The Baltimore Ravens kicked off their mandatory minicamp on Tuesday as the 2021 regular season continues to quickly approach. The team had most of their players back in uniform and practicing, gaining valuable reps which will help them once games begin to count.
During the first day of minicamp, plenty of observations were made by media members who attended the practice. Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic noted that the secondary had a strong day, albeit at the expense of the quarterbacks.
Story of today's practices for Ravens was interceptions. Marcus Peters, Anthony Averett, Chris Westry and Brandon Stephens all picked balls off. Uneven day for Lamar Jackson and the rest of the quarterbacks.
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) June 15, 2021
Ryan Mink of Baltimoreravens.com also weighed in on the secondary in his 10 Observations From Day 1 at Minicamp article, coming away impressed with the unit.
“The Ravens’ secondary won the day with multiple interceptions and several near-picks. Anthony Averett and Peters picked off Lamar Jackson during 11-on-11 work. To be fair, one came when Rashod Bateman slipped and Jackson felt there was interference on the second. Averett nearly got a second one later in practice. Rookie defensive back Brandon Stephens intercepted Trace McSorley on a sailed pass over the middle and cornerback Chris Westry came down with a deep shot by Tyler Huntley.”
Baltimore’s secondary has been one of the main strengths of the team for years. With players such as Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters, Jimmy Smith and others, it’s practically a given that the unit will perform at a high level. However, the off day by the quarterbacks doesn’t mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. For a lot of players, they’re just knocking the rust off, and that includes the quarterbacks too. As minicamp goes on and training camp and the preseason begin, players will begin to get into the swing of things and perform better during practice.