OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens will try to advance to the playoffs Sunday without starting right tackle Rick Wagner, who was placed on injured reserve with a foot injury.
The second-year lineman suffered a Lisfranc sprain in the third quarter of the 25-13 loss to the Houston Texans this past week. He was carted to the locker room where he was ruled out for the remainder of the game and later seen using crutches and a walking boot.
Wagner becomes the 18th Ravens player to be placed on season-ending IR during the 2014 season, one shy of the 19 that landed on IR in John Harbaugh’s first season as head coach in 2008. The 2013 fifth-round pick thrived in his first year as a starter, allowing only two sacks and grading out as the second-best right tackle in the league behind New England’s Sebastian Vollmer, according to Pro Football Focus.
“Rick [had] a heck of a year,” said Harbaugh, who named Wagner the starting right tackle late . “He proved himself [and] proved the naysayers wrong. He did a great job.”
The Ravens could also be without starting left tackle Eugene Monroe, who is dealing with an injured foot suffered in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss. He was seen in a walking boot after the game and was not present during Tuesday’s practice.
Should Monroe be unable to play against Cleveland, the Ravens would likely move Pro Bowl guard Marshal Yanda out to right tackle with rookie free agent James Hurst playing left tackle. Rookie John Urschel would then play right guard in Yanda’s place.
Even if Monroe does play, the Ravens could still elect to use Yanda at right tackle with Urschel at guard with that potentially being a better overall alignment than Hurst — who is better suited for the left side — playing Wagner’s position.
In fact, when Monroe exited Sunday’s loss in Houston, the Ravens initially planned to play Urschel at right tackle before Yanda spoke up to declare he was sliding over. Yanda is no stranger to the right tackle position as he played there frequently earlier in his career and started during the 2010 season.
“I haven’t played there [regularly] in a long time, but we’ll see what happens come Sunday,” Yanda said. “We don’t know who is healthy yet, and obviously John [Harbaugh] does the injury report. But I’ve played there before, and I’m ready to go wherever I need to play. It’s part of the deal where you have to be ready to roll.”
In addition to Monroe, defensive end Chris Canty (ankle) and linebacker Terrell Suggs were not present during Tuesday’s practice. The Ravens will not release their first injury report of the week until Wednesday as they moved up their first day of on-field work to allow players to be off for Christmas on Thursday.
To fill Wagner’s spot on the 53-man roster, Baltimore promoted defensive end Steven Means from the practice squad. He played the role of Texans defensive end J.J. Watt for the scout team during practices last week.
The Ravens also waived defensive end Zach Thompson from the practice squad and signed reserve offensive linemen Nate Menkin and J.J. Unga. The latter spent a good portion of the 2013 season on the Ravens’ practice squad.
