LOCK: Haloti Ngata, Chris Canty, Marcus Spears, Arthur Jones, Brandon Williams
BUBBLE: Terrence Cody, DeAngelo Tyson, Will Pericak
LONG SHOT: Cody Larsen
INJURED: Kapron Lewis-Moore (will likely be placed on injured reserve or reserve physically unable to perform list to begin the season)
Skinny: Cody is on the 53-man roster for now but hasn’t been overly impressive in training camp and didn’t stand out playing against backups Thursday. Brandon Williams has surged ahead of him on the depth chart, but the Ravens need to have some depth at nose tackle behind Ngata, which helps Cody’s case in sticking around for the final year of his rookie contract.
LINEBACKERS (16)
LOCK: Daryl Smith, Elvis Dumervil, Courtney Upshaw, Terrell Suggs, Arthur Brown, Josh Bynes, John Simon, Pernell McPhee
BUBBLE: Albert McClellan, Adrian Hamilton, Nigel Carr, Bryan Hall
LONG SHOT: D.J. Bryant, Brandon Copeland, Meshak Williams
INJURED: Jameel McClain (will likely be placed on the reserve physically unable to perform list to start the season)
Skinny: Of the bubble players listed, Hamilton impressed the most against the Buccaneers, collecting a quarterback hit and a sack on consecutive plays, but he is also stuck behind several pass rushers on the depth chart. McClellan’s strong special-teams ability gives him the strongest case to grab a roster spot even though he’s fallen behind Bynes on the depth chart.
CORNERBACKS (8)
LOCK: Lardarius Webb, Jimmy Smith, Corey Graham, Chykie Brown
BUBBLE: Chris Johnson, Marc Anthony, Moe Lee
LONG SHOT: None
SUSPENDED: Asa Jackson (will be suspended for the first eight games of the regular season)
Skinny: It was not a good opening game for the seventh-round pick Anthony and Lee’s interception was soiled by his foolish choice to try to lateral the ball à la Ed Reed. Needing a strong preseason to justify a roster spot after his eight-game suspension concludes, Jackson collected an interception in the preseason opener and appeared strong in coverage.
SAFETIES (8)
LOCK: Michael Huff, Matt Elam, James Ihedigbo
BUBBLE: Anthony Levine, Omar Brown
LONG SHOT: Brynden Trawick, Gary Walker
SUSPENDED: Christian Thompson (will be suspended for the first four games of the regular season)
Skinny: An ability to play both safety and cornerback and special-teams prowess give Levine the slight edge over Brown at this stage as you’d expect the Ravens to keep a fourth safety on the roster. In a similar position to Jackson, Thompson has been virtually invisible in practices this summer as he’s rapidly on track to be a bust as a fourth-round pick from just a year ago.
SPECIALISTS (3)
LOCK: Sam Koch, Morgan Cox, Justin Tucker
BUBBLE: None
LONG SHOT: None
Skinny: The Ravens could add another kicker to the 90-man roster to share practice reps with Koch and Tucker over the next week or two, but this group is as safe as you’ll find on the field.
