Maryland’s OWINGS MILLS The Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Andrew Vorhees, who suffered an ACL tear in his right knee during a workout at the NFL combine last March, marked the one-year anniversary of the injury with little fanfare, at least not from the player.
Vorhees thinks he had the epiphany in the Ravens weight room.
“Just another day,” Vorhees said following Baltimore’s penultimate organized team activity on Thursday. “Just trying to put that day behind me and just kind of close that chapter and move on. I’m just so thankful to be where I’m at now in terms of my health and stuff. Proud of the work that I’ve put in and that all of our staff has poured in. And yes, I’m just looking forward, now, to what lies beyond us.”
A little over 14 months have passed since Vorhees’ surgery. The Ravens selected him in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft after trading with the Cleveland Browns for an additional pick. He knew he would have to wait a long time to return to the football field, so last year at this time he was watching his teammates during practice, attending meetings, and working through his rehabilitation.
The anticipation when the Ravens selected the former USC standout was that Vorhees would probably require a year to rehab his knee. He concentrated on strengthening the other parts of his physique as well. His hard effort has put him in a strong position to contend for a starting guard spot with the Ravens.
“I just (want) to go out to practice every day and just try to be the best football player that I can become. We’ll let everything else take care of itself,” Vorhees said. “I know these gentlemen upstairs have quite the job to decide who’s going to play at the end of the day. But as an individual, it’s up to us to become the best football players we can become and just make their jobs easier.”
“Super thrilled to be back out there.” @Andrew_Vorhees on what it’s like to be back on the field: pic.twitter.com/SvjXLterCc
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) June 6, 2024
During the different offseason workouts, Vorhees has received some playing time with the first team, but he is not the only one. Ben Cleveland, a third-round pick in 2021, Daniel Faalele, a fourth-round pick in 2022, Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, a sixth-round pick in 2023, Roger Rosengarten, a second-round pick in 2024, and Josh Jones, a free agency signing, are also in the mix.
Following the offseason trade of right tackle Morgan Moses and the free-agent exits of guards Kevin Zeitler and John Simpson, the Ravens have three openings on their starting offensive line. The Ravens, who will hold their required minicamp the following week and their tenth and last OTA session on Friday, are committed to seeing a number of guys in those positions as of right now. OTAs saw a variety of starting offensive line lineups, but Tyler Linderbaum, a Pro Bowl player, at center, and seasoned left tackle Ronnie Stanley were the two mainstays.
“I’ve seen a lot of big guys that can move and work hard, pick things up quickly,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “The nice thing is nobody’s going out there that you say, ‘I don’t think he’s going to be able to do it.’ So far, every single guy looks like he could be the starter. Now, we get into pads. We get into preseason games, let the guys compete against one another and see who wins the jobs. But, all of them are still in contention at this point, which is very good.”
Kicking it off
Kicker Justin Tucker made light of the fact that he is been working out more these days in order to get ready for the potential increase in contact that the new kickoff regulations may bring about. He disclosed that he gained 3.8 pounds from the previous season.
But the Ravens have only addressed the new rule from a commercial standpoint. According to Tucker, special teams coaches Sam Koch, Randy Brown, and Chris Horton have seen nearly every kickoff from the XFL, which first adopted a rule that is now extremely similar to the new NFL regulation.
The covering team will line up on the opposing team’s 40-yard line, and kickoffs will henceforth begin at the team’s own 35-yard line. Two returners will be positioned behind receiving team members, who will be positioned between the 30- and 35-yard lines. The goal for kickers is to land the ball between the end zone and the 20-yard line. The play’s objectives are to promote more returns and restrict the coverage team’s extended run-up, which led to high-speed collisions.
.@jtuck9 is excited to get creative with the new kickoff rule: pic.twitter.com/6F497SRkqf
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) June 6, 2024
“After watching a lot of the XFL plays over the last couple of years, the kicker seems to be involved in like 25 percent of the tackles,” Tucker said. “I’ve mixed it up a couple of times — I’ve gotten in there. But now I have to get some more shrugs, get the (shoulder) traps going a little bit just to make sure I’m prepared for a little bit more contact. In all seriousness, it will be a lot of fun to see what we come up with and then see what other teams come up with, and see how we can gain an advantage on the play.”
In order to avoid endangering their kicker’s health, the Kansas City Chiefs have openly discussed using a non-kicker kickoff. This would allow them to use a different natural tackler on the field during the play. Tucker has stated that he wants to be on the field, so it seems unlikely that the Ravens would take that approach. Harbaugh did, however, admit that everything is being taken into account when the team creates a strategy for the new play.
“You just get right to work on how we’re going to teach it, how we want to coach it. We couldn’t wait to get out here, even in this type of a practice, and run plays and see what the angles look like, so we can kind of glean our coaching points,” Harbaugh said. “We told the guys, ‘This is a collaboration. We’re learning this together. Where do we want to drop? What’s our targets? What are our landmarks? What are our leverages in the kickoff? What are our angles? Tell us what you think when you’re out there.’ So, we’re trying to make sure we do the best we can to enter the season understanding the play as well as we can. Then, I’m sure we’ll learn a lot once it starts happening for real.”
Other thoughts
• Lamar Jackson’s lighthearted repartee with security On a day that featured a decent deal of incompletions, a few interceptions, a lot of penalty flags, and lots of good-natured trash talk, Marcus Williams kept practice lively. When the defense was eventually called for being offside, Jackson ran over to celebrate and congratulate the referee on behalf of himself and his attacking teammates, who thought they had been wrongly called on a few borderline calls.
• Charlie Kolar, a third-year tight end, had an exciting session with a few nice catches in traffic and at least one poor drop, but his was the greatest celebration. Kolar battled through a hold in the end zone during a goal-line move in order to make a diving catch. Rising, he punted the ball in the direction of middle. And with that, he gave Jackson a flying chest bump.
• Harbaugh gave T.J. Tampa, a cornerback selected in the fourth round, some one-on-one tutoring. While the play was moving toward the opposing end of the field, Harbaugh was demonstrating a tactic to Tampa. During OTAs, Tampa has lost to other teams on a couple key plays. He is 6-foot-1 and 194 pounds, but he has also made his fair share of plays where you can see him make good use of his length. Jackson attempted to score a touchdown on Thursday by hitting Sean Ryan, a second-year receiver. But Tampa had an excellent position on Ryan and stole the ball.
Tre Swilling, the defensive back who always manages to get his hands on a ball during practice, successfully recovered his most recent interception by just being in the right place at the right time. Rookie Devin Leary nailed Swilling precisely between the numbers with a deep pass in the center of the field while trying to set up Tucker for a field goal. As soon as he caught it, he fell to the ground.
• There were 17 players from the Ravens who did not show up for practice on Thursday; however, several of those guys may return to play during next week’s minicamp. After suffering injuries during rookie minicamp, safety Beau Brade and outside linebacker Adisa Isaac may be able to return to practice the following week, according to Harbaugh. He added that next week, veteran cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who has only participated in a couple OTAs and largely worked on conditioning, will be practicing in some capacity. David Ojabo, an edge rusher, might participate more frequently as well. As he continues his recuperation from knee surgery, the third-year professional participated in a few isolated drills at Thursday’s practice. He has not been practicing recently.
(Photo: Nick Wass / Associated Press)
