OWINGS MILLS, Md. — A projected starter and two other starting hopefuls were held out from practice as the Ravens officially began training camp Thursday morning.
Right tackle Orlando Brown, guard Jermaine Eluemunor, and outside linebacker Shane Ray didn’t participate in the first full-squad workout after failing the team’s conditioning test. All three observed Thursday’s practice in workout clothes and will remain on the active non-football injury list until being cleared to practice.
While Brown is expected to be the full-time starter after starting 10 games as a rookie, Eluemunor is competing for the open starting left guard job and Ray, a former first-round pick of the Denver Broncos, is vying for playing time in a wide-open competition at edge rusher. With Eluemunor and Brown not practicing, rookie Ben Powers was playing left guard and veteran James Hurst was manning right tackle for the first-team offense Thursday.
“It’s a failed physical and conditioning test, so those guys have to either pass the test or we will have certain conditioning protocol that they will have to go through,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “Really, we want to make sure that they’re ready to practice the way we want to practice and make sure they’re safe and make sure they’re productive and ready to go. We have a standard for that, and we stick to it.”
As expected, rookie first-round pick Marquise Brown did not take part in Thursday’s practice, but Harbaugh said it was a “great sign” the speedy wide receiver had passed his conditioning test and is now running at full speed, something he wasn’t yet doing in mid-June. Brown did extensive running and agility work on a side field and caught passes from the Jugs machine, but the Ravens appear committed to bringing him along slowly in his recovery from a Lisfranc foot injury sustained while playing for the University of Oklahoma last December.
General manager Eric DeCosta said the organization “conservatively” expected Brown to be ready for training camp on the night he was selected with the 25th overall pick in April’s draft.
“That’s in the doctors’ hands right now in terms of the healing process,” Harbaugh said. “No setbacks. He’s on schedule. They want to make sure ‘this cut’ and ‘that cut’ don’t make him feel pain. They’re probably erring on the side of caution to some degree, but I don’t want to put a time frame on it because it’s never in the coaches’ hands.
“I’m hopeful, and I’m really expecting him back here pretty soon.”
Defensive tackle Michael Pierce didn’t appear to be limited in his first practice since last season and addressed the weight and conditioning problems that kept him out of mandatory minicamp, saying he apologized to his teammates and coaches for “letting them down” last month. The 26-year-old praised the efforts of head athletic trainer Ron Medlen, head strength and conditioning coach Steve Saunders, and director of sports nutrition Sarah Snyder for devising workout and diet plans to get him back into playing shape over the last six weeks.
Entering the final year of his rookie contract, Pierce said he’s lost “a little over 20” pounds since minicamp and wants to lose more between now and the start of the season. The former undrafted free agent from Samford passed his conditioning test Sunday, noting that “you can’t fake that.” His playing weight was listed at 340 pounds last season.
“I delayed my dieting. I wasn’t diligent in my dieting. I wasn’t diligent in my conditioning,” said Pierce about an offseason in which he didn’t participate in the team’s voluntary workout program. “That’s a mistake I learned from. It really, really won’t happen again. That’s going to be my mission to prove to the guys that I’m here to work.”
Punt returner and cornerback Cyrus Jones was also practicing fully after not being cleared for spring workouts due to a medical condition he declined to disclose Thursday.
Veteran guard Alex Lewis remains on the active physically unable to perform list while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, but he was working out individually on a side field. Rookie guard Patrick Mekari (back) was activated from the PUP list for the first full-team practice after missing time late in the spring.
The Ravens waived wide receiver Quincy Adeboyejo, a former undrafted free agent who has struggled to stay healthy since showing promise two summers ago. The transaction was given a non-football injury designation, which likely means he failed his conditioning test.
