OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens have jettisoned their second return specialist in the last three weeks and brought back a Baltimore native to their 53-man roster.
A day after fumbling a punt in the second quarter of the 12-9 overtime loss to Cleveland, wide receiver and return specialist Tim White was cut to make room for former New England cornerback and Gilman School product Cyrus Jones, who was claimed off waivers. White replaced rookie return specialist Janarion Grant in Week 3 and was averaging 8.3 yards per punt return and 22.5 yards per kick return, but ball security proved to be the last straw like it was for Grant, who fumbled a return in each of his two games on the active roster and is now on the practice squad.
White also lost a fumble in the preseason.
“It’s the tale of two Tims. The ball security is not where it needs to be,” said head coach John Harbaugh prior to Monday’s announcement. “He knows that, yet he made some really good decisions [against Cleveland]. He picked the one ball up off the goal line after they tapped it back and made some good decisions on fielding some punts and things like that. He should have had a punt return that we blocked somebody in the back on — shouldn’t have happened. I loved the decision-making and hated the ball security.”
Jones was claimed off waivers from the Patriots and spent two weeks on Baltimore’s practice squad last month after being cut by New England at the end of the preseason. The Patriots re-signed the former second-round pick from Alabama to their 53-man roster on Sept. 19, and he returned five punts for 45 yards and made one tackle on defense in two games.
It remains uncertain what role the Ravens envision for Jones, but his history of fumbles — five in his rookie season –is a major reason why the 2016 second-round pick from Alabama originally fell out of favor with the Patriots. Baltimore had only four healthy cornerbacks on Sunday with rookie Anthony Averett still sidelined with a hamstring injury, meaning Jones could offer more positional value than either White or Grant did as the No. 5 wide receiver on the roster.
The Ravens could elect to use No. 4 wide receiver Chris Moore as their kick returner — a role he held last year — and Jones as their punt returner. The 24-year-old didn’t return any kickoffs for the Patriots in his latest stint in Foxborough.
Former Ravens cornerback Darious Williams was claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Rams on Monday. The undrafted free agent appeared in three games and was cut over the weekend to make room for returning cornerback Jimmy Smith.
