Nearly 13 months to the day he suffered a serious left knee injury in the 2021 preseason finale, running back J.K. Dobbins has finally returned to game action for the Ravens.
Having ramped up in practice for the better part of the last seven weeks, the 23-year-old was active for Baltimore’s Week 3 meeting with New England. Dobbins was designated as questionable on the final injury report after practicing fully for a second straight week with head coach John Harbaugh remaining noncommittal about his status on Friday afternoon.
“I’m just going to have to leave that for when the time comes,” Harbaugh said. “You’ll know it when you see it — let’s put it that way. He’s working hard. I’m happy how he’s working. We’ve got certain parameters we’re looking at and things like that. It’s not going to be too long.”
With Dobbins playing in a real game for the first time since the 2020 postseason, the Ravens deactivated veteran running back Kenyan Drake. The active running backs behind Dobbins were Mike Davis and Justice Hill.
After being a healthy scratch for each of the first two games, veteran blocking tight end Nick Boyle was set to make his season debut. The Ravens were hoping Dobbins and Boyle could provide a boost for a running game ranking last in the NFL in efficiency, according to Football Outsiders.
As expected, cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey (groin), Marcus Peters (knee), and Brandon Stephens (quadriceps) were active after all three practiced fully on Friday.
Rookie defensive tackle Travis Jones was active and set to make his NFL debut after working his way back from a knee injury sustained in the second preseason game. With Jones joining the defensive line rotation, veteran defensive end Brent Urban was a healthy scratch for Week 3.
After officially being downgraded to out on Saturday, left tackle Ronnie Stanley (ankle) missed his 30th game in the Ravens’ last 31 contests, a stretch including the postseason.
Veteran outside linebacker and former Gilman star Brandon Copeland and rookie wide receiver Raleigh Webb were elevated from the practice squad for Sunday’s game.
Meanwhile, New England was without its top wide receiver and a starting safety for Week 3 with Jakobi Meyers (knee) and Kyle Dugger (knee) being deactivated. Former Ravens cornerback Shaun Wade was a healthy scratch.
Below were Sunday’s inactives:
BALTIMORE
WR James Proche
RB Kenyan Drake
CB Daryl Worley
DE Brent Urban
OT Ronnie Stanley
NEW ENGLAND
WR Jakobi Meyers
S Kyle Dugger
DT Sam Roberts
ILB Raekwon McMillan
QB Bailey Zappe
CB Shaun Wade
