The Ravens don’t want a repeat of the 2021 season when the roster was eviscerated with injuries.
They had 25 players appear on Injured Reserve, which led to an 8-9 record and missing of the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
Coach John Harbaugh has pledged the team will change the way they practice and the franchise has hired new personnel to prevent injuries.
These precautions are even affecting the way the Ravens draft, trying to stay away from players who have experienced devastating injuries in college.
However, that’s a strategy the team has tried to maintain in the past.
“I think we’ve always been, I have to say, pretty conservative when it comes to injuries in the Draft, probably more so than most teams,” general manager Eric DeCosta said. “I’ve only worked for the Ravens, and John has been with the Eagles, but we’ve always been pretty conservative. Very few times, I think, have we taken a player that had injuries in college that we didn’t feel really good about and rolled the dice.
“Now, we’ve taken some flyers on guys, usually for other things, not necessarily for injuries. In saying that, I think one of the things that we really do believe in is just looking at has the guy missed time in college? Has he been a consistent player?”
Nonetheless, the Ravens have taken players that have struggled to stay healthy once they reached the NFL. Cornerback Iman Marshall, a fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft, has only appeared in three games over his career.
Cornerback Tavon Young (2016) and safety DeShon Elliott (2018) also were hampered by injuries over their tenure in Baltimore and now are trying their luck with other teams.
“Sometimes, the guy has an injury history, but doesn’t miss practices and doesn’t miss games,” DeCosta said. “Those types of guys, we feel pretty good about. The guys that miss a lot of time in college, we’ve seen a trend that they miss time at our level. Then, there are some things you simply can’t plan for – the catastrophic injuries, or the freaky-type things that happen, the non-contact stuff, we’ve seen that.”
Overall, though, many of the Ravens draftees have stayed healthy during their rookie season through the years and DeCosta needs that trend to continue, especially with so many holes that he needs to fill in this year’s draft.
He also plans to find some hidden gems.
Overall, the Ravens are changing the way they do business.
“We’ve had some players that have never missed any time in their careers and then got hurt here with us,” DeCosta said. “So, I’m not really sure how you can predict that or project that. We’re looking at a lot of different things, using analytics and using science. I think you all know we have a new [head certified] athletic trainer, as well, Adrian Dixon. He has a role in this. I think our strength and conditioning staff is very helpful as well.
“We use those guys to look at things like body composition, strength, frame and things like that. [Director of sports nutrition] Sarah Snyder, our dietician, she’s a part of the process as well.”
