.”

That future, however, has some uncertainty to it, however, with Andrews entering the final year of his contract, which currently is slated to carry the team’s fourth-highest salary cap hit at $16.9 million.

Fellow tight ends Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar are also entering the final year of their rookie deals. How Baltimore manages keeping the group remains to be seen.

“We’ll have some decisions to make moving forward,” said DeCosta, who added that he preferred to keep his conversation with Andrews between the two. “Not as many tough decisions this year looking at it, which I’m thankful for, but obviously as we look out we’ll have some tough decisions after next season, so a year from now we’ll have some tough choices and decisions to make regarding players.

“We’re blessed to have, in my opinion, the best tight ends room in the league and we’ll be blessed this year on the field as well.”

The tight ends are just one group of players he has to worry about.

The Ravens have 17 unrestricted free agents. Most notable among that group are left tackle Ronnie Stanley, left guard Patrick Mekari, All-Pro fullback Patrick Ricard and cornerback Brandon Stephens.

While Stanley had a resurgent season, he will turn 31 in March, has a lengthy injury history and will likely command a salary in the ballpark of $15 million a year.

“We made a tough call last year to go younger and have some younger guys play, and we knew we’d have a few growing pains,” DeCosta said. “We’ll look at potentially bringing back our guys. We’ll look at the draft, we’ll look at free agency, we’ll overturn every rock to find as many good offensive linemen as we can, and I think we have some good young players on the team.”

What Baltimore does will be worth watching.

If the Ravens didn’t bring back Stanley, they could move right tackle Roger Rosengarten to the left side, re-sign Mekari (who would cost significantly less than Stanley) and move him to right tackle and start Andrew Vorhees at left guard. They could also draft a right tackle or find one in free agency.

One player they don’t have to worry about losing on offense, of course, is running back Derrick Henry.

His contract runs through next season, and in his age-30 season he still proved he has plenty left in the tank with his 1,921 rushing yards ranking second in the NFL and his 16 rushing touchdowns tying for the most in the league. Offering Henry an extension is something Baltimore will look at, DeCosta said.

Either way, the Ravens won’t have the same exodus they had after last season, when they lost players and several notable coaches, including defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, and front office staff to promotions elsewhere.

Their biggest concern on that front would be losing offensive coordinator Todd Monken. But with only the Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars the only teams with head coach openings, it’s far from a guarantee that he will get plucked.

Under Monken, quarterback Lamar Jackson and the offense have thrived. Jackson was the NFL Most Valuable Player last season in Monken’s first year on the job and is in line to receive the award again this year after becoming the first player to pass for at least 4,000 yards and run for at least 900 in the same season while also throwing 41 touchdown passes to just four interceptions.

Harbaugh, naturally, would be more than happy to have Monken back.

“I think it’s awesome and great that these coaches have gotten an opportunity over the last few years, you know, I’m kind of proud of that,” Harbaugh said. “Of course I’d love to keep them, you know, and if, if I tell him I say, you know I’m I’m rooting for you, you know I’ll and I’ll definitely tell people how great you are because you deserve it but if it doesn’t work out for you, I’m really happy that you’re staying with us and I think our players talk to a lot of our players and I know feel the same way.”

One slight change, however, is that Dean Pees, who was hired as a senior adviser five games into the season to help right a struggling defense under first-year coordinator Zach Orr and then took on a full-time role the second half of the season, will take a step back in his level of involvement.

“He’s interested in in continuing in some sort of a role,” Harbaugh said of the 75-year-old. “He’s at that stage of his life where it’s probably not gonna be that full-time thing.”

While Pees’ hiring worked out well for a Ravens defense that was the best in the NFL the last two months of the season, not all of their moves did.

Specifically, the additions of wide receiver Diontae Johnson and safety Eddie Jackson were disastrous. Both had a brief and turbulent stay.

“We understood the risks and the rewards,” DeCosta said of Johnson. “We knew that it wasn’t 100% going to be a slam dunk. It didn’t work out. We always try to mitigate our risks. One of the jobs of a general manager is to mitigate your risk and look at the downside and the upside and see how it works out. In that particular situation, I really didn’t see a lot of downside. I think we understood what the downside might be — that he would be unhappy with his role, potentially.”

The same was true of former Chicago Bears star Jackson, whom the Ravens cut bait with in late November for similar reasons.

“Eddie, he’s a veteran player, and sometimes when you add veteran players, as a GM you’ve got to look at the player and figure out, ‘Is this player going to be happy in his role?’” DeCosta acknowledged. “Eddie was a two-time Pro Bowl safety earlier in his career, and it really comes down to probably I failed. This was a guy who didn’t really want to accept his role as a backup safety and a special teamer, and I understand that.”

And now DeCosta will turn his attention elsewhere.

In many ways, he already has. He said that he has started watching tape of draft-eligible players. He is “immersed” in college and pro scouting. He’s dealing with contracts and negotiations.

“I think that’s one of the blessings of my job,” DeCosta said. “It’s very seasonal. I’m in now one of my most favorite seasons, which is the offseason. It’s a misnomer, because it’s my busiest time of the year, but I love being a part of the solution, and that’s what we’ll be.”

Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1.