The bleachers are back in place, the fields are lined, and the heat is on. Training camp is here.
Ravens rookies returned to the Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills last week, and veterans are due to report on Tuesday, July 26. The first full-squad practice is scheduled for July 27, at 2:35 p.m., with roughly 1,000 fans in attendance. (For fans planning to attend practice, here’s a tip: Look for the end-zone cameras, which look like streetlights between the goalposts; that field is where full-team, 11-on-11 drills will take place, so the best seats for the best part of practice will be there.)
Besides Lamar Jackson’s contract situation, which continues to hover over the franchise like the July sun, on-field questions abound as the Ravens look to distance themselves from an injury-ravaged 2021 season that ended with six straight losses and an 8-9 record, just the second losing season in head coach John Harbaugh’s 14-year tenure.
As the Ravens prepare to unveil the 2022 version of their team, here are five key questions:
1. How does Lamar Jackson look?
The narrative of this team continues to center around Jackson, especially this summer considering he stayed away from voluntary OTA workouts and is coming off the first injury of his career, which cost him the final four games of the 2021 season.
There was speculation that Jackson, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract, would hold out of training camp until his contract situation was resolved, but he reported back to the team facility on July 20. Will he “hold in,” and limit his work until his contract situation is resolved? He’s given no indication of that.
Jackson took part in the three-day mandatory June minicamp and has added about 10 to 15 pounds of muscle to his frame.
This summer, Jackson will work to build rapport with a group that no longer includes his good friend and top wideout from last year, Marquise Brown. Second-year receiver Rashod Bateman and Jackson played only seven games together and had virtually no training camp time. Jackson missed the first 10 days of camp last year after testing positive for COVID, and just a couple of days after he returned, Bateman went down with a groin injury that cost him the first five games of the season.
Any work Jackson gets with Bateman will be beneficial, and the same holds true for emerging receivers James Proche and Tylan Wallace, along with rookie tight ends Charlie Kolar and Isaiah Likely.
2. When do the injured running backs return?
The Ravens have officially placed running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards on the physically-unable-to-perform (PUP) list to begin training camp, and head coach John Harbaugh has said they will proceed cautiously with the backs as each returns from a season-ending torn ACL suffered last preseason.
Dobbins declared last week that he “damn sure” will be ready for Week 1 of the regular season, and he and Edwards can be removed from the PUP list as soon as they are medically cleared to practice. (If a player begins the regular season on the PUP list, however, he must sit out a minimum of four games.)
Justice Hill, who also missed all of last season (Achilles), returned to practice during OTAs. Assuming Dobbins and Edwards return during training camp with no setbacks, Hill could find himself battling for a final roster spot with veteran Mike Davis, signed in the offseason, second-year back Nate McCrary and rookie sixth-round pick Tyler Badie.
Dobbins and Edwards, along with Jackson, figure to anchor the ground game, but how quickly offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s 2022 run game can get up to speed might depend on how quickly Dobbins and Edwards can get back on the field.
3. Will Ronnie Stanley be ready, and what happens if he isn’t?
The Ravens expected left tackle Ronnie Stanley to return to his All-Pro form last season after rehabilitating an ankle injury sustained midway through the 2020 season. Instead, Stanley struggled through just one game before being shut down again. He underwent another operation on his ankle and missed the rest of the season.
“There’s probably a lot of blame to go around,” general manager Eric DeCosta said after the season. ” … My understanding and belief was that Ronnie would come back [in 2021] and play really good football for us … and be ready to go, and he wasn’t. That was a big setback.”
As with the running backs, expect the Ravens to tread cautiously with Stanley, who will begin training camp on the PUP list. They do appear to be better equipped to handle any setback than last year, when veteran Alejandro Villanueva struggled to spell Stanley and super-utility lineman Patrick Mekari became the starting right tackle.
The Ravens signed veteran Morgan Moses, the presumptive starter at right tackle, and Ju’Wuan James is a potential candidate at left tackle, though he is coming off an Achilles tear and has played in just three games in the past three seasons. Mekari remains a fill-in possibility anywhere on the line — one reason the Ravens re-signed him to a three-year, $15.4 million deal this offseason.
The tackle depth includes Tyre Phillips — also a candidate to start at left guard — as well veterans David Sharpe, who was re-signed by the team last week, and Jaryd Jones-Smith, along with rookie fourth-round pick Daniel Faalele.
As always, the Ravens will try a lot of combinations up front during training camp. The starting left guard job figures to be a spirited competition, and the progress of rookie center Tyler Linderbaum bears watching. But Stanley’s return, whenever it happens — or his continued absence — will be the most significant development with this group.
4. Who emerges on the edge?
The outside linebacker group also has major injury concerns, with Tyus Bowser rehabilitating from a torn Achilles in the season finale last year — he will begin training camp on the PUP list — and rookie second-round pick David Ojabo out until at least midseason with a torn Achilles sustained in March. This group then suffered a tragic loss in June with the death of linebacker Jaylon Ferguson.
The team recently re-signed veteran Justin Houston, and he figures to line up as a starter opposite Odafe Oweh until at least Bowser’s return. Houston, praised for his mentorship of younger linebackers last season, isn’t an every-down player at age 33, and the Ravens will be hoping young edge rushers emerge this summer.
It isn’t always easy to evaluate edge rushers in training camp, when they are ordered not to sack their own quarterback, but second-year linebacker Daelin Hayes has a good chance to assert himself. Hayes, who was limited by injury to just one game last season, fared well in OTA workouts this spring. He was in the backfield a lot against Ravens backup tackles and broke up several passes.
Veteran Vince Biegel, who as a member of the Miami Dolphins played for new outside linebackers coach Rob Leonard, could see action at inside or outside linebacker. The Ravens might also give a look to Malik Harrison on the outside.
The Ravens re-signed veteran Steven Means as well, and have a couple of undrafted rookies in Jeremiah Moon and Chuck Wiley who should get plenty of looks this summer with Bowser and Ojabo sidelined.
5. Will John Harbaugh play his starters in preseason games?
One of the defining moments of last preseason featured running back J.K. Dobbins writhing on the turf at FedEx Field after tearing the ACL in his left knee. Dobbins missed the entire season, and the team’s video crew captured a dejected Harbaugh being consoled by players on the sideline after the injury.
In the past, Ravens starters have played in preseason games, usually just a series or two in the first game and gradually ramping up to about a half in Week 3. Harbaugh’s reaction to Dobbins’ injury, and subsequent comments he made, suggest he might change his approach to preseason play.
Asked a few days after Dobbins’ injury whether starters should play at all in preseason games, Harbaugh said it was a “fair conversation.”
“Any time a guy gets hurt, you ask yourself those questions,” he said.
Earlier this offseason, Harbaugh said that in the wake of last year’s rash of injuries — 25 Ravens landed on injured reserve — the team would rethink its approach to all phases of its practice regimen.
The Ravens play three preseason games, hosting Tennessee on Aug. 11, visiting Arizona on Aug. 21 and then hosting Washington in the preseason finale on Aug. 27.
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