Camp Notes: It’s the Defense’s Turn Now

For those wondering when the defense would have its day in the sun against the Ravens offense this summer, well, today was your day.

An uneven day of just-missed passes and muddied pockets came to a fitting close when Malaki Starks picked off a fourth-down pass from Lamar Jackson on the practice’s final rep. Obviously, much of this summer stuff comes with the proverbial grain of salt, as there’s no real physicality or opponent-specific game-planning, but the Ravens quarterbacks were under duress much of the day, leading to some short completions and a handful of deep shots during 11-on-11s.

Here’s what stood out to us today from the sidelines:

— Zay Flowers might be in for a big year, though he was relatively quiet in full-team drills on this day. The hyper-energetic wideout goes all out on every rep, constantly goes to the coaches after each route, engages his fellow receivers and generally never stops moving on the sidelines. He is all in, all the time.

— Practice or not, there’s something special about watching Derrick Henry emerge from a mass of bodies and break away. He had one late with Olaivavega Ioane leading the way, which is a great sign for Ravens fans.

— Matt Hibner looks very good at catching short passes, planting his foot and booming it upfield. He’s also quite big. In fact, it’s a big rookie class this year. The team has definitely added mass.

— Rashod Bateman just missed bringing in an underthrown ball from Lamar Jackson. The receiver beat Nate Wiggins by a step, but had to come back for the ball and couldn’t haul it in with Wiggins having caught up to him.

— Trenton Simpson sure looked good today. He might have launched Justice Hill to Catonsville on a short pass if they were hitting today, and he generally seemed involved in much of the action.

— Rasheen Ali looks quick when given a chance in the muck, and genuinely looks to go vertical immediately after making cuts. Rookie back Adam Randall is enticing, and he looks good when he finds space. I feel like he shuffles his feet a bit and slows down as he lowers his tall frame after taking the handoff, but that can be coached.

— Rayshaun Benny stands out quite a bit in these padless reps. He will be interesting to watch as things heat up.

— Mike Green might have taken a big step this offseason. He looks quick, and is always going forward. Trey Hendrickson gets a lot of attention from blockers, even in this environment, but he’s a worker and has an array of moves. I feel like Green has been watching him a lot, judging by his relentlessness.

— Tez Walker was active, and caught a nice slant from Tyler Huntley on one rep. He was the receiver on a deep incompletion that Marlon Humphrey had tight coverage on, as well.

— David Olajiga absolutely destroyed one run rep. Again… no pads. Just putting the name on your radar as an interesting player.

— Tavius Robinson might be the forgotten man on the front, but there were times he looked like the best player on the field out there. When Robinson and rookie Zion Young are on the field together, offenses could have a hard time finding any luck on the edges.

— Huntley might have had the prettiest throw of the day on a touch pass to Elijah Tau-Tolliver, who is an interesting rookie in his own right.

— The defensive player of the day could very well have been Keyon Martin. He broke up several passes, and closed quickly on some short outs. After one great series of reps, Martin was met by a celebrating Starks on the sideline.

— Tyler Loop was good on his kicks, including a 56-yarder late that had plenty of leg to it.

— One thing that stood out from the coaching side was the number of half-reps, where the quarterback would complete his drop, the receivers would start their routes and the coaches would stop the action to make corrections. The attention to detail was noticeable all day, as the main focus seemed to be on teaching.

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