With the Ravens practicing in helmets, shells, and shorts for their 10th full-squad workout on Monday, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. Ronnie Stanley practiced for the first time since injuring his left ankle last Nov. 1, an encouraging development five weeks before the season opener. The standout left tackle did individual work for roughly 30 minutes before leaving the field, but he’s “very much on schedule,” according to John Harbaugh.
2. Meanwhile, Bradley Bozeman left practice with what Harbaugh said was “a little strain” that shouldn’t be a long-term concern “at all.” Alejandro Villanueva also sat out the latter portion of practice, but he never left the field.
3. Harbaugh said Kevin Zeitler’s return from a foot sprain “won’t be [in] like a day or two, but it won’t be a month. So, there you go. Does that narrow it down for you?” Crystal clear.
4. Given the current state of the offensive line, Lamar Jackson playing in Saturday’s preseason opener shouldn’t even be a consideration. I’d also put him in the old red practice jersey (see below) as an extra “no-contact” reminder for Wink Martindale’s blitz-happy defense.
5. Jackson threw the ball with good zip, but he mostly stuck with short passes and his internal clock appeared off on several occasions, which is to be expected after the layoff and with so many offensive players in and out of practice. He’s looked fine over his first two workouts.
6. Chuck Clark nearly picked off a Jackson pass intended for James Proche during an 11-on-11 period. The emergence of a third safety such as rookie Brandon Stephens would allow Martindale to use Clark in different ways in the dime package as he did two years ago.
7. Despite returning to the practice field for the first time since last Wednesday, Rashod Bateman appeared to be pretty limited, so we’ll see what this means for his status approaching the first preseason game. Marquise Brown again did conditioning on a side field and was moving very well.
8. Josh Oliver had a big seven-on-seven red-zone period in which he caught two touchdowns — one from Jackson and the other from Trace McSorley — and another pass inside the 5. Harbaugh reminded of his lack of NFL experience and need to keep learning, but it was a promising day.
9. Ar’Darius Washington intercepted a McSorley pass intended for Devin Gray during a one-on-one drill and broke up a couple other passes. The undrafted rookie safety from TCU is practicing with more and more confidence and is someone to watch in these preseason games.
10. To make room for new wide receiver Siaosi Mariner, Baltimore waived Jake Breeland, who hasn’t practiced with the team since signing as an undrafted rookie last year. It’s a shame he hasn’t yet made it back from his 2019 knee injury after a solid collegiate career at Oregon.
11. With more and more technology being used during games and even practices, you get a sense of just how much impact players like Marlon Humphrey and Mark Andrews are students of the game. You often see them and others reviewing plays on tablets in between practice reps.
12. Upon receiving a nice hand from fans as he came to the sideline, Justin Tucker initially waved in a modest fashion before using a Hulk Hogan-like gesture to elicit more applause moments later. I wish that guy would come out of his shell.
