OTL: Isaiah Likely Returns to Practice

With a difficult opponent on the horizon in the Lions on Monday night, health is going to be a key important factor for the Ravens.  When practice began for the week yesterday, nearly everyone was accounted for. There was one injury that is worrisome, and that is Nate Wiggins. If you remember, Wiggins was limping all game after his interception, and it apparently was caused by Chidobe Awuzie leaping on him during the celebration.

Wiggins would be a huge loss, as we are already dealing with an injury to Marlon Humphrey and working Jaire Alexander into the defense, and the Lions are coming off a 50-point performance.

We do have some kind of good news, I guess, on Wiggins:

Harbaugh said that he’s hopeful Nate Wiggins will practice tomorrow.

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) September 18, 2025

We really have to hope he can play on Monday because if they hold out Jaire for another week, this secondary just got a whole lot worse.

In some good news, the offense has just gotten a huge upgrade:

#Ravens TE Isaiah Likely is practicing today.

Barring any setbacks, Likely is expected to play Monday night against the Lions. #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/U64IXhzpcu

— SleeperRavens (@SleeperRavenss) September 18, 2025

It is still shocking to see Likely so soon. When his injury first happened, I was thinking mid-season at the earliest. Then the Ravens didn’t put him on I.R. to start the year, which opened up some hope that the foot wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Now we find ourselves here, where he looks to potentially make his season debut this week.

Likely has become a very important piece to this offense. It feels weird to say that a team that put up 40-plus points in back-to-back weeks has had some struggles, but they have, and it really is that consistency. It feels like they want to run a specific type of offense, yet they can’t because of the absence of Likely. Charlie Kolar is a good player, but he is a different type of tight end, and Mark Andrews has been ice-cold this year as well. Maybe Likely is in the game and makes the tough catch that Zaire Mitchell-Paden couldn’t in the end zone Sunday.

It would be quite the boon for Lamar Jackson & Co. to have one more weapon when Detroit comes to town.

Finally, I want to touch on the Ravens ‘ defense and a message for them spoken by Kyle Hamilton:

Kyle Hamilton: “people were talking crazy about us Week 1. Now, they want to sing our praises. We don’t care either way.”
Hamilton said the NFL is a “one-week life.” pic.twitter.com/wJ4hUDc4AB

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) September 18, 2025

I love the “it’s a one-week life” message, and the team should embrace it. The defense collapsed terribly in Week 1, but turned it around against Cleveland. While they’re not going to face Joe Flacco and the Browns every week, we saw plenty of improvement. Now, with an offense that can put up a ton of points coming into your house, let’s see how they build off it.

A strong performance against Detroit would go a long way towards proving that whatever happened in Buffalo was a typical early-season fluke.

In the meantime, all eyes are on the practice field today and tomorrow, as we hope that Wiggins is good to go, and perhaps see some more of #80 running around.

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/09/19/out-to-lunch/otl-isaiah-likely-returns-to-practice/