Happy Friday, Ravens Flock. We have officially entered camp season, which means we will get tons of highlights of players putting in work without pads. This means it is also time for overreactions based on 30-second videos of guys doing drills in shorts.
Speaking of dudes looking good in shorts and setting my expectations too high:
Ravens pass-rushers David Ojabo and Odafe Oweh running drills at football school pic.twitter.com/i61Jhu6S2V
— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) May 17, 2023
David Ojabo’s potential impact on this team can’t be understated. He was a top-20 talent who probably would have been the number 14 pick if he wasn’t injured, and it took him a while to get on the field as everyone expected. Last year he also had vets like JPP and Justin Houston ahead of him even if he had been healthy sooner. While a Houston reunion isn’t out of the question, Ojabo now has the fast track to getting on the field a year removed from the ACL.
It also needs to be stated just how young Ojabo is.
Don't forget that the #Ravens essentially get a free Top 15 pick this year because they were willing to be patient with Ojabo's injury.
Ojabo turned 23 years old today making him the same age as Tyree Wilson (turns 23 Saturday) and younger than Will Mcdonald. https://t.co/Lu7I8FYhFv
— Marcus Whitman (@TFG_Football) May 17, 2023
The fact that Ojabo is younger than two top-15 picks in this year’s draft is insane. While youth is nice, does that hurt the Ravens? How confident are they that the three best Edge rushers are Tyus Bowser, Odafe Oweh, and Ojabo? Are they too young, and is a veteran a must-sign? These are all questions that will be answered soon.
Enough about Ojabo. The camp season also means that teams can now announce when they will meet up for joint practices during training camp.
Ravens will be hosting the Washington Commanders for two days of joint practices (Aug. 15-16) at the Under Armour Performance. That will lead into the Aug. 21 preseason matchup between the two teams at FedEx Field.
This will be the 4th time the Ravens hosted joint practices.— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) May 18, 2023
Nothing has happened in a joint practice between the Commanders before, right (Shoutout D-Hop)? In all seriousness, joint practices are exciting for the coaching staff because they can see how they stack up with other teams, and it can make a difference if a player makes the final cut. It’s also nice for the players to get to hit someone besides their own teammates for a change. I wish this were at the Bank instead because I hate playing at FedEx Field, and I get nightmares about playing a preseason game at that stadium after what happened to J.K. Dobbins in 2021.
Let’s wash our brains out of that situation with a talking point with no drama (sarcasm):
Nelson Agholor with Lamar Jackson in Florida
IG: nelsonagholor_15 pic.twitter.com/7E7OFuG22l
— Sarah Ellison (@sgellison) May 18, 2023
Even if Lamar Jackson isn’t at football school right now, he, at the very least, is working out with other receivers on the roster. Look, I understand people want Lamar to show up, but the rest of his weapons didn’t either, and the topic is a little bit overplayed, in my opinion. Lamar has never attended one of these voluntary team workouts and will be present when he has to be. He just does things differently, and that has got to be accepted now. No, his contract wasn’t changing things either. Lamar does his own thing, and the rest of the weapons not showing up means that Lamar didn’t even miss anything anyway.
Thank you for reading, and hopefully, we will get more exciting highlights of dudes in shorts.
One Response
I hear Lamar will be at OTAs. I guess we will have to search for something else (negative) to attack him on. We will never accept him – we are with Tony L. on this one. Lamar is “bad”, Joe Flacco is “good”.