The likelihood of Likely missing Buffalo kickoff and Andrews being on the mark

With the news that Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely will be missing a few weeks, Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the likelihood of Likely missing the season opener in Buffalo and what that does the role of Mark Andrews in a season of judgment and a deep, multiple offense full of weapons for Lamar Jackson.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the likelihood of Isaiah Likely missing the Ravens’ season opener due to a foot fracture requiring surgery, typically a six to eight-week recovery. Likely’s absence could impact the team’s early-season performance, especially against Buffalo, Detroit, and Kansas City. The conversation also highlighted the depth at the tight end position with Mark Andrews and Charlie Kohler, and the potential impact of DeAndre Hopkins. Additionally, they touched on the importance of player health, the depth of the roster, and the potential role of Keaton Mitchell in the offense.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Evaluate the effectiveness of Mark Andrews and DeAndre Hopkins in the early part of the season, with Likely potentially missing time.
• [ ] Monitor Isaiah Likely’s recovery and progress in returning from the foot injury.
• [ ] Assess the overall health and depth of the Ravens’ roster, particularly at positions like the offensive line and inside linebacker, where they may be more vulnerable to injuries.

Injury Concerns and Preseason Games

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the impact of injuries on the Ravens, mentioning his cravings for specific non-sponsored food.
• Nestor and Luke Jones talk about the importance of the preseason games and the challenges of starting the season without key players.
• Luke Jones explains the typical recovery time for a fractured foot, indicating a high likelihood that Isaiah Likely will miss the season opener.
• The conversation highlights the significance of the first month of the season, including games against Buffalo, Detroit, and Kansas City.

Impact of Likely’s Injury on the Team

• Luke Jones emphasizes the importance of Likely’s return, noting that the team has other offensive weapons like Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry.
• The discussion touches on the potential impact of Likely’s injury on his long-term effectiveness and the importance of not rushing his recovery.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the team’s depth at the tight end position, mentioning Mark Andrews and Charlie Kohler as key players.
• The conversation also covers the importance of maintaining overall health and avoiding setbacks during the recovery process.

Mark Andrews’ Role and Team Depth

• Nestor Aparicio shares a personal anecdote about watching a baseball game and falling asleep, highlighting the importance of accountability in sports.
• The discussion shifts to Mark Andrews’ role, with Nestor expressing confidence in Andrews’ ability to step up in Likely’s absence.
• Luke Jones explains that Andrews was still a significant player last season, despite a slow start and reduced reps due to Likely’s emergence.
• The conversation also covers the addition of DeAndre Hopkins and the potential for more three-wide receiver sets in the offense.

DeAndre Hopkins’ Contribution and Team Strategy

• Luke Jones discusses DeAndre Hopkins’ potential contribution, noting his experience and ability to win contested catches.
• The conversation highlights the importance of Hopkins in the offense, especially in the early part of the season.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the team’s depth at various positions, including running back and tight end, and the potential impact of injuries on the roster.
• The discussion also covers the importance of maintaining overall health and avoiding setbacks during the recovery process.

Training Camp and Player Health

• Nestor Aparicio asks Luke Jones for a report on training camp, including the use of pads and live periods in practice.
• Luke Jones notes the team’s recent practice habits, including three consecutive days of padded practices, which is unusual for recent years.
• The conversation touches on the importance of player health and the potential impact of injuries on the team’s performance.
• Luke Jones also mentions the potential role of Keaton Mitchell in the offense, highlighting his speed and versatility.

Team Depth and Injury Concerns

• Luke Jones discusses the team’s depth at various positions, noting areas of strength and potential weaknesses.
• The conversation highlights the importance of maintaining depth at key positions, such as offensive line and inside linebacker.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the team’s overall roster strength and the potential impact of injuries on the season.
• The discussion also covers the importance of managing player health and avoiding setbacks during the recovery process.

Final Thoughts and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio wraps up the conversation, mentioning upcoming events and guest appearances on the show.
• The conversation includes a mention of the Maryland crab cake tours and the 27th anniversary celebration.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the importance of maintaining overall health and avoiding setbacks during the recovery process.
• The discussion concludes with a focus on the team’s depth and the potential impact of injuries on the season.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens season opener, Isaiah Likely, foot fracture, training camp, preseason games, offensive line, Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Mark Andrews, DeAndre Hopkins, injury recovery, depth at positions, roster health, Baltimore positive, Maryland lottery.

SPEAKERS

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Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 task of Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively, almost, almost into August. And though couldn’t get out of July without injuries, I’m going to be doing, let me eating a lot of food in August. I was just saying to my wife, I’m craving a specific non sponsored food, and I’m thinking, I’m going to get over there a little later on in the month. And actually, this particular one is really high up on the list. I’m going to be eating every day in the month of August, 27 anniversaries into this thing here as of August the third it’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I’ll have fresher looks. I love Lucky Seven doublers. When I’m at the Beaumont next Thursday, that’ll be day three, sort of day 24 we’re doing a countdown. You’ll see it all at Baltimore positive. It all makes sense when it comes together. Also our friends at Curia wellness putting this up for this 27th anniversary. And you know this happens every single year where we are 27 years into having the football team, because we started this in 98 we did have the team by then. So if we’re putting errors as the 75 Colts are coming together, and Bruce Laird and I’ve been texting each other about Bert Jones this week training camp in July, and when Bert Jones comes on, Roger Carr and these guys. So we played six preseason games back in our era. They play three dude they couldn’t get out of July. And I appreciate that your headline was a little wordy on the website, but I thought likely is likely to miss the season opener. Yeah.

Luke Jones  01:37

I mean, I think the lip service is that he still has a chance to be ready for week one. And look, is there a non zero chance? Sure. But when you look at a fracture in the foot that requires surgery, I mean, you’re typically looking at, you know, even a minor one, that’s a six to eight week kind of thing. We’re five and a half weeks out, you know, as as of the middle of this week. You know, the day after the injury occurred, five and a half weeks before, before the season opener in Buffalo. So, I mean, I’d be shocked if he’s there for week one, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be there for week two. Doesn’t mean he won’t be there for week three. What hurts is knowing the first month of the season. How important it is, where you start the year in Buffalo, you have Detroit in week three, and you have Kansas City in week four. We’ve talked about it. I mean, that’s a that’s a pretty rigid opening month of the season. And we’ve talked about it going back to last September, when the Ravens started, oh and two, and what that meant, yeah, they made the playoffs. Yeah, they got to the divisional round, but that Owen to start. All but eliminated their best chances to be a number one seed, or at least a number two seed in the AFC, and it’s why they were playing in Buffalo rather than the bills coming to Baltimore. So you know the likely thing. I mean, it’s not catastrophic. I mean, this team has a lot of weapons on offense, right? There’s two guys in my mind that if they lost, as far as there’s, you know, offensive skill players, that would be major problems. Would be Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, right? You know. And of course, the offensive line is a different animal understanding, you know, if something happened to Stanley or Linder bomb, but really it’s Lamar and Derek Henry, that if you don’t have either one of those guys, it does fundamentally, drastically change what you are. And that’s a captain obvious statement. But in the case of Isaiah, likely you’d love to have him on the field against buffalo. You do wonder how this potentially impacts him as as far as his effectiveness when he does return, because I think back to two years ago, and that was a little bit later in the preseason. But if you recall, Marlon Humphrey had foot surgery in mid August of 2023 now he came back early in the season. But what do we remember about that season? He had all kinds of issues calves and multiple injuries. I mean, that was a injury plague season for him. So that’s where you want to be careful here. That’s where you don’t want to rush, likely, back too quickly. That’s where you want to make sure that from a conditioning standpoint, from a health standpoint, a strength standpoint, that he truly is 100% because you can’t be so so short sighted in saying, oh, we need them for Buffalo, oh, we need them for Detroit in week three. Oh, we need them for Kansas City in week four. And before you know it, he has some kind of setback, or, I don’t know, he pops a hamstring, whatever it is, if you rush him back and he’s not quite ready, and then you are starting to talk about how effective he is for the entire season, right? So, so that’s where the timing of this is on their side, right? It’s much better that this happened on July 29 or July 28 then August 20, and then you’re saying, Oh, well, he’s out the entire first month, kind of no question. Asked at that point. So he’s got time at the same time, you need to be smart. It’s a marathon. Yes, the month of September is important. Yes, they’ve got some big games early on, but you still have to be looking at it through the lens of the big picture. And I will say this, you’re certainly even happier now that you didn’t trade mark Andrews, right? I mean, we talked about that throughout March and April and even through the draft and even into OTAs a little bit. So yeah, you still have a three, three time Pro Bowl tight end, and you still have Charlie Kohler, who, whenever has gotten chances, has done a pretty nice job, you know, albeit limited opportunities, as a pass catcher. And, oh yeah, you added DeAndre Hopkins, so you can, you can use a few more three wide receiver sets if you need to. So yes, it’s unfortunate. Yes, it’s a bummer, but it’s hardly the most catastrophic news that you’re hearing around the league, where you’re already hearing teams losing starters for the season. I mean, what? The Browns just lost the starting corner in Emerson to an Achilles Miami’s already lost people, so it can always be worse. But yeah, I mean, especially in the heels of last year, and how many times Nestor did, even this off season, I just said to you, they were so healthy last year, and already our Darius Washington lost until at least late November, December. You know, whatever it is and and who knows how effective he’ll be, even if he does make it back. So you lost one starter. And now, in the case of likely not being, you know, this isn’t Chicken Little here. This isn’t the sky is falling, but it’s not ideal, you know, especially for him. I mean, it’s a big year for him. This is a chance, whether it’s big money from the ravens, which I think it will be, when it’s all said and done, I think they’re going to keep him or or, if not, to another team. Isaiah likely stands to make a lot of money with how he plays. So I mean, it’s, you know, it’s a bummer on that front. But again, the silver lining is you do have depth at this position. You know, it’s one of the very best position groups on either side of the football for this ravens 2025 roster, and it is early enough that, yeah, I’m not buying any realistic, likely chance of him being ready for week one. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be ready week two or week three and be able to play most of the season at a high level.

Nestor Aparicio  07:27

I made you say likely. I knew I would do that, all right, so while we’re on the tight end position, I’m going to have a shoot moment with you. So the the trade deadlines, Wednesday or Thursday, the last game they played was Wednesday afternoon game. And you know, a lot of afternoon games, like Sunday, Tuesday went they were just playing a lot of heat, hot I want every you know, the 20 people I know that are at the ballpark are sweating their their things off out there and put the game on. And, you know, I’m watching it, whatever. I fell asleep. I woke up. I fell asleep. It was tied. I woke up and I didn’t know who I was, where I was afternoon. You know, nap on 100 degree day. As you know, I’m up at three o’clock in the morning because I’m that guy planning our 27th anniversary and doing business and selling and bringing new sponsors on, like GBMC and plotting crab cake tours everywhere for the Maryland lottery, like all that stuff. So fell asleep, and I woke up I didn’t know who I was or where I was. The room was kind of cool and dark. The TV was on, and Melanie Newman is talking to Ben McDonald. I don’t know how far after the game this was, whether it was five minutes after, 35 minutes after, I don’t know if you were still watching it, but it was really the Mullins made the catch. They’re showing these stuff. They’re giving Mullins and Morton and O’Hearn their exit flowers. It’s them doing their version of postgame sports radio. And Ben’s just so good. I mean, I just, I’ve known Ben, you know, as long as almost you’ve been alive, Luke and I, and, you know, I’ve only seen Ben once recently. I communicate sometimes through channels and avenues with Ben and but Ben once took me out to lunch with Brad Pennington in a cab outside of the harbor Castle West and the Benihana. You want some Benihana? Let’s go have some Benihana. Nasty. So I like Ben, and I respect Ben, and in a lot of ways, just I’ve seen him for 40 years, he was a one one. He didn’t quite make it, but was always there, and always a really regular guy. And I expected to find this prima donna guy when I had a press pass in 92 didn’t find that at all. Find. To be the most regular guy. He’s really good at doing this baseball thing, so he’s a guy I have a lot of respect for. I just want to throw that in before I say what I’m going to say. He when I woke up out of this half sopranos nap, he’s staring into the camera with Melanie Newman, and he’s like, Charlie Morton always stood in front of his locker. And that’s, that’s a stand up guy, because we always stand up in front of the media. We always stand up in front of the media. Because that’s, you know, I woke up to that, and I’m, I almost grabbed my phone. I’m, like, I want to record this. Like, I’m, like, I want a video. Like, I wanted to stop it and record it. And then let’s talk about Mark Andrews. Um, so this is my Wayne’s World. So, um, it’s Mark Andrews. Even said anything to anybody about just like rolling out the back door. I mean, I just need to know,

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Luke Jones  10:58

what about not talking? No. I mean, no, I’m just saying, I don’t know we talked about this in January, man. I mean, I I get it a different era.

Nestor Aparicio  11:10

Yeah, accountability is not part of the year. I mean, I don’t even know what to say. Like, Ben McDonald gets it. That’s my point. My point is, Ben McDonald,

Luke Jones  11:18

I mean, Nestor, it’s almost August. Are we still talking about this? No, no, no, here’s where I’m

Nestor Aparicio  11:22

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going to take this. Okay? With Mark Andrews, he’s now the guy again, right? He’s now the guy in Buffalo again. He’s going to get 55 snaps for, you know? I mean, maybe, I mean, maybe they pulled, they go for one, I don’t know. I mean, he was sort of a wide receiver in this thing before the thing began, he’s now going to have a lane. And I’m not going to say it’s likely that, like unlikely, that likely will likely anything. But, you know, Cleveland’s week two, and I’ve seen Flaco talking already, by the way, the thing with him in a DD King, Kabbalah doing the find the quarterbacks. Have you seen that one? Yeah, I did. That was pretty cool. It’s so Joe. I mean, his father that he called his dad. Yeah, I love Steve, too. I just so, like, That’s so awesome. So anyway, I can love on Joey, even if he’s a brand, never steal her, though. Um, and then they got, they got Detroit, and they got, can’t say me, these are the big games early in the season. This is a real chance for Mark Andrews to be Hall of good and Hall of I’m really still Jason Witten, and I’m still not really washed up. And I’m not the guy who dropped the ball and ran off the podium and I’m the guy in the army commercial and I’m the, you know, like he’s the guy again. I like all he’s the guy again. And that’s doesn’t scare me. I don’t think he can’t not play. I do always think differently at dudes. I think differently of Elias when he fires his manager and doesn’t I mean, if you’re not accountable when you’re the guy, when that that’s all like that. That’s just a real baseline thing for me in life, in life and life, in life, in life with a guy who had a pregnant girlfriend at 15, a guy had a wife with cancer, a guy that’s hired, fired, stood in front, in behind, out on the internet. I’m just I’m big on accountability. I just am. I it just changes how I fundamentally feel about human beings when they’re not accountable, or when they lie. You know, things like that, like Harbaugh, but that’s another story altogether. But the the Andrews thing is he’s back in the spotlight again, and it’s not even August as we record. It’s July, and now they’re counting on him, man, like, well, they

Luke Jones  13:34

were counting on, I mean, let’s not act like he was, like their number three tight end or something like that. I mean, well, how does

Nestor Aparicio  13:39

this change things? And let’s talk football. How does it change things? But against buffalo, if likely can’t play,

Luke Jones  13:44

sure, and, and, I mean, Mark Andrews still, it’s not as though Isaiah likely had become tight end one. I mean, this was still at best one and one aiming. Mark Andrews caught 11 touchdowns last year like you know, and that was with him having a really slow start to the season. Remember, he had the car accident, like mid August. He got banged up from that. I mean, they kind of downplayed that, but he was banged up from that. He got off to a slow start, but, you know, he still finished, 55 catches, 673 yards, 11 touchdowns. I mean, that’s not Pro Bowl tight end numbers, but that’s still above average quality production. So, and

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Nestor Aparicio  14:24

he did lose reps as a prime of his career starter because of the emergence of the other tight end.

Luke Jones  14:29

He he did, but it wasn’t like this drastic, oh my gosh, he’s, I mean, he’s barely on the field anymore. I mean, you know that, obviously they

Nestor Aparicio  14:38

spent three years where he was the only one that Lamar could get the ball too. Sure, sure.

Luke Jones  14:43

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But again, my point is, I mean, this is still someone who played a lot last year. So was it was his target share as great as it was, yeah, in the Greg Roman offense, no, of course not. But they have better wide receivers

Nestor Aparicio  14:55

too. Like they have a better running back, yeah, the greatest running back of the era.

Luke Jones  14:59

But they’ve. Always run the ball a lot. I mean that that, you know, they, they ran the ball a lot last year. You do it more when you have Derek Henry, though, they run the ball a ton. Though that that hasn’t really changed. But, you know, Lamar, Lamar threw for 4000 yards last year. So, you know, as far as how it changes them, I look Andrews will play more. I don’t think that necessarily means he’s going to be on the field 100% of the snap. 100% of the snaps, either, necessarily, because you still have Charlie Kohler and Patrick Ricard who do the blocking tight end kind of thing for them. So I think Andrews will be on the field a little bit more. I think Kohler will get a few more snaps. But I think this also is going to give them an opportunity to pivot to a little more 11 personnel. I mean, you have DeAndre Hopkins, who you brought in, albeit for $5 million I’m not saying that he’s going to be a 70 snap a game wide receiver and be the guy that he was in Houston, you know, 1300 yards or anything like that. No, of course not. But it does give you a chance to maybe play him a little bit more early on Play, a little more three wide receiver set. What’s his

Nestor Aparicio  16:05

advantage at this point in his career? If his advantage was speed? I always saw him as a hands guy, a sideline guy, you know, a guy that could be effective at this point in his career, if he if he was motivated to play, and he’s here, and very that’s one of the things with these cats, you know, not just Antonio Brown being nuts or whatever. Just like, once you get $80 million in the bank and you’re rolling in Vegas in your Maserati, how important is football to you at that point? And, you know, I see a guy who, you know, nude ring fingers change Derek Henry’s and Hopkins, and guys who, quite frankly, have a chance to go to the Hall of Famer are already trajectory to be they’re looking for something that gives him an exclamation point that Steve Smith didn’t get here, even though He was really good when he was here. You know, his transgressions aside, but trying to get the exclamation point that maybe Matt Burke got here on the field, or Anquan Boldin got here on the field, which is a ring, and then whatever comes after that,

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Luke Jones  17:18

yeah. I mean, it’s a ring and it’s playing with Lamar Jackson. I mean, very simply. I mean, you’re talking, I mean, in Hopkins was with Patrick mahomes. Hopkins played in the Super Bowl this past February. Now, it didn’t go well for the chiefs. He was, you know, kind of phased out of being a heavy, a big part of their offense down the stretch, which I thought was kind of interesting, because you would think it would almost be the opposite, you know, he came in, they weren’t that great of an offense. It was probably the least powered offense that they, you know, ever took into a jam. But he but he was more productive actually, his first five or six games with Kansas City than he was at the end of the regular season into the postseason. Now, Hollywood Brown was back. Xavier worthy was emerging as their top wide receiver, you know, Hopkins, he kind of dealt with a knee issue going back to last training camp that I think hindered him over the course of the season. Nothing chronic, but something that, you know, like we just said with Isaiah, likely not that. I necessarily think this foot injury is going to keep him out long term. Will it affect his effectiveness. You know, when he’s back on the field, whether it’s September 15 or September 22 or October 1, you know, we’ll have to see. And again, when you miss that much time in training camp, you always worry about other things creeping up. You know, other soft tissue injuries, what have you. But to bring it back to Hopkins, because you asked what I think he brings for them at this point. It does bring experience. I think he’s someone who can still win on the outside, which is something they’re still looking for in a recent conversation you and I had, and this has even come up at the podium at a couple different points. I think there’s some appetite for using zay flowers in the slot a little bit more. But to do that, you need two guys on the outside. Bateman is one, and I think DeAndre Hopkins can be the other one. So he is still someone who, even if his speed isn’t where it was in his prime, you know, if you ask the ravens, you know, because they they track, you know, they’ve got the the catapult vests that they wear underneath their practice jerseys, he still runs really well, and I think they feel that he can be someone who can win contested catches, make contested catches, win 5050 balls, which we saw him do that for a long time in his career, at previous stops, that he can do that, and he can be a target for them, and another target for them inside the red zone. Now, all that being said, Do I think that adds up to him being a 900 yard receiver for the Ravens. Probably not, unless you’re talking about an injury to zay flowers, who, by the way, is banged up with a minor issue right now, but should be back here in the next few days, you know. And I don’t think there’s any reason to doubt that, at least at this point in time. But. But unless something happens as a flowers or Rashad Bateman, yeah, DeAndre Hopkins is only going to get so many opportunities. You know, I said it to you at the molt from the moment that they signed him. This feels like the Odell Beckham signing two years ago, except at the appropriate price point, right? If Odell Beckham signed for $5,000,000.02 years ago, I think it would have been okay and fine with the production he gave you. It wasn’t amazing, but it was solid, number three wide receiver production, and I think that’s what DeAndre Hopkins can give you. Know, I mean, he combined in 16 games with Tennessee and Kansas City last year, and understanding the Titans had a dumpster fire quarterback situation, and with Kansas City, he was kind of swimming upstream to know, to learn a new offense and all that. He had 56 catches for six under 10 yards and five touchdowns, if he’s anywhere in that neighborhood this year. I’m not, I’m not going to project that out, that that that guarantees the ravens are going to win the Super Bowl or anything like that. But I think you would say, Oh, for $5 million that’s That sounds about, right? I mean, wide receivers are making $30 million if he

Nestor Aparicio  21:08

catches, if he has that kind of productivity, that would be some third down catches. That would be some, you know, when you some ball games, he’s going to help you win. I don’t listen. I’m not down on that, and I’m not in any way with that, but I think you start to chip away at the offense with likely and whatever question marks you might have about andrews’s ability to play 17 games this point in his career, or whether he’s still the primary target for Lamar when he has been consistently. It wouldn’t mean, look if they’re on that podium together this year, and they win the Super Bowl, those two guys, if they’re doing it together, after what happened in Buffalo last year, after them being the first guys on the boat here six, seven years ago. You know? I mean, Andrew’s caught passes from from Joe Flacco, right? So, you know, so I and also ditched everybody on the podium in Buffalo last year, right? So, like, and was going to be traded in the off season, so or, or given away before the draft, for a third round draft pick or something like that, right? Because they felt that they were that high unlikely, and you’re saying the whole league will be high unlikely if he gets back on the field. That might be October, and that’s fine, but then they got to go win games. And that’s where this thing about buffalo in the front of this and Cleveland that everybody’s given up for dead, and they’re going to stink again. And but everybody likes Detroit, certainly Kansas City, it’s just such a tough first month that all these days with you out there running around, out in the heat and asking questions and trying to figure out what they’re trying to do, which is keep everybody healthy. And they’re not evaluating much, because they have all this veteran talent, their favorite to win the Super Bowl, the questions they have are much smaller questions in totality than the Cleveland Browns have when they lose their corner. But I mean this the health part of this in the early part of the year for a team that already has Marlon Humphrey and Ronnie Stanley and gyre Alexander. You know some guys that have been a little older, a little more brittle, a little bit more can they get on the field? Andrews, is that guy last year? I know it was a car accident, but I just flowers a little banged up this week. It just changes the complexion of all of it when you don’t have your horse for the course, yeah. I mean, no question,

Luke Jones  23:38

but you can say that about every team, right? I mean, it’s in the salary cap era

Nestor Aparicio  23:42

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you’ve got generally doing out there right now. Give me a little report on that. I mean, that’s where I am, is these guys are getting hurt. Give me a guy because I’m not. I’m a half paying attention to it because I’m sort of locked out and I’m just, I can’t deal with Cassie and the Ravens. I’m not doing that. Um, but I do that with Melanie and Ben. I’ve already given them their plug here today, but for me, watching it from afar, they’re probably, I mean, I remember Preston used to call it camp cream puff for Billick 20 years ago, when they were doing do a days in Westminster. I You’ve talked about it at length, but what have you seen out there in regard to helmets and shells into the ground and red jerseys.

Luke Jones  24:22

Yeah. Well, I mean, they had their first three padded practices, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, they practiced in pads three days in a row. I’ll be honest, and you’re allowed to do that. You know, the CBA mandates that you can’t do more than three straight days of full pads. But I’d be honest with you, and this is anecdotal. This is not me having kept track of this and my memory being Jim Palmer like that, I would remember this with absolute certainty. I can’t recall too many years recently, too many training camps in recent years where they’ve done pads three days in a row, like that. So that was interesting. Now that being said, it’s. Hitting to wrapping someone up. They did do a fully live period at the end of Wednesday’s practice. It was third team guys. I mean, like Teddy Buchanan, the rookie fourth round linebacker, was one of the most notable players on the field. Keaton Mitchell, maybe the most notable player on the field. But it was third team guys. You know, it was Devin Leary’s Devin Leary was a quarterback for the third string offense and bunch of guys that I’ve barely heard of, let alone you know someone who’s not out there every day, and you

Nestor Aparicio  25:30

said, Keaton Mitchell, and we’re trying to put this offense together. And thought about him a year and a half, and I’m thinking to myself, there’s a guy there that might have by the end of the year, 70 runs, 50 catches. You know, he may be a key part of what they can do in some weird Todd monkin way to have the fastest guy on the field be the other guy with Lamar and zay like they could kill you with speed, because that’s one thing I haven’t seen. Is him and Derek Henry, so much, right? Together. I

Luke Jones  26:07

mean, and I would temper that a little bit, just from the standpoint of, they really love Justice Hill. And Justice Hill had a heck of a year last year, right? So, so you have Justice Hill in that equation. Now an injury changes everything, right? I mean, in the same way now we’re talking about Mark Andrews, potentially playing more, Charlie Kohler playing more. Maybe that’s more snaps for DeAndre Hopkins. And you go a little more, 11 personnel rather than 12 personnel.

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Nestor Aparicio  26:30

The oil should have this problem with their pitching depth that we see here. Just sort of like, go

Luke Jones  26:34

ahead, I’m sorry, although, although most teams in baseball are saying that about their

Nestor Aparicio  26:38

pitching at right, wonder why the ravens are a Super Bowl contender. This is part of the, you know,

Luke Jones  26:42

8

they have good depth, right, so, but you know, Keith Mitchell’s gonna be interesting, I mean, and you know,

Nestor Aparicio  26:47

could he get

Luke Jones  26:50

345, touches a game on offense? I think he’s gonna be there. I think there’s a good chance he’s gonna be their primary kick returner. So I think that’s kind of interesting, especially, you know, this different kickoff that we saw implemented last year. I’ve heard coaches say that it’s it’s not terribly different from an outside zone scheme in terms of how you draw up your blocking and everything. And Keaton Mitchell is someone that I think could be really successful doing something like that, so maybe we see him more so in that capacity early on. But yeah, if he’s healthy and right, and if his speed looks more in line with where he was two years ago, then yeah, you want to find some ways to get him some touches now. You still have Derrick Henry, you still have Lamar Jackson, who doesn’t run as much as he did five years ago, but you don’t want him to not run at all. I mean, that would be dumb, too. So, you know, there’s one football, right? And that’s part of what we’ve been talking about with, you know, Andrews and likely, these three wide receivers, Lamar, Derek, Henry Justice Hill, but you know, I I remind everyone Keaton Mitchell. Two years ago, before his awful knee injury, he averaged 8.4 yards per carry. Now it was 47 carries. It wasn’t a huge sample, but he was electric every time they gave him the football. So there’s another wild card to throw in there, but Todd monk and even acknowledged it in his first podium at Camp late last week, where he kind of said, Look, we really like Keaton Mitchell, but we do have Derek Henry. We do have Justice Hill. We have Lamar Jackson, who’s the greatest rushing quarterback in the history of the NFL. So there is only one football but it’s a great option to have, and you never know what’s going to happen, right? I mean, we’re already seeing a couple injuries here, one really serious back in the spring with our Darius Washington Isaiah, likely, it’s not serious, but it’s moderate. You know, he’s going to miss all of the preseason. That’s not ideal. So, you know, but that that creates an opportunity for someone else. So yeah, Keaton Mitchell, I can’t sit here with any conviction and say, Oh yeah, he’s going to run for 500 yards, and he’s going to have 300 receiving yards, but there’s a scenario where that that happens, right? Derek Henry could turn an ankle and miss three games, right? I mean, Justice Hill has had in major injuries in the past, so you never quite know, but that’s why you’re trying to build and have as much Ross, as much roster depth as you can have. Do they have some positions where it’s light? Absolutely. They get one injury to their offensive line, shaky at best, right? I mean, some people would say It’s shaky even as it’s presently constructed. I have more confidence in that, but they don’t have a ton of depth on their offensive line, inside linebacker. Okay? We could say what we want about Trenton, Simpson and Teddy Buchanan. What happens if something happens to roquan Smith? What does that position look like then? Right? So you’re always going to have a couple spots on the field where you’re kind of keeping your fingers crossed and you’re holding your breath, because you can’t have great depth everywhere. I mean, you just can’t. I mean, this is. Is maybe the best roster of the NFL. If it’s not the best, it’s certainly a top three or four roster, in my mind. But I just gave you a couple position groups where things are a little bit dicey. Safety. You love Kyle Hamilton. You love Malachi Starks. Heaven forbid something happens to one of those guys, in addition to what’s already happened to our Darius Washington, then you’re talking about Sanusi Kane or Bo braid. I mean, I like those guys as developmental backup players, but those guys aren’t ready to be starting players. So then you’d be talking about going and getting a veteran. So you’re always trying to, you know, you want to have depth at the most premium positions, like, for example, corner the Ravens have on paper, they have really good depth at corner. Now I’ll acknowledge a couple of those guys in that group do have injury histories, but when should Adobe Uzi a is your number four corner on paper right now? That’s good depth because that’s a starting caliber corner right there when he’s healthy. So yeah, they have depth at corner. They have depth at tight end, you know, running back. They have a lot of depth at running back, I mean, because we just talked about Keaton Mitchell and the fact that I don’t know if he’s going to get the football out, even though he’s a talented player, but you just hope that when you do have some injuries, because you know you’re going to have some, and they’re already experiencing that, that they happen at a spot where you can endure it a little bit better than some other spots. But, you know, people will also say, you know, it always seems to happen at a spot where we can least afford it to happen. So that’s not the case with likely, but that’s where you do look at this thing and say, All right, I’m buying the starting offensive line, but this backups, boy, you’re going to miss Patrick McCary, you know. And I’m not begrudging them, you know, Patrick McCary got more money in Jacksonville than I would have paid him to stay in Baltimore. So God bless him. Good for him. He got paid. He deserved it. But, you know, that’s where you look at this thing. And every team is in this category where even the best teams have two or three position groups, where right now, their GM and their head coach, they’re having their daily conversations, and they’re saying, Man, we can’t have that guy go down, because then we’ll be in trouble. But you know, the likely thing’s unfortunate, but again, much rather have this happen in late July, than a month from now, and then we’re talking about him missing the first five or six games.

Nestor Aparicio  32:24

Luke Jones is on the field, knowing mills. We’ll be getting all the Orioles trade activities through the deadline, through the weekend, and we’ll talk about the death of Ryan Sandberg as the Orioles are out Chicago this weekend, I’m bringing on some pretty cool guests. I have booked on the artists who created the nasty theme song back in the 1990s wame who was going into the hip hop Hall of Fame. So it’s gonna be a wild week around here. The Maryland crab cake tours back out on the road. Our 27th anniversary is here. Uh, you’ll hear some, uh, some fun conversations over the weekend as we get ready to celebrate 27 great places to eat. On behalf of our friends at curio wellness. I am Nestor. He is Luke, baseball, football, Summer, food, crab cakes. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.