OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta got a head start beginning to trim the roster to the NFL-mandated 53 players by Saturday’s 4 p.m. deadline.
Baltimore waived outside linebacker John Daka, wide receiver Michael Dereus, and offensive lineman Sean Pollard, a trio of undrafted rookie free agents who weren’t present for Monday morning’s practice. The Ravens also placed veteran wide receiver DeAndrew White on injured reserve.
All were considered long shots to make the 53-man roster and are unlikely to be re-signed to the expanded 16-man practice squad for the 2020 regular season. The roster now has 76 active players, meaning DeCosta must make 23 more moves by Saturday afternoon.
Multiple reports indicated tight end Charles Scarff had also been waived Monday morning, but an injury concern with rookie tight end Eli Wolf prompted the Ravens to keep Scarff, a member of last year’s practice squad. A health concern with Wolf — who just returned from an undisclosed injury late last week — could further complicate an underwhelming No. 3 tight end competition that also includes veteran Jerell Adams.
“That’s still to be determined. We’ve got guys battling it out and showing what they can do every day,” offensive coordinator Greg Roman said. “Everything they’re doing, we’re taking a close look at. Jerell and Eli are really kind of the two guys that are really, really battling for it at this point. We’ll just see how it goes. It’s part of the process.
“Patrick Ricard also does a lot of those things for us as well, so we’ve got some flexibility there.”
With former first-round pick Hayden Hurst having been traded to Atlanta in March, the Ravens presumably want a trustworthy third option behind Mark Andrews and Nick Boyle after using at least two tight ends on 42 percent of their plays and three tight ends just under 7.5 percent of the time last season, according to SharpFootballStats.com.
In addition to the aforementioned players, running backs Mark Ingram and Kenjon Barner (leg), right tackle Orlando Brown Jr., cornerback Anthony Averett, defensive tackle Justin Madubuike, wide receiver Chris Moore (finger), and cornerback Josh Nurse were not participating in Monday’s workout.
