OWINGS MILLS, MD. — Odell Beckham Jr. streaked down the left sideline, covered by cornerback Rock Ya-Sin. Beckham laid out and appeared close to hauling in a spectacular grab before the ball bounced away as he hit the turf.
Beckham recovered to make a grab that first deflected off cornerback Marlon Humphrey, and receiver Nelson Agholor capped a red-zone drill with a 12-yard, contested touchdown catch over Brandon Stephens as the Ravens’ offense enjoyed its best day of training camp on July 31.
With the team in full pads for the first time this summer, the intensity ramped up a notch in weather that was much more agreeable after the heat wave of last week.
The Ravens’ offense continues to learn under new coordinator Todd Monken, and after some early-camp glitches last week, the group is making significant progress, head coach John Harbaugh said.
“The first couple of days you look at it and you’re like, ‘Boy, they have a long way to go,’ but you can travel far, as long as you travel together, and they’re doing a good job of that,” Harbaugh said. “I feel like we’ve made some big strides on offense the last few days.”
Tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely were again popular targets, though Likely will want back a pass he dropped across the middle.
Other than Beckham, who both commands and soaks up the attention from fans wherever he goes on the practice field — as evidenced by the roars when he made a one-handed grab in individual drills — receivers Agholor and Tarik Black were active in full-team and 7-on-7 periods. And Tyler Huntley connected with Laquon Treadwell on one of the long bombs of the day down the right sideline in a 7-on-7 period.
The defense, though, had its moments as well.
In a full-team period matching starters against starters, Jackson lofted a deep pass down the right sideline for rookie Zay Flowers, but Humphrey ran stride for stride with Flowers and the pass fell incomplete as Flowers somersaulted out of bounds.
Later, David Ojabo, Justin Madubuike and Odafe Oweh converged to blow up a play that was whistled dead as a sack, and that was just one of several times Madubuike was in the offensive backfield.
Rookie inside linebacker Trenton Simpson also looked fast and fluid in pads, chasing down James Proche after one catch and giving a healthy shot to running back Melvin Gordon that seemed to take the veteran by surprise. Patrick Queen also got a solid hit on running back Justice Hill after Hill caught a swing pass.
But the defensive play of the day might have belonged to undrafted rookie outside linebacker Malik Hamm.
Hamm ran over backup lineman TyKeem Doss, which sent Doss tumbling to the turf and prompted Humphrey and Oweh to storm onto the field to celebrate with Hamm, a Baltimore native who attended City College and Lafayette. Hamm still faces long odds to make the 53-man roster, but plays like that, and a lack of depth at the position, could keep the local product in the conversation all summer.
TRAINING CAMP NOTEBOOK
STONE LEAVES WITH INJURY: The first day of padded practice included one minor casualty, as safety Geno Stone hobbled off the field with an apparent injury to his left foot or ankle. The injury came during a red-zone period late in practice, and Stone was attended to by trainers on the sideline before heading inside. Head coach John Harbaugh didn’t have any update after practice, saying, “It didn’t look too serious. We’ll get some more information as we go here.”
CB WILLIAMS RETURNS: Second-year cornerback Damarion “Pepe” Williams was removed from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list and made his training camp debut. Williams has been sidelined since sustaining an ankle injury during spring workouts. Williams, a fourth-round pick last season out of Houston, played in 14 games as a rookie with 22 tackles on defense and two others on special teams.
With Williams back, the Ravens have just three players on the PUP list: Running back J.K. Dobbins, wide receiver Rashod Bateman (foot) and fullback Patrick Ricard (hip). In addition, linebacker Tyus Bowser (knee), long snapper Nick Moore (Achilles), cornerback Trayvon Mullen (toe) and rookie offensive lineman Andrew Vorhees (knee) remain sidelined on the non-football-injury list. Other than those seven players, everyone else on the roster took part in the July 31 workout.
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