The Ravens boosted their depth at cornerback by promoting fourth-year player Maurice Canady from the practice squad to the 53-man roster ahead of Sunday’s home opener against Arizona.
Baltimore waived reserve offensive tackle Greg Senat to make room for Canady.
With the Cardinals’ “Air Raid” offense using four wide receivers on roughly two-thirds of their plays last week — more than the rest of the NFL combined — and veteran Jimmy Smith out with a right knee injury, Baltimore chose to add Canady to the game-day mix behind the current top three of Marlon Humphrey, Brandon Carr, and Anthony Averett. The Ravens also had cornerbacks Cyrus Jones and Justin Bethel active in Week 1, but both are viewed more as special-teams contributors than defensive players.
On Friday, head coach John Harbaugh expressed confidence in the cornerback group without Smith, but he left open the possibility of making a roster move prior to Saturday’s 4 p.m. deadline.
“We could consider it. We’ll see where that goes,” Harbaugh said. “Yes, we’re good with what we’ve got. Yes, we could consider making a move.”
Canady was waived at the end of the preseason and re-signed to the practice squad as a valuable depth piece after the Ravens lost slot cornerback Tavon Young to a season-ending neck injury in August and placed rookie cornerback Iman Marshall on injured reserve earlier this month. A 2016 sixth-round pick, Canady has appeared in 19 career games and collected 34 tackles and one pass breakup. He has the ability to play outside or inside as a nickel back, a role he played in the second half of the 2017 season.
