OTL: Who Will Ravens Conditioning Test Claim This Year?

Get excited, Flock. As of today, Ravens Training Camp is well and truly upon us.

Media lineup this week as Ravens kick off training camp:

TUESDAY, 4PM
Mark Andrews
Nnamdi Madubuike
Ronnie Stanley

WEDNESDAY, 3:45PM
Lamar Jackson
John Harbaugh
Derrick Henry
Roquan Smith

THURSDAY, 3:45PM
John Harbaugh
Jaire Alexander
Marlon Humphrey
Kyle Van Noy

FRIDAY, 4PM…

— Sarah Ellison (@sgellison) July 21, 2025

RSR will have boots on the ground to cover news and notes as Camp unfolds, and we’re looking forward to keeping the Flock up to date. That said, I want to take a pause while we have a chance and urge everyone to remember an important caveat: it’s still the offseason.

The NFL news cycle is slow, so as pieces of news come out of the Camp processes around the league, they’re naturally going to be amplified, meaning that when you see pieces of news that look like this…

The following players are declared physical unable to perform:

OT Taylor Decker, CB Khalil Dorsey, OG Miles Frazier, DL Alim McNeill, LB Malcolm Rodriguez, DL Mekhi Wingo

The following players are declared non-football injury:

DL Josh Paschal, CB Stantley Thomas-Oliver

The… pic.twitter.com/6cMCdWaWv8

— Detroit Lions (@Lions) July 17, 2025

…they look really bad. Lions fans were beside themselves when this update about their participants broke a few days ago, and I wish I had the platform necessary to be able to tell them to take a deep breath. Yes, the news about Levi Onwuzurike being ruled out for the year is bad no matter how you slice it, but a lot of the negative sentiment I saw was around the list of players going on their PUP list.

Sure, you want everyone to be up to speed as soon as Camp rolls around, but as a reminder, there are two versions of the PUP list, Active and Reserve. Active PUP players can still participate in team activities, just not practice, and a lot of times when you see it this early in the year, it’s because players are either rehabbing from offseason procedures or (and this is the important one for the Flock) they didn’t pass the conditioning test. The reason I highlight that point is that the Ravens have a notoriously difficult conditioning test, one that former Ravens running back Justin Forsett described as “pure death.”

When Ben Cleveland received a PUP designation a few seasons back and there were concerns about his NFL readiness, it wasn’t an injury issue that held him back, but the grueling conditioning process, and he was eventually able to practice on August 1^st. Still, if you remember the climate of social media around that time, fans were reacting like the Ravens had treated his Draft selection like a $100 bill they set ablaze to light a cigar.

Speaking of issues involving money, here’s the other issue I’d urge everyone to pump the brakes on as we go through the offseason: contract negotiations.

“I want to be here. I want to make that abundantly clear.”

Commanders receiver Terry McLaurin said he’s frustrated and disappointed with the lack of progress toward a contract extension. https://t.co/BYIAUfJGd5

— ESPN (@espn) July 15, 2025

#Cowboys owner Jerry Jones randomly takes a shot at Micah Parsons, saying even if they sign him, it doesn’t mean they’ll have him, because he was hurt for 6 games last year (fact check: he only missed 4).

He then also says they made Dak Prescott the richest player in football —… pic.twitter.com/g6T8FnEEOX

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) July 21, 2025

As usual, there have been some very ugly, very public disputes about contract extensions for high-profile players, and while the Ravens have been able to avoid them for now, guys like Kyle Hamilton, Tyler Linderbaum and Isaiah Likely are all extension candidates that have been discussed quietly around the team. The biggest fish, of course, would be Lamar Jackson agreeing to an extension that could reduce the cap hit in the next couple of seasons, but the others are very much in the position to demand high price tags based on their performances.

What I’d urge from Ravens fans is this: just because a player says publicly that they’re upset, or even if they request a trade, know that most of those situations are performative by the players and their agents to put public pressure on ownership to get a deal done. We all remember Lamar’s first contract extension and the timing of him publicly announcing that he was requesting a trade, just for a long-term deal to get done. Lamar was never going anywhere, whether the league’s alleged collusion had anything to do with it or not. If you see a player like Kyle Hamilton or Isaiah Likely, who are both due for big paydays, posture like they’re unhappy, take a deep breath and remember that it’s probably just for show. The front office is very good at what they do, and they love their guys, so I have very little doubt they’ll be able to make things work.

I can’t say the same for the rest of the division, though.

#Bengals owner Mike Brown explaining the Shemar Stewart contract language situation:

“If we get a player who does something unacceptable, guess what? I don’t want to pay him. I really don’t. If he’s sitting in jail, I don’t think I have to pay him.” pic.twitter.com/3Ta39gFPtT https://t.co/swpP95IBM9

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) July 21, 2025

Long-term extension talks between the #Bengals and star Trey Hendrickson broke down over guaranteed money before camp… and Hendrickson has now indicated he left the state.

He just posted this on Instagram. pic.twitter.com/Le2aKris0t

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 22, 2025

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