OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens aren’t saying when quarterback Joe Flacco will make his 2017 training camp debut, but he’s apparently making good progress.
As the Colin Kaepernick discussion persists and a Ryan Mallet-led offense has struggled through the first week of practice, head coach John Harbaugh said the 10th-year starter is responding favorably to rest and treatment for a back ailment. Flacco has missed the first six practices of the summer, the first time in his career that he’s missed time during training camp.
Despite expressing optimism that he may only miss a week, the Ravens won’t rush him back to the practice field with the season opener still more than five weeks away.
“You can’t really say exactly when or when we might even decide to do it,” Harbaugh said. “But all indications from Joe and from our trainer Mark Smith have been very positive.”
Wide receivers Breshad Perriman (hamstring) and Kenny Bell (hamstring), cornerbacks Maurice Canady (knee) and Sheldon Price (unspecified), and offensive lineman Brandon Kublanow (unspecified) were also absent from Wednesday’s practice. Harbaugh also confirmed that rookie offensive lineman Nico Siragusa suffered a season-ending knee injury on Tuesday.
After saying Perriman’s hamstring tightness didn’t appear to be serious a day earlier, Harbaugh said Wednesday he would refrain from commenting on how long injured players might be sidelined moving forward. Of course, he and the Ravens drew much criticism for the public handling of Perriman’s knee injury during his rookie season, making one wonder if Wednesday’s comments were in reference to the wide receiver specifically.
“It is really hard to put a time frame on them,” said Harbaugh about camp injuries. “I know everybody wants a time frame, and we do want to keep our fans informed. We do want people to know basically what is going on. But, I have learned the lesson the hard way. You just do not know how long things are going to last. You start putting dates on them, and everybody starts questioning you.
“Sometimes, we maybe keep guys [out] longer or get them back quicker. It is just unpredictable. We will let you know if it is serious. If it is not serious, it is not serious and it is a number of days or even weeks. That is where we are.”
Left tackle Ronnie Stanley and center Ryan Jensen were held out of a large portion of Wednesday’s practice, but the former said he was fine when asked about his health. With two members of the projected offensive line not participating, the Ravens used James Hurst at left tackle, Alex Lewis at left guard, Matt Skura at center, rookie fifth-round pick Jermaine Eluemunor at right guard, and Stephane Nembot at right tackle with the first-team offense.
Surprisingly, rookie wide receiver Quincy Adeboyejo was back at practice a day after being carted off the field with what appeared to be a back issue. The undrafted free agent from Ole Miss caught several deep passes and even beat cornerback Jimmy Smith on two different occasions.
