With the Ravens conducting their fourth full-team workout of training camp on Wednesday afternoon, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. Lamar Jackson was limited in his return, completing only one pass and throwing an interception in a handful of 11-on-11 reps before leaving the field with trainers roughly an hour into practice. He certainly didn’t look 100% over his illness, but it was nothing over which to be alarmed either.
2. With Todd Monken saying he was “not tied into where he’s at at this moment” and deferring to John Harbaugh and the trainers when asked whether Jackson’s early exit was planned, it seemed apparent it wasn’t. Monken rightly dismissed any concerns about Jackson or the offense being behind.
3. The defense again dominated with the secondary intercepting a whopping six passes with Marlon Humphrey grabbing two and Kyle Hamilton and Marcus Williams also coming away with picks. That’s a lot when considering these first four days were essentially an extension of the spring without pads or real contact yet.
4. Josh Johnson threw three of those picks and hasn’t had a particularly impressive start to camp running with the starting offense. The Ravens named the 38-year-old the No. 2 quarterback early in the offseason and have expressed much confidence in him, but he’s still searching for his rhythm.
5. Assistant head coach and pass game coordinator Chris Hewitt was the latest to describe Hamilton in unique terms, calling him a “unicorn” at safety. It’s crazy to remember Hamilton is just 23, but he has a chance to be a truly special player for a long time.
“He's not a finesse player. He's got it all. He's a different player. He's very unique. There's not many players in the league or coming into the league that I see look like that."
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6. Nate Wiggins is still another month away from his 21st birthday, but his competitiveness has stood out to Hewitt even more than the Ravens initially thought. He’s still developing, of course, but Wiggins is getting his hands on one or two passes every day, which puts him right on track.
7. Humphrey, Hamilton, Williams, and Brandon Stephens for the base. Wiggins, Eddie Jackson, and Arthur Maulet as options for the nickel and dime. Staying healthy will be critical like it is for any team, but this secondary looks as formidable on paper as any Baltimore has fielded in quite some time.
8. That’s not even including the likes of injured fourth-round rookie T.J. Tampa and 2022 fourth-round selection Jalyn Armour-Davis, who is entering a pivotal preseason. Armour-Davis is healthy and practicing well, coming away with an end-zone interception on a Johnson jump ball intended for Mark Andrews.
9. The spring absence of Deonte Harty raised some questions, but Chris Horton said he’s “here for a reason” and called him “a special player” in the return game. There have been endless questions about the new kickoff setup, but I’m just ready to see it in action at this point.
10. Asked about Trenton Simpson starting next to Roquan Smith, Zach Orr said the second-year inside linebacker “is ready along with a lot of the guys” before mentioning Malik Harrison, Josh Ross, and Chris Board. That sounded more like Orr not wanting to gas up Simpson too early.
11. The pre-snap penalties continued for the offensive line with Josh Jones, Daniel Faalele, and Ben Cleveland each having to run laps for an infraction. False starts have been a regular occurrence since the spring, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens with live contact being introduced.
12. As I frequently remind, practice observations are a fun football fix, but we’re now hitting another offseason checkpoint as the pads are about to come on. Nothing to this point has been particularly meaningful beyond health and the general picture of preparing for the season. Business picks up from here.
