Adeoye Makes His Case as a Rusher

The Ravens were back in pads on Tuesday morning, their last practice before another scheduled day off on Wednesday. While there were very few splash plays during this practice, there were certainly plenty of nuggets of information that we were able to take away from some of the individual matchups. 

One of the biggest guys to stand out for me today was Aaron Adeoye. While Adeoye isn’t a lock to make this roster in any capacity, I watched a series of five consecutive plays of 11-v-11 during which Adeoye came around the right side of the line (against Parker Ehinger) and proceeded to get in the face of the QB on every single snap. Adeoye used his quick hands, a dip of his inside shoulder and a burst of speed to beat Ehinger, who struggled to figure out an effective adjustment.

If Adeoeye continues to stack practices like today’s, he’s certainly going to force the Ravens into a tough decision. 

Of course, he wasn’t the only defensive player to make the most of his opportunities. Fellow OLB Tyus Bowser made quick work on the edge in an earlier rep in 11-v-11, getting his hands free and making a leaping effort as he knocked down a Lamar Jackson pass attempt. Bowser also undressed rookie OL Sean Pollard in 1-on-1 battles, drawing a raucous praise from the defensive group. The fourth-year linebacker is another player who continues to stack practices and will find himself becoming a vital contributor to Wink Martindale’s defense in the upcoming season. 

On the other end of the spectrum, second-year OLB Jaylon Ferguson was flagged twice for being offsides, drawing the ire of the coaches. After the second flag for the same infraction, Ferguson lined up per usual, and looked over at the side judge as if to confirm that he was in the clear this time around…to which the SJ noted that his head was over the line of scrimmage once again.

These little misfires are merely a minor cause for frustration, but these are the little nuances that young players like Ferguson will continue to work on in the next few weeks before the team breaks off to the final 53 and prepares for the regular season. Ferguson did have a solid showing otherwise, registering a few pressures of his own, and showing a nice hard stop on a dime/shoulder dip/cut back combo in individual drills. 

One more Debbie Downer note from the OLB group – or a positive note on the Offensive Line unit, if you’d prefer – Orlando Brown Jr. absolutely stonewalled Matt Judon today in every rep between the two. Judon simply couldn’t find his way to the passer, and I’ll give a ton of credit to Brown Jr. here. His feet looked faster, and overall he looked to have a true plan of attack against the veteran pass rusher. Those are the positive steps the Ravens like to see out here.

Aside from the pass rush, here’s some of the highlights on the day:

1. The very first play of 11-v-11 actually never happened. The offense got confused on a motion, and Lamar had to call a ‘timeout’ as the defense heckled the offense for being unprepared. 
2. Malik Harrison finding the gap and hitting J.K. Dobbins behind the Line of Scrimmage was great to see. Harrison’s ‘read & speed’ showed up big time on that play.
3. OT Will Holden had a solid showing today, and continues to make a case for a depth roster spot on the OL. Holden & D.J. Fluker are the only two Ravens with experience at OT, outside of starters Zeus Jr. and Ronnie Stanley.
4. Tavon Young is showing that he hasn’t missed a beat despite missing time last year due to injury. He covered Hollywood Brown with step-for-step speed, stuck on Miles Boykin tightly, and had a PBU against Mark Andrews. 
5. Second-year OL Ben Powers sent an errant snap well over the head of RGIII. Another errant snap followed a few plays later, although I believe that was attributed to rookie Ben Bredeson. Either way, not great.
6. After a day off, Calais Campbell made his presence felt quickly, as he disposed of D.J. Fluker with a quick spin move during 1-v-1 drills. I’ve never seen a man that big move that quickly.
7. I’m starting to sound like a parrot, but rookie James Proche II is a technician. He’s not the fastest, and he won’t out-physical most NFL DBs, but he knows how to work a route and create space. Today’s practice was more of the same: Proche was taking on CoCap (back in his usual 41 jersey) and made one cut out to create just enough space, while waiting until late to turn his head & not give the DB time to react to the ball in the air. Proche roped it in with ease. He also took those route running skills to work on fellow rookie Nigel Warrior, with an ankle breaking cut (note: no ankles were actually broken).
8. Mark Andrews had a sensational concentration catch, getting just one hand on the ball, tipping it back to himself, and pulling it in as he fell to the ground. 
9. We got a good look at rookie vs rookie in the 1-on-1s, as OL Tyre Phillips absolutely stoned DL Justin Madubuike. 

Then there was poor Jaleel Scott.

Scott is widely considered ‘on the bubble’ at the moment, as the Ravens have a decision to make in regards to keeping six wide receivers, with the third-year receiver riding that fence. Scott’s camp has been fairly up and down, but never very far ‘up’ nor ‘down’ (if that makes any sense). Today was probably he furthest ‘down’ he has been, with a few drops, and a few fingertip misses thanks to ball placement issues on the throw.

In one particular series, RGIII threw deep to Scott and came up short (in Scott’s defense, it was an off throw, as Adeoye was in Bob’s face). The next time up, RGIII again targeted Scott, although the house was sent into Bob’s lap, and again, Scott couldn’t pull it down. His frustration boiled over, resulting in Scott ripping his helmet off and bowling it in the direction of the wood line behind the end zone, followed by a few minutes of self reflection, focused on the aforementioned trees that surround the fields at 1 Winning Drive. The next rep, Scott got tied up with Marlon Humphrey for a third straight incompletion, and you could sense his frustration.

Credit to Jaleel, however, as on the next series, he elevated to rope in a huge touchdown catch from Lamar Jackson. 

Despite the momentous change in fortune for Scott, he came up from that catch, and immediately went back down on his knees on the sideline. From all outward appearances, one can only assume he experienced some sort of stinger or had the wind knocked out of him, as he eventually got back to his feet and joined the offense on the sideline. Hopefully Scott won’t miss a beat and builds off that final rep when practice returns on Thursday.