Tag: Michael Dereus

Multiple former Ravens win USFL championship with Birmingham Stallions

Multiple former Ravens players won the USFL championship with the Birmingham Stallions

The players that the Baltimore Ravens have brought in over the course of their organizational history. Some have turned into franchise cornerstones, other have had solid careers and some have moved onto other things shortly after their NFL journeys began.

For three former Baltimore players, they were able to secure a championship in the inaugural season of The United States Football League. Playing for the Birmingham Stallions, defensive tackle Willie Henry, defensive end Aaron Adeoye and wide receiver Michael Dereus were on the winning side, securing the first championship in the league’s history.

Henry was a fourth-round pick of Baltimore during the 2016 NFL draft, and played for the Ravens for two seasons. He totaled 36 tackles and 4.5 sacks during his time with the organization.

Adeoye spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons on Baltimore’s practice squad, while Dereus spent parts of the 2020 and 2021 off-seasons with the Ravens.

Adeoye was the third pick in the second round of the 2022 USFL draft for Birmingham, while Henry and Dereus signed with the Stallions in April.

Ravens make four roster moves to get down to 81 players

The Ravens made four moves to get their roster down to 81 players

The Baltimore Ravens have to get their roster down to 80 players by Tuesday, August 24th at 4pm EST. On Monday, they took steps towards doing that, releasing three players while placing another on injured reserve.

The move to place Fort on injured reserve was expected, as after Monday’s practice head coach John Harbaugh confirmed that the linebacker tore his ACL in Baltimore’s 20-3 preseason win over the Panthers. His loss is a big one for the Ravens’ defensive and special teams units.

Dereus was brought in while Baltimore was dealing with a plethora of injuries at the wide receiver position. While many wideouts still haven’t returned to practice, some appear close, so Dereus was let go after failing to appear on the box score during either of the Ravens’ 2021 preseason victories.

Richards was added in the middle of the 2019 season, and played a key role on special teams over his two years in Baltimore. However, with so many young defensive backs emerging, there just wasn’t enough room to keep Richards around.

Smith was signed by the Ravens before their playoff game against the Tennessee Titans during the 2019-2020 season. He then opted out of the 2020 season, and was on the roster bubble entering 2021 training camp. After getting and extended look at him during the preseason, Baltimore decided to move on from the former top-10 pick.

The Ravens will still have to make one more move before Tuesday’s deadline to get their roster down to the required 80 players.

Ravens cut 3 players, place DeAndrew White on IR ahead of 53-man roster deadline

With less than a week before the Baltimore Ravens roster needs to be trimmed to 53 players, the team made some early moves

The Baltimore Ravens are entering regular-season mode this week as they transition out of training camp and turn their focus on their Week 1 opponent, the Cleveland Browns. Part of that transition is trimming down their roster from 80 players to 53 ahead of Saturday’s deadline. Though there will be some really tough decisions that will likely come down to the wire, some are going to be far easier. That’s the case as Baltimore has already begun trimming their roster well ahead of the deadline, making three cuts on Monday.

According to the Ravens, they’ve waived outside linebacker John Daka, wide receiver Michael Dereus, and center Sean Pollard. The team also placed wide receiver DeAndrew White on injured reserve. The moves take Baltimore down to 76 players on the roster, with another 23 left to make over the next five days.

All three cuts were expected considering they were undrafted free agents who signed with the Ravens following the 2020 NFL Draft. Dereus and Pollard had an uphill battle to make the team with Baltimore selecting two wide receivers and two offensive linemen in April’s draft on top of the already impressive depth on the roster.

Daka was one of three UDFA outside linebackers the Ravens brought in this offseason. With limited depth behind Matthew Judon and the team not using one of their 10 picks in the 2020 NFL Draft to address the position, the UDFAs were expected to have a better than average chance of making Baltimore’s 53-man roster. While Daka is among the first cuts, this could be a case where the Ravens are hoping to sneak him through to their practice squad where they can continue his development this season for another shot next year.

White was signed just last week following a workout that also included wide receiver Dez Bryant. White quickly impressed Harbaugh, earning a positive review of his first day in a Ravens uniform.

“He looked good out there today, didn’t he? He came out about halfway through practice – maybe before that – and jumped out and made a couple catches,” Harbaugh said following White’s first practice. “So, he looked good. I had a chance to chat with him briefly after practice. He’s in great spirits. He’s appreciative of the opportunity.”

White joins cornerback Iman Marshall and wide receiver Antoine Wesley on Baltimore’s injured reserve list.

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Ravens officially sign LB Jake Ryan, 3 UDFAs

The Baltimore Ravens make their deal with free-agent linebacker Jake Ryan official as well as their deals with three more UDFAs.

The Baltimore Ravens keep marching forward in their quest to build out their 90-man roster. Though they had agreed to terms with linebacker Jake Ryan, the Ravens made it official after he passed a physical, according to a press release from the team.

Baltimore also signed three more undrafted free agents, bringing their count to eight officially under contract. These three players add to their 10-man 2020 NFL Draft class:

  • OLB/DE Chauncey Rivers, Mississippi State
  • WR Michael Dereus, Georgetown
  • C Sean Pollard, Clemson

Ryan adds valuable experience to what had been the Ravens’ weakest unit before the 2020 NFL Draft. With the addition of Patrick Queen in the first round and Malik Harrison in the third round, Baltimore now has a wealth of young talent as well as a few veteran options at their disposal for the upcoming season.

Ryan has had an injury-filled career, first with the Green Bay Packers for three seasons and then two years with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Over five seasons in the NFL, Ryan has played in just 45 of 80 possible games. But when on the field, Ryan has been productive as a run defender, notching 213 combined tackles along with one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.

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The three UDFAs add depth to some positions that are expected to have fierce competition in training camp. But with a history of at least one UDFA making the 53-man roster for 16 consecutive years, it’s a group that bears watching.

Rivers joins an outside linebacker group that isn’t very deep and has no definitive starter beyond Matthew Judon. Jaylon Ferguson and Tyus Bowser figure to compete for the starting job opposite Judon but any backup role is firmly up in the air among the rest of the roster. The Ravens are hoping to see Rivers put up the type of stats he did at Mississippi State, where he posted eight tackles for a loss and five sacks as a defensive end in 2019.

Dereus joins a group of wide receivers that are becoming increasingly deep after Baltimore has spent two picks in each of the 2019 and 2020 NFL Draft. But there are still expected to be a major competition for likely one or two roster spots at the position, as well as time on the practice squad. Over 11 games in 2019, Dereus caught 41 passes for 726 yards and five touchdowns.

Pollard adds much-needed depth at center where last year’s starter, Matt Skura, is still recovering from a season-ending knee injury. He’ll join Patrick Mekari and Colon-Castillo as UDFAs at the position behind the presumptive starter Skura. If Skura isn’t fully healthy to start training camp, the Ravens will likely push the other three to compete for the starting job.

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