Jackson gets day off from practice
Quarterback gets respite to rest his throwing arm
RAVENS NOTES
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson missed practice Saturday with what assistant head coach David Culley said was a rest day.
It was Jackson’s first absence of the open portion of training camp. Coach John Harbaugh was not scheduled to speak to reporters Saturday.
“What he’s getting right now is a day he normally gets,” Culley said. “He’s been throwing the ball all training camp, and the arm gets tired every now and then. This is just part of the rest that he has gotten in previous camps.”
Wide receivers Chris Moore (finger) and Antoine Wesley (shoulder), cornerback Marcus Peters, running back Kenjon Barner and tight end Eli Wolf also missed practice.
Hours after practice ended, the team announced Wesley was being placed on injured reserve. The reason for Peters’ absence is unknown.
Moore continued to work on a side field as he recovers from a broken finger. Saturday was the first practice missed for Barner, who left Friday’s practice early after multiple players crashed into him during a punt return drill.
Wolf missed his second consecutive practice after suffering an injury on Wednesday during a collision, but tight ends coach Bobby Engram said he anticipates Wolf “not missing a beat” when he returns.
“It’s tough for any of us to lose time, but hopefully he’ll get back soon,” Engram said. “The thing with Eli, with all of the Zoom meetings we had this offseason, we understood that he’s extremely intelligent. He was able to process and carry over a lot of information. For him and where he is in his development, he’s progressed rather quickly. Hopefully, we can get him back out there soon as possible, but we anticipate him not missing a beat.”
Matt Skura participates in team drills
For the first time since padded practices began, center Matt Skura took part in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills.
Prior to Saturday’s practice, Skura had been limited to positional drills as he returned from the season-ending knee injury he suffered last November. Patrick Mekari, who filled in for Skura last year, and undrafted rookie Trystan Colon-Castillo had taken a majority of repetitions at center in team drills over the first few days of padded practice.
“It’s nice to see him back,” offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris said. “From that injury, he came out there and we got him in some drills, started him off in fundamentals and technique. From there, we start putting him in place. Today, he practiced real well for us. He’s coming on.
“The medical people, I’ll leave that up to them. … When they tell me to do more, we’ll follow that protocol.”
Extra points
Running backs coach Matt Weiss said the Ravens could rely solely on any of its four running backs, but the group’s diversity of skills will help the offense in the long run. “There’s an African proverb you guys have probably heard. It says, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together,‘” Weiss said. “I truly believe that they would all start on most NFL teams. If any of them ran alone in our offense, they would have the chance to lead the league in rushing. … They’re better together, they truly are, just from the standpoint of the synergy you get from being able to be fresh all the time in games, and between games, week to week, not having to carry the load like that makes them better players.”