With the Ravens conducting their final padded practice before the preseason opener against Philadelphia on Friday night, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. After a strong spring and start to summer, Arthur Maulet is out with a knee issue that’s still being evaluated. While John Harbaugh said it’s not a “season-ending” injury, that’s not saying much with the Super Bowl still six months away. Maulet missing extended time would be an unfortunate development.
2. Maulet’s absence could open the door for more situational snaps at the nickel for Ar’Darius Washington, who registered another interception — and celebratory backflip — after Lamar Jackson tried to force a throw to Mark Andrews. Washington is having an excellent week going into the first preseason game.
3. The play of the day was the practice’s only fully “live” snap when Sanoussi Kane leveled Qadir Ismail to keep him out of the end zone on a 2-point conversion pass attempt. The defensive sideline erupted, and the play reminded how much faster the sport is when played fully live.
4. While Deonte Harty also returned to practice on a limited basis, Adisa Isaac (hamstring) made his on-field debut after being activated from the non-football injury list. The third-round rookie will need some time to ramp up, but there are real rotation snaps up for grabs in that edge rusher competition.
5. Harbaugh said Odafe Oweh “should be fine” after spraining his ankle “a little bit,” but you hope that isn’t the same ankle that cost him multiple games last year. Oweh has had a really good start to camp, so you’d hate to see his momentum slowed approaching a big season.
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6. With the young wide receivers not standing out much, Russell Gage is an interesting signing if he’s recovered from the torn patellar tendon sustained last August. That’s a tough injury, but he’s only 28 and a legitimate No. 3 or 4 option in an offense lacking proven wide receiver depth.
7. With no live tackling for veterans and the offensive line still being sorted out, getting a feel for Derrick Henry hasn’t been easy, but the freakish back flashed a trademark cutback and outran the defense for a 25-plus-yard touchdown. Baltimore has been on the wrong side of that before.
8. You sense this offense would prefer using Charlie Kolar as the in-line tight end more frequently than Patrick Ricard to be less predictable, so we’ll see what Kolar’s blocking looks like in preseason games. It’s something on which the 2022 fourth-round pick has focused heavily the last couple offseasons.
9. Sean Ryan had the offensive play of the day making a juggling catch down the sideline that went for a long touchdown. The former practice-squad member has flashed the most among the young wide receivers, but he needs some strong preseason performances to really help his roster chances.
10. The Ravens conducted their annual slip-and-slide fumble recovery drill for the rookies, which is always a fun way to conclude a hot practice day. Harbaugh even participated and enjoyed telling everyone he was successful recovering the loose ball.
11. Thanks to NFL referee Clete Blakeman for taking time to go over the 2024 rule changes with local reporters before Tuesday’s practice. Like many others, he acknowledged the new kickoff is a “total work in progress” with the mechanics of calling it representing a substantial challenge for even veteran officials.
12. Hearing how officials have been instructed to enforce the hip-drop tackle ban, I suspect we’ll see many more fines for offenses than actual flags on the field. Unlike the horse-collar tackle that starts so high, many of these are going to be difficult to see in traffic in real time.
