After nearly three weeks of full-team training camp, the Ravens are ready to hit somebody else.
They’ll have the opportunity to do just that hosting Philadelphia for the preseason opener on Friday night.
“It gets to that point in time in camp where you really need to do that,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s kind of part of the evolution. You have to take another step, you have to go tackle, you have to go play a game, you have to go feel and understand the tempo of a game — not a practice. We’re looking forward to it.”
Of course, not everyone will experience that as Harbaugh confirmed he’ll hold out two-time NFL MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson, who hasn’t played in a preseason game since 2021. Jackson won’t be the only one as the Ravens sat nearly all of their established starters and some key reserves in last year’s preseason, a trend that’s expected to continue this summer.
This marks the 15th time the Ravens and Eagles will meet in the preseason with Baltimore owning a 9-5 all-time advantage. These teams will also meet in the 2024 regular season when Philadelphia comes to M&T Bank Stadium on Dec. 1.
Unofficial (and speculative) injury report
The Ravens are not required to put out an injury report like they do for regular-season games, so I’ve offered my best guess of what one would look like if it were to be released ahead of Friday’s game.
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The players estimated to be out will come as no surprise, but the status of a few will remain in question. Of course, this list does not include the healthy starters and veterans who will be held out due to the coaching staff’s decision.
Below is the unofficial injury report:
OUT: C Tyler Linderbaum, CB Arthur Maulet (knee), OLB Adisa Isaac (hamstring), RB Keaton Mitchell (knee), CB Trayvon Mullen (shoulder), CB T.J. Tampa (sports hernia surgery)
DOUBTFUL: OLB Quincy Roche
QUESTIONABLE: WR Rashod Bateman (chest/ribs), WR Deonte Harty (lower leg), OLB Odafe Oweh (ankle), DT Deadrin Senat
Five players to watch Friday night
G Daniel Faalele
A 6-foot-8, 380-pound Australian lineman at right guard? The coaching staff talked in the past about giving Faalele — who rotated with veteran Morgan Moses at right tackle down the stretch last season — some looks inside, but the 2022 fourth-round pick out of the University of Minnesota had received few opportunities there until he began working as the first-team right guard late in the spring. Faalele has remained there through the first few weeks of camp, leading one to believe the Ravens are quite serious about his chances of starting there. Still, questions persist about whether he’ll be able to move well enough to handle starting responsibilities for a championship contender. A strong performance in a live-game setting would go a long way in making more believers.
OLB David Ojabo
8Achilles tendon, ankle, and knee injuries have limited the 2022 second-round pick to just five regular-season games in two years, but the biggest concern has been the lost opportunity for Ojabo to develop since he was regarded as a talented but raw prospect coming out of the University of Michigan. Though the 24-year-old has been practicing fully for most of camp after being limited in the spring, it’s been a quiet start with very few flashes compared to what Ojabo even did in his first healthy training camp last year. The 6-foot-4, 252-pound edge rusher is young and still has time to emerge as a productive member of the outside linebacker rotation, but he needs to start showing more, especially when going against second- and third-team offensive linemen.
G Andrew Vorhees
Despite missing his rookie season with a torn ACL suffered at last year’s scouting combine, Vorhees seems to have the strongest grip on any of the three open spots along the offensive line as he’s worked as the starting left guard since spring workouts. Veteran nose tackle Michael Pierce went out of his way early in camp to say the 6-foot-6, 320-pound Vorhees “is going to be really good” while defensive tackle Travis Jones recently noted how “really strong” and “aggressive” he is. That said, we’re still talking about someone who has yet to play an NFL snap, so the Ravens will want to see Vorhees carry over the performance seen in practices over to games. Investing a 2023 seventh-round pick in Vorhees looked like a savvy move at the time, and the USC product has looked the part this spring and summer.
OLB Tavius Robinson
With Ojabo off to a quiet start, third-round rookie Adisa Isaac making his on-field debut only a few days ago, and Malik Hamm suffering a season-ending knee injury early in camp, there are rotation snaps to be won behind starting outside linebackers Odafe Oweh and Kyle Van Noy, making this preseason a huge opportunity for Robinson. The 2023 fourth-round pick had his moments as a rookie with a sack and 26 tackles in 335 defensive snaps in the regular season, but his playing time diminished as the year progressed and the Ravens leaned harder on the since-departed Jadeveon Clowney, Van Noy, and Oweh. At 6-foot-6 and 262 pounds, Robinson was better defending the run than rushing the passer as a rookie, so taking the next step would go a long way toward replacing some of Clowney’s production.
OT Roger Rosengarten
From the moment the Washington product was drafted with the 62nd pick in late April, many have penciled him in as the right tackle, which is ambitious understanding the challenge in becoming a starting NFL offensive tackle as a rookie. That’s why it wasn’t surprising to see Patrick Mekari atop the initial depth chart, but Rosengarten has begun taking some of the first-team reps over the last week, showing he’s beginning to make his push. At 6-foot-5 and 316 pounds, he has struggled against power rushes, so it will be interesting to see how he fares against the Philadelphia front in a live-game setting. Even as the projected top backup last summer, Mekari didn’t see any preseason action, so we’ll see if Rosengarten gets the chance to both start and play extensively at right tackle in these August games.
