It was another hot one at The Castle on Saturday, and the humid weather eventually culminated in a lightning storm that forced practice inside for the final part of the day, but the practice put in by the Ravens showed a lot of promise and a few things to work on as they enter their final ramp-up before preseason ball next week.
The major story of the day came during 7-on-7 drills when Zay Flowers, fresh off inking a new contract earlier in the week, collided with safety Jaylinn Hawkins and stayed
down on the field. Flowers got up and then went back down to the turf, and you could feel the concern wash over the crowd. He eventually made his way behind the offensive players and had a trainer assist him in stretching, then got up and limped off the field to make his way inside. At first, it looked like an injury to his left knee, but head coach Jesse Minter confirmed that the injury was a quad contusion and that Zay is considered day-to-day.
It was a refreshingly quick turnaround to injury reports we’ve received in the past, and I’m very glad to hear it doesn’t appear to be serious. I’d imagine that they operate with an abundance of caution for the remainder of the preseason and keep Zay sidelined to preserve his health.
The Ravens were already likely to favor their rookie pass-catchers in the preseason anyway, and no member of that group has done more to make a name for themselves than Ja’Kobi Lane.
Lane once again put in a strong practice, hauling in multiple contested catches and making it look easy. He was able to beat Keyon Martin along the sideline for the snag you see in the video above, and he made a nice grab over the shoulder on a deep shot as he was shadowed by Nate Wiggins. Coach Minter praised Lane for his “businesslike approach” to learning so far and acknowledged that the upbeat and carefree personality he’s shown on the field somewhat masks how serious he is about his preparation.
On the defensive side of the ball, if I had to pick a guy that impressed me most on the day, I’d lean toward T.J. Tampa. Tampa’s game has shown a ton of growth since joining the Ravens two years ago, and I was very impressed with how quickly he’s adjusted to playing the ball rather than playing the man. His physicality was one of the strongest parts of his game coming out of Iowa State, but he’s shown a more polished game this offseason, especially in one-on-ones. He laid out for a nice pass breakup as he undercut Tez Walker, and Coach Minter praised Tampa’s “knack for… being around the ball.”
The majority of what we saw elsewhere was about what you’d expect for this point in the offseason: a major emphasis on timing, placement and getting the small details right. The O-line had three flags for false start (by my count), but they were also able to get set effectively and draw Kyle Hamilton offsides on one play. In position drills, you could see the focus from Coach Ledford on guys getting effective leverage and the right pad level on blocks as they started their stances beneath a metal frame that encouraged them to drive up and out rather than straight up into their blocks. I saw Ledford having lots of individual conversations with guys as well, which inspires a lot of confidence in his attention to detail, particularly with the young guys in that group. While Vega Ioane qualifies as one of the young guys, you’d never know it watching him. He looks as pro-ready as I’ve seen from a lineman in a long time, and his ability to keep his feet moving and drive his defender backward was a thing of beauty.
Here are a number of other notes from Saturday’s practice:
- During media availability, both Marlon Humphrey and Justice Hill made mention of accountability with the new coaching staff and how much it’s helped them improve their preparation. Humphrey mentioned Minter’s expertise with the secondary unit, even joking that Minter had basically said he’d played like “trash” last season before pointing out ways to improve, and Hill noted that Coach Faulkner’s emphasis on new and creative drills in pass protection helped the running back room play a more complete game.
- UDFA linebacker Dominic DeLuca put together another good practice and had a pass breakup on Elijah Sarratt.
- Rookie tight end Josh Cuevas drew some oohs and ahs from the crowd during one-on-ones as he shook Keondre Jackson with a nice stutter-step move. It was the kind of move you don’t really expect to see a tight end hit, and I like seeing him show some swagger and confidence trying things out.
- Jaylinn Hawkins ran a lot of reps against the first-team offense today, and while his success was a mixed bag, it certainly signals confidence from the coaches about his ability to be a regular member of the starting secondary.
- Even with the false starts, the offense looked very smooth for this part of the offseason when dialing up pre-snap motion, formation shifts and audibles at the line. I’ll be interested in seeing how smooth it looks in live-game action next week.
