On Wednesday the Ravens battled through another scorcher at the Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills as they conducted their second practice of the their mandatory three-day minicamp.
With the music pumping to simulate crowd noise, the Ravens turned in another solid day of practice on defense. The offense, however, had another rough day.
Quarterback Joe Flacco was locked and loaded today and very accurate; however, his receivers struggled to hang onto the football. Jacoby Jones dropped a ball that hit him in the chest, and Marlon Brown dropped two catchable balls, one of which was intercepted by rookie cornerback Deji Olatoye.
Undrafted rookie WR Jeremy Butler had one of his best days today, making several nice grabs with the the second/third team offense. He’ll need a lot more days like today to capture a roster spot, of course, but he turned some heads this afternoon for sure.
Since his return yesterday, veteran outside linebacker Terrell Suggs has provided a spark not just with his play on the field but with his voice as well.
During the second team defense vs. offense drills, Suggs could be heard yelling “You still got it Oz!” to Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome in support of one of his draft picks, presumably linebacker C.J. Mosley.
Tempers flared somewhat when rookies Crockett Gillmore and Timothy Jernigan got into it a little closer to the end of practice. It wasn’t just the younger guys though – new wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. and Lardarius Webb went at it for a moment as well.
Speaking of Jernigan, he continues to stack days of impressive practices, chasing down Tyrod Taylor once again today. If Jernigan can continue this momentum throughout the summer and into the preseason, he could find himself making an immediate impact.
In the “punters are people too” portion of practice, veteran Sam Koch was seen booming kicks all over the practice field. Yesterday, as RSR’s Tony Lombardi reported, it was undrafted rookie punter Richie Leone who had the better day. Clearly Sam has the experience but don’t count Leone out just yet.
Finally in injury news, Jah Reid (calf), Terrence Cody (hip), Kamar Aiken (leg), and Parker Graham (undisclosed) were absent from practice for the second straight day. Kapron Lewis-Moore missed his first day of practice with a possible hamstring injury suffered yesterday. He was seen grabbing the back of his leg at the end of a non-contact play.
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