The Ravens have wrapped up their 10 days of OTA workouts and move to the next phase of the offseason when they hold their three-day mandatory minicamp June 13-15. The tenor will ramp up, with the entire roster expected to be assembled for the first time; several veterans opted to stay away from OTAs, but head coach John Harbaugh said he anticipates everyone will report for the mandatory minicamp. (Players incur fines if they don’t.)
The Ravens’ OTA workouts began to lay the foundation for the season, an especially important step for an offense being rebuilt by new offensive coordinator Todd Monken.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson was on hand for nearly all of the workouts, giving him valuable time to learn the terminology, methodology and personality of his new offensive boss.
Jackson watched from the side during full-team drills in the first OTA workout open to the media, as he had just returned to the facility a day earlier. In the next two open OTAs, Jackson was fully involved, and when he met with the media, he had a relaxed aura about him that suggested relief that his contract saga was behind him.
“It’s much more fun … [when] we’re keeping it about football, nothing else,” Jackson said.
As the team prepares for minicamp, the last team activity before training camp in July, here are three players whose stock is rising, and three whose stock could be falling:
STOCK RISING
WR NELSON AGHOLOR: Much of the offseason buzz about the Ravens’ rebuilt receiver room centered around the signing of Odell Beckham Jr. and the drafting of Zay Flowers in the first round. Plus, 2021 first-round pick Rashod Bateman is expected to be fully healthy after missing the final 11 games last season with a foot injury.
Agholor was a more under-the-radar addition, but he was one of the standouts at the OTA workouts open to the media. Beckham did not attend OTA practices, Bateman took part in some individual drills, and Flowers missed the final open workout with a soft-tissue injury. (Harbaugh said it was minor and he expected Flowers back on the field for minicamp.)
Agholor, signed to a one-year, $3.25 million deal, was the offensive star of the final open OTA practice, making several big catches. He made a fully extended catch across the middle and caught two back-shoulder throws from Jackson over rookie cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly.
Jackson will need to build rapport and trust with his rebuilt corps of receivers, and he appeared to do that with Agholor more than anyone else this spring.
OL DANIEL FAALELE: The Ravens have an open left guard spot after losing Ben Powers to free agency, and head coach John Harbaugh mentioned earlier this year that Faalele, the second-year tackle, would be in the mix for the job. That was notable, given that Faalele was exclusively a right tackle at Minnesota and filled in at left tackle at times for the Ravens but never played guard.
Ben Cleveland and John Simpson are considered the front-runners, but Faalele got plenty of run at left guard in the final OTA session open to the media and Harbaugh said he was pleased with what he saw.
“I wanted to see what he looked like before we got out of the minicamp and the OTAs at left guard, and he looked good,” Harbaugh said. “He could stay a little more square and things like that, but his feet look good, his hands look good, he’s able to punch quickly with his hands and react pretty quickly in there, so I wouldn’t rule him out as a potential left guard.”
Harbaugh often likes to say, “the more you can do,” in assessing the value of his players, and Faalele is trying to show that. Harbaugh also praised the effort of Cleveland and Simpson and added, “It’s going to be quite a fight for that spot.”
OLB DAVID OJABO: During a rookie season that he admitted tried his patience, Ojabo waited and waited before finally getting to play in two late-season games after recovering from a torn Achilles suffered at Michigan’s Pro Day last March. There has been a lot of speculation about whether Ojabo physically is ready to show the form he flashed in his final season at Michigan, when he developed into a consensus first-round pick before the injury. (The Ravens ultimately selected Ojabo in the second round.)
Ojabo said this spring that he feels “110 percent” healthy, and he looked every bit of that in full-team drills. Matched up against Patrick Mekari or other left tackles in place of Ronnie Stanley, who did not take part in OTAs, Ojabo showed explosiveness off the edge or stunting inside. More than once, he and high school teammate Odafe Oweh met in the offensive backfield and would have blown up the play or dropped the quarterback had contact been allowed.
Ojabo said he has added 10 pounds of muscle, and if the Ravens were looking for some gauge of Ojabo’s physical state, they have to be pleased with that they saw. He is hungry and looks ready to play a game tomorrow.
STOCK FALLING
RB J.K. DOBBINS: Dobbins did not take part in OTA workouts, which is completely his right since they are voluntary, but with the Jackson contract situation settled, Dobbins’ absence, combined with his vocal dissatisfaction at the end of last season and a series of cryptic tweets he sent out last week, developed into a major storyline.
Dobbins is set to become a free agent next spring, and his tweets hinted at frustration that no contract extension has come about. He undoubtedly has heard all the chatter about the Ravens’ resurgent receiving corps, the buzz about Odell Beckham Jr., and Lamar Jackson joking that he wants to throw for “6,000 yards.”
It’s fair for Dobbins to wonder how he fits in Monken’s new offense, but he didn’t get any answers by staying away all spring.
Harbaugh downplayed Dobbins’ absence, and his tweets, saying, “I know J.K., when he gets back here, will be determined [and] excited. He will work hard. His energy will be high. I know he’ll be in great shape, because I know who he is as a person, and I expect great things out of him this year.”
QB TYLER HUNTLEY: The Ravens have said all the right things about Huntley and how he gamely filled in during Jackson’s absences the past two years. But they didn’t go out and sign 37-year-old Josh Johnson just to be another cheap camp arm, or just to let Johnson add yet another framed jersey to his family room wall that could be floor to ceiling with them; Johnson has played for a league-record 14 teams, and he’s on his third stint in Baltimore.
Someone in the organization believes Johnson could be every bit as capable a backup quarterback as Huntley, and he would be about $1.5 million cheaper. Huntley is 3-5 as a starter during the past two seasons and also started the Ravens’ loss at Cincinnati in the playoffs, and his fumble on a sneak attempt that turned into a 98-yard Bengals touchdown proved to be the game’s decisive play.
Huntley, who took part in the Pro Bowl Games as the fourth alternate last season, signed a restricted free-agent tender this offseason worth roughly $2.6 million, and for now, he remains Jackson’s top backup, but the backup quarterback battle is worth watching through the summer. Johnson’s cap hit is about $1.1 million.
The league’s rule change that allows teams to have a third, emergency quarterback on hand for each game also could affect the roster-building process, since for that third quarterback to be available, he must be on the 53-man roster.
WR JAMES PROCHE: Every returning receiver not named Rashod Bateman and Devin Duvernay had reason to worry about job security after Harbaugh said that rebuilding the receiver room would be a top offseason priority.
In three seasons since being a sixth-round draft pick in 2020, Proche has struggled to find his place in the Ravens’ offense, with a total of 25 catches for 278 yards in 43 games. He’s played fewer than 10 offensive snaps in 28 of those games.
Now Proche walks into the receiving room and sees five first-round draft picks after the Ravens this offseason signed Beckham, Agholor and Laquan Treadwell and drafted Flowers with the No. 22 overall pick.
When the Ravens drafted Proche, general manager Eric DeCosta touted his ability as a punt returner, but Duvernay pretty much usurped that job their rookie year and has become a Pro Bowl return specialist. Tylan Wallace has proved to be the more capable special teams player.
That could leave Proche scrambling for a roster spot. Possibly working in Proche’s favor: The receivers ahead of him on the depth chart have a lengthy injury history, and the odds that all those receivers emerge from training camp fully healthy seem long.
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