With the Ravens continuing their three-day mandatory minicamp in Owings Mills on Wednesday, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. A relatively uneventful second day culminated with first-round pick Zay Flowers signing his rookie contract, meaning Baltimore has its entire 2023 draft class under contract roughly six weeks before the start of training camp. He’ll receive $14 million fully guaranteed over four years.
2. Lamar Jackson threw a red-zone touchdown to Nelson Agholor on the first play of 11-on-11 drills, but the defense again won the day. The offense did pick it up late in Wednesday’s practice, but it was a choppy showing for Jackson and that side of the ball.
3. Marlon Humphrey was more active than he was on Tuesday, keeping his feet inbounds to intercept a Jackson pass that bounced off Agholor’s hands. Reserve Kevon Seymour later picked off a Tyler Huntley pass thrown well behind Dontay Demus in a two-minute drill.
4. For a second straight day, there were multiple passes batted down at the line of scrimmage with Odafe Oweh, Justin Madubuike, and Angelo Blackson among the defenders to get their hands up in passing lanes. Jackson did deliver a trademark sidearm completion to Mark Andrews at one point, however.
5. The play of the day was an acrobatic touchdown catch from Andy Isabella, who easily had his most active practice since joining Baltimore’s practice squad last year. The 5-foot-9 Isabella bested Ar’Darius Washington for a jump ball thrown by Josh Johnson during a 7-on-7 period.
6. Tarik Black got behind Rock Ya-Sin for a long touchdown from Jackson in an 11-on-11 period and caught another touchdown to continue a good day for long-shot wide receivers on the preseason roster. The 6-foot-3, 213-pound Black signed with the Ravens last January.
7. It was a good day for reserve defensive backs as Geno Stone, Brandon Stephens, and Daryl Worley all made strong plays on the football to register pass breakups. That said, the offense was without Rashod Bateman and is still ramping up Odell Beckham Jr. slowly.
8. J.K. Dobbins was a non-participant once again, and Todd Monken joked how he’d like to see him even jog down the field. “We’d love for him to be out here. Obviously, he’s not ready to go. But we’re excited, and I know he’ll be ready when he’s out there.”
9. Asked about using the versatility of Kyle Hamilton in the secondary, Mike Macdonald interestingly acknowledged a “tradeoff” in wanting to make sure Hamilton masters what’s necessary to become a starting safety in his second season. You’d still expect him to move around quite a bit, however.
10. After taking every first-team rep Tuesday, Ronnie Stanley sat out, but he said this is as good as he’s felt since before the 2020 campaign. “I definitely don’t take it for granted knowing the past couple of years how hard it is just to get back in the game.”
11. Chris Horton acknowledged the Ravens will miss Calais Campbell’s ability to block field goals, but he noted how the 6-foot-7, 309-pound Brent Urban has played a similar role before. It was Urban who blocked the field goal on Will Hill’s game-winning touchdown return against Cleveland in 2015.
12. Asked if the offense had to slow down this week with new arrivals for minicamp, Monken offered a candid answer. “No chance. They’ve got to catch up on their own. We’re in the world of iPads and being able to look ahead, and we’ve been in contact with those guys.”
