Guys Get Work in on Day 1, Despite One Big Absence

Day 1 of Training Camp is in the books! With a few notable exceptions (one of whom was very notable), the Ravens were back at The Castle in full strength. Let’s give you the rundown:

– Obviously, the most notable news from the day was the absence of Lamar Jackson. It was reported, and confirmed by John Harbaugh, that Lamar was sent home due to illness, but it didn’t appear to be a major source of concern for Harbs. When asked about the timeline for LJ’s return, Harbs said frankly, “It’s sickness. When he’s feeling better, when he’s not sick anymore.” Without LJ out there, it wasn’t so much a watered-down product as it was an incomplete product.

– T.J. Tampa, who was previously designated for the PUP list, has reportedly undergone sports hernia surgery. His timeline for return is two to three weeks.

– The rest of the secondary appeared to not only be in good health and good spirits, but firing on all cylinders. Nate Wiggins continues to be as advertised, and showed great hands in drills involving undercutting an intended receiver for picks. He was so smooth in those drills that he looked like the intended target half the time. Elsewhere, Eddie Jackson reported for his first day of work, wearing #39. Jackson looked good, and in true Broward County fashion, sported long pants in 90+ degree heat while running drills. Most of Jackson’s work today was with the second-team defense, which is to be fully expected while he learns the defensive playbook. Arthur Maulet had one of the defensive plays of the day as he picked off a pass right before it hit the turf. Maulet immediately gave props to Marlon Humphrey, who tipped the ball.

– Speaking of giving Marlon Humphrey props, he was probably the MVP of today’s practice. He was everywhere, showing just enough physicality against his man in order to not draw a flag, and it resembled the pre-injury Marlon we’ve seen in years prior. It’s obviously very early in the Camp process, but hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.

– On the offensive side of the ball, there seemed to be a point of emphasis on stretching the field from sideline to sideline. Swing passes and outside runs had some success, including in scrimmages where Owen Wright had a first-down scamper after a good block by Charlie Kolar.

-The O-line continues s to be a work in progress, but looked better than it did at minicamp. Daniel Faalele showed progress as a run blocker and moved more athletically than I’m used to seeing from him. The O-line as a whole did struggle to get much push on rushing downs in scrimmages, but that could be due to the D-line continuing to be a dominant unit. The RBs also work at a disadvantage given that these are non-tackling drills, where Derrick Henry would excel at full contact. Josh Jones seemed to be the guy taking his lumps today, running laps after a false start.

–Rashod Bateman and Zay Flowers were made available to media following practice. I got the chance to ask Bate about this season as compared to the last few – which he had acknowledged were below his own expectation – and what success would look like in his mind this year. Bate’s immediate response was “Super Bowl,” understandably, before expanding on his answer.

“It’s not about me. I need to do what’s best for this team, whatever that is, whatever my role is. I expect my role to be bigger. I’m ready to take on that role, so we’ll see what happens.”

– I asked Zay how he sets the bar even higher for himself after a year that saw him break the rookie receiving record for the franchise. With a smile, he said:

“Go get the regular record, try to get the record that’s the highest, honestly. But I just want to win, I just want to, you know, we had a great season last year, I want to improve on that and get to the ultimate goal.”

It was great to be back, Flock! Stick with us as we continue to give you Camp recaps throughout the offseason!

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