Camp Notes: Washington Stands Out in Deep Secondary

It was an exciting, back-and-forth day of practice, the weather was beautiful, and most importantly, there were no noticeable injuries. Today was a good day at The Castle. Let’s give you the rundown:

— Several players returned to the practice field, which was a positive sign on the injury front. Rashod Bateman returned and ran position drills, but left early, as he still appears to be ramping up to return to full participation. Kyle Hamilton was not in uniform, but did work out individually on a side field to begin practice. Trayvon Mullen made his return, working mostly on individual drills, but also participating in some group work with the DBs. Finally, T.J. Tampa made his Training Camp debut, officially coming off of the PUP list following sports hernia surgery.

— Overall, the practice was pretty evenly split in terms of offensive and defensive success, which was great to see. There were a few offensive miscues at times, with false starts from Ronnie Stanley and Tashawn Manning, as well as occasional issues with timing and placement on throws, but for every one play that looked a little clunky, you would get one on the offensive side that looked well-executed.

— Isaiah Likely continues to be an absolute terror in one-on-one situations, as well as in shallow zone coverage. The ball went his direction very frequently, and I’ve only seen two reps the last two days that he hasn’t won. With the level of play he’s been showing this preseason, the coaching staff won’t have much of a choice but to get him more involved in the receiving game. He showed great potential last season, but he really looks to have taken his game to another level.

— One of the few players that I did see get a win against Likely was my practice MVP of the day, Ar’Darius Washington. He was flying to the ball, showing great instincts laterally in picking up running lanes, but probably his most impressive play of the day was a pass breakup in which he climbed the ladder and got WAY up on his receiver, batting the ball down. I got the chance to ask Coach Harbaugh about what he’s been seeing in Washington’s development, and he seems to be checking all the boxes:

“He’s playing at a high level; you saw it today. He’s playing both safety positions, [and] he’s playing the nickel. And he can play either corner outside, if he had to, to get you out of a game, and he can go in a dime if he had to – he knows the defense that well.”

— On the offensive side of the ball, a lot of the success came from the guys you’d expect. Lamar Jackson continues to be able to slice and dice pretty much at will. He had a really nice ball over the middle to Mark Andrews, who hauled it in one-handed.

Sheesh @Mandrews_81 with one ✋ pic.twitter.com/zk0dnZZVQB

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 12, 2024

— If it doesn’t already, the sentence “Derrick Henry to the outside” should strike fear into the hearts of every defensive coordinator in the league. Henry has been hitting his stride with so much burst over the past couple practices, and I pity undersized DBs or iLBs who have to try to make one-on-one tackles. With contact still deemphasized in Camp, guys can get to him and throw out an arm to simulate a tackle attempt, but you can tell that Henry would just shrug them off in game situations. For those who can feel themselves getting excited about King Henry in this Ravens offense, I promise you those feelings are warranted.

— Overall, the biggest bright spot that I saw today offensively was how well they were utilizing the whole width of the field. A few receivers made some great toe-tap catches toward the boundary lines, including in red zone situations, and the back-shoulder throws that helped set them up were delivered to perfection by Lamar. In the run game, the mobility of the lead blockers was a real positive today, and I don’t see many teams being able to out-muscle the Ravens up front. When this offense runs with that kind of intensity throughout the game, opponents are going to get worn down quickly, and it’s going to give opposing defensive coordinators some very long days.