Tag: Baltimore Ravens training camp

Ravens truly start training camp with 1st padded practice of offseason

Training camp isn’t really training camp until the pads come on and they start hitting. Baltimore Ravens training camp truly begins today.

While the Baltimore Ravens have technically been in training camp for a few weeks now, it’s been anything but standard. After a slow ramp-up period, the Ravens will put on pads today for the first time and have the whole team practicing together to really open training camp.

The few weeks contact is allowed at training camp will be some of the most important time the players and coaches have this year. Where Baltimore would have held their first preseason game — scheduled to be against the Buffalo Bills on Aug. 14 — the team was still getting everyone up to speed and on the field with their respective position groups.

Anything heard out of any training camp prior to pads should be taken with a grain of salt. Wide receivers are bound to catch more passes since defensive backs can’t really interfere with them too much. Quarterbacks are testing out new throws but are practically throwing uncontested. The running backs, offensive linemen, defensive linemen, and linebackers are all effectively doing walkthroughs. But the second pads come on, the hitting starts and we get a step closer to what a real football game is going to be like.

For the rookies, they’ll finally be tested in real time. Their mistakes will be highlighted thanks to the speed and strength of the veterans around them. We’ll get our first taste of what the new offensive and defensive lines can really do. We’ll see just how much the pass rush has improved. Perhaps even more exciting is we’ll hear the crack of plastic on plastic as guys hit one another for the first time since last season and like going to a good barbeque right before the meat is served, it’s that little something in the air that makes summer actually feel like summer.

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Ravens give first hint at starting offensive line at training camp

Baltimore Ravens center Patrick Mekari posted a photo that hints at what the Baltimore Ravens’ starting offensive line looks like at camp.

The Baltimore Ravens have been ramping up at training camp for the last few weeks. While reporters aren’t yet allowed at the facility, the team has given little glimpses of what’s going on at the Under Armour Performance Center. One such glimpse included the first hint of what the offensive line could look like in Week 1.

Center Patrick Mekari posted a photo of practice for his birthday, showing four of the five offensive linemen lined up to snap the ball. With Orlando Brown Jr. manning right tackle and Bradley Bozeman at left guard, this looks to be the very first starting lineup Baltimore is putting on the field.

Though we shouldn’t take this image as definitive proof since the Ravens are holding competitions for both starting guard jobs and potentially at center as well, it’s pretty much what many expected the starting lineup to look like. With veterans finally getting on the field for the first time this week, Brown and Bozeman being in their respective spots in the photo point to it being the current starting lineup at Ravens training camp.

Left tackle Left guard Center Right guard Right tackle
Ronnie Stanley Bradley Bozeman Patrick Mekari D.J. Fluker Orlando Brown Jr.

As the most experienced of the guards on the roster, Fluker was expected to get the first crack at replacing Marshal Yanda at right guard. Though he’ll also be competing with Ben Powers, Tyre Phillips, and Ben Bredeson; it seems like it’s Fluker’s job to lose right now.

With Matt Skura still on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, Mekari would be the next obvious choice at center. Mekari played well in Skura’s stead after he suffered a gruesome knee injury last season. Though Skura would likely hold the starting job once he returns, Mekari getting the nod right now is a good sign for a guy who could be on the roster bubble.

We still have several weeks remaining before the regular season starts and there is nearly an infinite number of things that can happen between now and then. This very well might not be anywhere close to what the Ravens’ starting offensive line looks like in Week 1, but for now, it seems to be what Baltimore is rolling with.

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Jaylon Ferguson keeping up with the tremendous strides he made as a rookie

Right as the Baltimore Ravens need another outside linebacker to step up, Jaylon Ferguson is hitting his marks in his second season.

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The Baltimore Ravens kept their outside linebacker group the same from last year, despite seeing some struggles there. But entering the 2020 season, there’s hope young players like Jaylon Ferguson will step up and improve the unit as the Ravens eye up a run at Super Bowl LV.

Ferguson got off to a rough start last season. He wasn’t even active on gamedays until Week 3 and it took until Week 6 for Ferguson to get more than 50% of the defensive snaps. But once he got into the lineup, there was a pretty steady improvement on the field. Defensive coordinator Don Martindale saw Ferguson progress over the final 10 games of the 2019 season thanks to getting in better shape throughout the year.

“He made tremendous strides last year,” Martindale said. “The biggest part — if you remember me telling you, it was about halfway through the year when he finally got in — what he felt was the best shape that he’s been in.”

Ferguson had only one quarterback hit and no sacks until Week 11 despite playing on 261 defensive snaps. In the final six games of the regular season (238 defensive snaps), Ferguson had another seven quarterback hits, three tackles for a loss, and 1.5 sacks. While not stellar production, it shows a sharp increase and plenty of flashes of what could be.

Though the pads don’t come on until Monday, Martindale believes Ferguson has improved upon that condition as he enters his second season.

“His body has changed,” Martindale continued. “He’s a year older. All those second-year and third-year players start to get that old man dad strength – you know what I’m talking about there. They’ve had a year away from college football and they can really train and just focus on themselves and not the combine — not going to this visit, that visit, this visit, that visit and just focus on themselves, and he’s done that.”

The Ravens are hoping Ferguson can step up his production and become a legitimate terror for opposing offenses this season because they desperately need him to be.

Baltimore ranked 21st in sacks while blitzing the most in the league by a wide margin (54.9% compared to 43.4% for the second-ranked Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Outside of Matthew Judon, the Ravens’ three other outside linebackers, including Ferguson, accounted for just 10.5 sacks and 25 quarterback hits combined. While Baltimore is hoping the additions of Calais Campbell and Derek Wolfe (13.5 sacks and 37 quarterback hits combined last year) will help the group out, the Ravens are ultimately relying on Tyus Bowser and Ferguson to improve their play.

With Martindale’s aggressive schemes and the additions of Campbell and Wolfe, Baltimore is on the cusp of something great upfront. When added to the Ravens’ secondary, this is a defense that’s capable of great things if they get another fearsome pass rusher. Ferguson is starting out on the right foot this year and might just be the answer.

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COVID-19 heart issue concerning to Ravens’ head physician

Myocarditis — one of the long-term side effects of COVID-19 — is a growing concern according to Ravens head physician Dr. Andrew Tucker.

The medical community has been working hard to study COVID-19 and those that have become infected to determine what happens. While the immediate effects are well documented and scary enough, the long-term health risks are just being learned now and are even more troubling.

One such side effect of the virus is myocarditis — an inflammation that weakens the heart and can lead to further medical issues including heart failure. For Baltimore Ravens head physician Dr. Andrew Tucker, the risk of a player, coach, or staff member not only coming down with COVID-19 but getting myocarditis from it are concerning.

“It’s a concern,” Tucker said, per Aaron Kasinitz of Penn Live. “Myocarditis is one of the rare causes of sudden cardiac arrest in our athletes and it is usually caused by a virus that causes inflammation in the heart. It is very rare, fortunately, but it can happen and it can happen theoretically with any virus, but certain viruses tend to make it more likely. Unfortunately, COVID has proven early on to be a virus that tends to involve the heart.”

As has been proven with a bunch of professional athletes of all sports coming down with the virus, no one is immune to COVID-19. And as we’ve seen with Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, even those that are at the top of the population in physical fitness can still get myocarditis from it.

While Tucker admitted “the risk is low” of a player developing the complication, he also cautioned against drawing too many conclusions over just how small a percentage that truly is.

“But how low is a little bit premature to say because we just don’t have the data,” Tucker said. “This hasn’t been going on that long.”

The NFL and NFLPA had originally agreed to daily COVID-19 testing at the start of training camp, with a reduction coming if positive tests were below 5%. Though the NFL said they’ve seen a lower than 1% rate of infection among the Tier 1 and Tier 2 personnel thus far, the league told teams daily testing would continue “until further notice,” according to a memo acquired by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

The NFL has previously and repeatedly acknowledged the current protocols are liable to change as further information about the virus becomes available. With myocarditis and other long-term effects becoming a growing concern, changes could be on the horizon with the NFL not only wanting the regular season to start on time but a full 16-game schedule to happen.

“Do you retest players at four weeks or six weeks or eight weeks?” Tucker asked. “Those are not part of the protocol right now. But as our knowledge base grows over time, it could change.”

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Ravens planning on carrying 3 QBs again this season

According to Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, the plan is for three quarterbacks to make the 53-man roster again in 2020.

The Baltimore Ravens are one of the deepest teams in the NFL right now at a number of key positions. With such an unusual offseason that has and will continue to limit the number of chances players will get to impress the coaching staff, the Ravens have tough decisions to make when they finally trim their roster down to 53 players on the Sept. 5 deadline. Among them will be at quarterback, where Baltimore has three players jockeying for position behind reigning MVP Lamar Jackson.

The Ravens bucked a trend by keeping three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster last year compared to the two passers they typically keep. According to coach John Harbaugh, it was because the team feared rookie quarterback Trace McSorley getting snagged before he made it to the practice squad.

“We historically didn’t carry three quarterbacks, just because you can use that extra roster spot [for] special teams, extra lineman, a specialty player, pass rusher and things like that that we’ve done in the past,” Harbaugh said during a press conference on Friday. “We’ve had the three guys who we like, and we didn’t necessarily think the guys we had would make it to the practice squad – in last year’s case, Trace [McSorley].

Though Baltimore has a wealth of talent on both the offensive and defensive lines, in the secondary, at running back, and other positions this year, they’ve still got three quarterback spots penciled on the 53-man roster.

“This year, I would say that’s the plan, and we’ll just have to see how it shakes out,” Harbaugh continued.

Jackson and Robert Griffin III should be considered locks to make the 53-man roster at this point. Jackson is the team’s franchise quarterback, especially after winning and MVP award last season. Griffin is the most experienced quarterback on the roster and has been utilized as a mentor for Jackson since 2018. That means if a third quarterback spot is still available, it’s McSorley and undrafted free agent Tyler Huntley fighting each other in training camp for it.

If Baltimore does indeed keep three quarterbacks this season, it’s likely because they want to groom someone to be Jackson’s primary backup as early as 2021 when Griffin becomes an unrestricted free agent. While the Ravens kept McSorley last year, I wouldn’t assume he’s a lock to make the team over Huntley.

McSorley and Huntley are similarly gifted athletes, effectively running the same 40-yard dash times (4.56 at Huntley’s Pro Day and 4.57 for McSorley at the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine). With no edge for one player or the other in their pure athleticism, it’s going to come down to which player holds the most promise and makes the biggest strides. Though McSorley was kept on the 53-man roster last year, he got just one snap all last season. That despite all the offseason talk about using him on special teams and defense, as well as the team resting their starters in Week 17.

Huntley comes from a zone-read offense and was highly efficient in it. Huntley’s 73.1% completion rate and a 10.3 yards-per-attempt average in 2019 go to prove that. If Huntley can perform well in training camp, it’s going to be an interesting dilemma for Harbaugh and the coaching staff to make. That’s, of course, if they even keep three quarterbacks in the first place.

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Ravens enter training camp with only 2 opt outs

Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Andre Smith and wide receiver De’Anthony Thomas were the only two players to opt out due to COVID-19

The official deadline for NFL players to opt out of the 2020 season has passed. For the Baltimore Ravens, only offensive tackle Andre Smith and wide receiver De’Anthony Thomas have used the league’s voluntary opt-out provision to sit out the 2020 NFL season.

Though Baltimore only had two players opt out, that doesn’t necessarily mean there can’t be more at a later time. The NFL has allowed players to opt out at a later date if they’re diagnosed with a new condition that makes them high risk or if a family member is hospitalized, or dies because of COVID-19 or a related condition, according to NFL.com. In total, 66 NFL players have opted out for the season at the deadline, using either the voluntary or high-risk designations.

Though it’s hard for any team to lose any player for the year, this was undoubtedly a tough decision for all 66 players, including Thomas and Smith. But from a football standpoint, the Ravens are still in pretty good shape, since both players were backups and likely on the roster bubble already.

Smith’s opt out does leave the Ravens a little thin at offensive tackle, effectively leaving the team with few experienced options behind Ronnie Stanley and Orlando Brown Jr. Veteran D.J. Fluker is competing for the now-vacant right guard job but has played at tackle earlier in his career, giving Baltimore an experienced option to use in a pinch. Rookie Tyre Phillips is also expected to get some snaps at tackle in training camp in addition to competing at guard.

While Thomas is listed as a wide receiver, his real value to the Ravens was as a return specialist. Baltimore signed Thomas midseason last year, giving him the job over the likes of Cyrus Jones and Justice Hill. Thomas returned 13 punts for 93 yards as well as 10 kickoffs for 166 yards in eight games with the Ravens. But it’s expected Devin Duvernay and James Proche are in line for the return specialist job this year after being selected in the 2020 NFL Draft and offering more upside as receiving threats too.

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Lack of NFL preseason games come with negatives and positives for players

With the Baltimore Ravens being among the favorites to win Super Bowl LV, any perceived issues earn a little extra look. And as the NFL has canceled preseason games and in-person minicamps due to COVID-19, it would make sense that the lack of …

With the Baltimore Ravens being among the favorites to win Super Bowl LV, any perceived issues earn a little extra look. And as the NFL has canceled preseason games and in-person minicamps due to COVID-19, it would make sense that the lack of contact before Week 1 would be a concern. But the Ravens believe they’ll be better off for it.

As the coronavirus pandemic forced teams to be socially distant this offseason, training camp is the first and only time players will be on the field in front of coaches and with all their teammates. Teams also aren’t allowed to be in pads until Aug. 17, and even then, only for 14 practices. That’s not a lot of time to prepare for the regular season. And beyond what it means for bubble players just trying to make the team, the lack of meaningful contact before Week 1 has its positives and negatives.

We’ve certainly see sloppy play from some players early in the regular season every year. While there are a ton of reasons for that, it often happens if a player missed a lot of training camp or they didn’t get as much in-game action in the preseason. The result is often slower play, less physicality, and an all-around worse performance until the player gets back up to speed after a few games.

No matter how much a player practices this offseason, they’re going to be woefully short in the in-game reps and contact they’d normally get. For some, it won’t impact their performance come Week 1 and they’ll be just as great as their prime last year. For others, they’ll be a shadow of their former selves for a few weeks until they can get back in the flow. Coach John Harbaugh opened up a bit about the opposing sensibilities in this unusual offseason.

“We’ll always try to find a way to keep our players as healthy and safe as we can. “That’s the right thing to do, ‘A,’ and ‘B,’ it’s beneficial to the team. We have a common interest there,” Harbaugh said. “Secondly, we have to be ready to play. You can’t put a team out there unprepared. Football is a tackling and a blocking sport, so we are going to have to find a way to get that tackling and blocking done in practice against one another to the level that we need to, to be ready to play the game against the Browns and all the other teams we are playing in September.”

For all the potential negatives, there are some serious positives. The fewer hits players receive, the less banged up they are rolling into the regular season. That can be an attractive option for teams like the Ravens, who believe they’ll be in contention for Super Bowl LV. That’s especially the case for a Baltimore team that has been plagued with big injuries before the regular season over the last five years. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson specifically noted the players’ health when asked for his feelings about the lack of preseason games this year.

“Our guys will be going into the regular season safely,” Jackson said. “No little nick-ups, injuries or anything like that will occur from preseason games. I’m cool with it.”

Ravens strength and conditioning coach Steve Saunders looked at it from a training perspective and agreed with Jackson’s sentiments.

“I think that the training effect is that guys who would have gotten banged-up, jacked-up a little bit from preseason games, are not. And I would expect guys to go into the first game in better shape – stronger, faster, better conditioned,” Saunders said. “We’re going to have plenty of contact; we’re Ravens. But after that first game, might they be a little more sore than a regular Week 1? Yes, potentially, but I think in the long run, we are going to be ramped-up and ready for the season. I think it’ll be a positive for us.

This year, all 53 players on all 32 teams will have that same hurdle in front of them. It’ll be up to how they prepare with the time given them in training camp that will determine how successful each team ends up being.

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Ravens move UDFA S Nigel Warrior off reserve/COVID-19 list to active roster

Baltimore Ravens UDFA safety Nigel Warrior has been moved to the active roster and can join the rest of the team at training camp.

The Baltimore Ravens officially have no players on the reserve/COVID-19 list after taking UDFA safety Nigel Warrior off it and moving him to the active roster. The move comes as Baltimore waived fellow UDFA tight end Jacob Breeland with a non-football injury designation, according to the team’s Twitter account.

Warrior initially entered the reserve/COVID-19 list at the beginning of training camp. Either he personally tested positive for the virus or he had been in close proximity to someone who had, causing the need to quarantine. However, with two negative tests in a row, Warrior was able to rejoin the rest of the team on the active roster. Warrior will complete for one of the reserve safety spots along with Geno Stone, Baltimore’s seventh-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Breeland had been rehabilitating this offseason after tearing his ACL with the Oregon Ducks last year. Though it was hoped Breeland would be able to compete for the third tight end job in training camp, it was expected he was going to be done for the year. Breeland being waived doesn’t necessarily mean his time with the Ravens has come to an end, however. If he clears waivers, Breeland could be put on Baltimore’s injured reserve, allowing the team to stash him until 2021.

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Ravens place C Matt Skura on physically unable to perform list

The Baltimore Ravens got their first look at center Matt Skura’s return from a knee injury at training camp, putting him on the PUP list.

The Baltimore Ravens got their first real look at center Matt Skura this offseason, but apparently, he’s just not 100% ready to go. The Ravens announced via Twitter they’ve placed Skura on the active physically unable to perform (PUP) list at training camp.

Skura heading to the PUP list shouldn’t be very shocking. He suffered a gruesome knee injury last season, tearing his ACL, PCL, MCL, and dislocating his knee cap in Week 11. Though Skura has been keeping fans updated on his comeback with a series of workout videos, those types of knee injuries take serious time to get back 100% physically. Beyond that, there’s the mental side of a knee injury like that, with many players needing another year to actually return to form in games.

Skura’s placement on the PUP list doesn’t mean he’s done for the year, however. Skura can return to training camp practices once cleared by Baltimore’s medical staff. That gives him the chance to continue rehabilitating with the Ravens’ trainers, something that’s been difficult to do with the coronavirus pandemic forcing everyone to remain socially distant. It’s also an open window to return to the team before the end of the offseason and potentially still start come Week 1.

However, it also means Baltimore is likely to start looking a little harder at other options on its roster right now, in the event Skura isn’t ready to return for the regular season.

Patrick Mekari filled in well at center following Skura’s injury last season. It would make sense Mekari is penciled into the starting role right now in training camp, though he’s likely going to see some competition as well. Bradley Bozeman started at left guard last season but with an influx of guards on the roster and not as many experienced players at center, he could be in the running for the starting job if necessary. UDFAs Sean Pollard and Trystan Colon-Castillo could also be in the mix for a spot on the 53-man roster as well, though it seems unlikely they’d be put into the starting lineup if there were more experienced players available.

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What Daylon Mack being cut means for rest of Ravens defensive line

The shocking cutting of DT Daylon Mack at training camp has a lot of implications for the rest of the Baltimore Ravens defensive line

The Baltimore Ravens surprised many by making defensive tackle Daylon Mack one of their early cuts as they work to get down to the 80-man roster limit for training camp. A fifth-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, it was expected Mack would at least be given a chance to win a spot on the 53-man roster, if not the potential for a rotational role in certain packages in the regular season.

Mack’s early dismissal is a pretty big deal for several other guys on the roster bubble. It also might indicate what Baltimore wants to do on their defensive line moving forward.

For one, it gives UDFA defensive tackle Aaron Crawford a chance to finally breathe. With the Ravens needing to make quick cuts as training camp opens, the undrafted players were the ones with the biggest targets on their backs. UDFAs are developmental projects that likely won’t offer much impact this season, if ever. It also means the Ravens’ fifth-round pick in this year’s draft, Broderick Washington Jr., will have a better chance to make the final 53-man roster as well.

With the pandemic making training camp the first and only time the players will get on the field before the regular season begins, no one would blame Baltimore if it wanted to keep more experienced players over those that haven’t played a snap in the NFL yet. That’s especially the case with late-round and undrafted rookies on the depth chart.

Brandon Williams is set to be the starting defensive tackle this season, with Calais Campbell and Derek Wolfe likely flanking him on the defensive line most of the time. That means the remaining players at defensive tackle are fighting to be Williams’ primary backup. It’s a role that should get a decent number of snaps this season and could effectively be an unofficial interview for a starting spot if the Ravens move on from Williams’ high cap number next season.

Mack being out of the picture would mean that battle is likely to be centered around Justin Ellis and rookie Justin Madubuike. Ellis has more experience, having started 42 games over his six-year career, which might give him the edge there. But as a third-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Madubuike is no slouch either. Though Mack was a fifth-round pick last year and only got nine defensive snaps before heading to injured reserve, he would have been somewhat of a middle ground in the competition to be Williams’ backup.

Perhaps, more importantly, is the future of the position. Williams is a potential cap casualty next offseason, with Baltimore set to get back $9.5 million on a potentially lowered 2021 NFL salary cap, according to Over The Cap. If that happens, Madubuike and Washington would be the only two defensive tackles currently on the team still under contract. While Baltimore could easily sign a free agent or draft another defensive tackle to bolster the group next offseason, it narrows down the Ravens’ options early and points to those two being in line for a significant role in 2021.

A lot of things can and probably will still happen in this unusual offseason. But Mack is the first truly interesting cut for Baltimore and it has wide-reaching implications.

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