The shoe has finally dropped from the Baltimore Ravens waiving rookie safety Geno Stone. It turns out Baltimore simply moved their defensive backs around from the 53-man roster and practice squad.
According to the NFL’s transaction report, the Ravens signed cornerback Khalil Dorsey from their practice squad to the 53-man roster. Stone cleared waivers and was signed to Baltimore’s practice squad to fill Dorsey’s void there.
Sadly, these moves aren’t quite what Ravens fans were hoping for. When Stone was originally waived, many hoped Baltimore was going to be adding a veteran wide receiver or pass rusher to help with one of the Ravens’ biggest problems through four games. Unfortunately, the moves were really just more of a logistical issue for Baltimore.
With slot cornerback Tavon Young out for the season with a knee injury, the Ravens are a little thin at cornerback and need the extra bodies for games. Though Stone had been on the Ravens’ 53-man roster for all four games prior to his release, he had not been active in one game this season.
According to coach John Harbaugh on Friday, the move was partly because the Ravens had used all of Dorsey’s gameday activations from the practice squad and still needed help at cornerback. This season, teams are allowed to bring up a player from the practice squad to be active for a game, but are limited in the number of times they can use that feature on a given player. By adding Dorsey to the 53-man roster, Baltimore can have him active for Sunday’s game, giving them a chance to activate someone else from the practice squad if they wish while also keeping Stone around for further development.
Though Stone is now on the practice squad, that doesn’t mean his time with the Ravens is over. Harbaugh had glowing praise for Stone and indicated his time on the field was coming too.
“Geno [Stone] definitely is going to play,” Harbaugh said Friday. “There’ no doubt in my mind that he’ll play.”
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