OWINGS MILLS, Md. โ The injury hits to the Ravens secondary keep on coming.
A week after starting safety Tony Jefferson suffered a torn ACL, reserve safety DeShon Elliott sustained a knee injury against Cincinnati thatโs expected to sideline him for the rest of the season. The second-year defensive back hurt his left knee in a collision with teammate Justin Bethel on a deep pass intended for Bengals wide receiver Alex Erickson late in the fourth quarter.
โItโs just way worse than we thought it was going to be โ that the doctors thought after the game,โ head coach John Harbaugh said. โThatโs preliminary, but it sounded like they were pretty confident that it wasnโt good. Weโll go with that until further notice, and thatโs where weโre at. Weโll have to find a replacement there and move forward.โ
A 2018 sixth-round pick out of Texas, Elliott had just stepped into a larger role as the top backup behind starters Earl Thomas and Chuck Clark, playing a career-high 27 defensive snaps and finishing with one tackle and a pass breakup in the 23-17 win. The 22-year-old missed his entire rookie season with a fractured forearm and turned heads with his play during spring and summer practices.
With the Ravens revamping the inside linebacker position over the last two weeks and playing without starter Patrick Onwuasor against Cincinnati, defensive coordinator Wink Martindale frequently used sub packages that didnโt include any traditional inside linebackers as Elliott entered at safety and Clark played in the box. Elliottโs injury leaves Baltimore with only one healthy reserve safety โ dime back Anthony Levine โ behind Thomas and Clark, making an outside addition likely. Safety A.J. Howard was signed to the practice squad last week, but the Appalachian State product hasnโt appeared in an NFL game after going undrafted last year.
The Ravens began the regular season with six safeties on the 53-man roster before losing veteran reserve Brynden Trawick (elbow), Jefferson, and now Elliott. Cornerback Maurice Canady also left Sundayโs game with a hamstring issue, which forced Bethel โ almost exclusively a special-teams player โ into fourth-quarter action against the Bengals.
โI donโt know to what degree,โ said Harbaugh about Canadyโs hamstring injury. โIโd say heโs probably day-to-day. Weโll see how he does Wednesday, Thursday.โ
It remains unclear when cornerback Jimmy Smith will return to practice after missing his fifth straight game with a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his right knee. The Ravens lost slot cornerback Tavon Young to a season-ending neck injury and rookie corner Iman Marshall to a toe injury in August, but the latter remains eligible to return later this season.
Harbaugh was noncommittal about the Week 7 availability of Onwuasor and top wide receiver Marquise Brown, who both missed Sundayโs game with right ankle injuries suffered against Pittsburgh. The two remain โday-to-dayโ after missing practices all last week.
โIf we see them practicing as the week goes on, weโll be confident that they can play,โ Harbaugh said. โIf we donโt, then we wonโt. They both have ankles that theyโre dealing with, and those things just kind of heal when they heal.
โThey had a chance [to play Sunday]; I was told that they had a chance for the game. After Friday, it didnโt look as good. They just didnโt feel that they were there, and they werenโt.โ
After this Sundayโs game at Seattle, the Ravens will welcome their Week 8 bye to try to get healthy for a challenging second-half schedule.
Elliott goes down with latest season-ending injury in Ravens secondary

Luke Jones
Luke Jones is the Ravens and Orioles beat reporter for WNST BaltimorePositive.com and is a PFWA member. His mind is consumed with useless sports knowledge, pro wrestling promos, and movie quotes, but he often forgets where he put his phone. Luke's favorite sports memories include being one of the thousands of kids who waited for Cal Ripken's autograph after Orioles games in the summer of 1995, attending the Super Bowl XXXV victory parade with his dad in the pouring rain, and watching the Terps advance to the Final Four at the Carrier Dome in 2002. Follow him on social media @BaltimoreLuke or email him at Luke@wnst.net.
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