Seven players designated as questionable against Titans
Six Ravens starters, including Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey, are questionable for Sunday’s wild-card-round game against the Tennessee Titans.
Center Patrick Mekari (back), right tackle D.J. Fluker (knee), wide receiver Willie Snead IV and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue (thigh) were also listed on the injury report Friday. Cornerback Jimmy Smith (ribs/shoulder), who has five starts in 11 games this season, and reserve guard Ben Bredeson (knee) are questionable as well.
Mekari, Snead and Ngakoue all sat out the Ravens’ regular-season finale but returned to practice this week, with Mekari and Ngakoue full participants Friday. Humphrey (shoulder) was also considered full-go. Smith, meanwhile, hasn’t played since Week 14 and was limited in practice every day this week.
With Fluker limited Friday, his first practice this week, the Ravens could turn to rookie Tyre Phillips. Bredeson, who’s played frequently as a sixth offensive lineman the past two weeks, was limited Friday after two full practices. Defensive end Derek Wolfe (noninjury-related) was the only Raven to miss the session.
“I feel good about our health at this time,” coach John Harbaugh said Friday. “We’re probably the healthiest we’ve been in a long time this season. So I feel good about it. Guys are in a good place, and we just need to go play.”
Punter Sam Koch is expected to be available Sunday despite not practicing this week. He has been sidelined for the past week and a half, including Week 17, after being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
No Titans were listed on the status report for Sunday’s game. Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Brown (knee/hand) missed practice Thursday and Friday but was insistent that he’d play Sunday. “As long as I have breath in my body, I’m going to play,” Brown told reporters.
Three offensive line starters — left guard Rodger Saffold (ankle), center Ben Jones (hamstring) and right tackle Dennis Kelly (knee) — were limited in practice Friday. Saffold and Kelly both missed Wednesday and Thursday’s workouts, though Saffold
has also vowed to play Sunday.
All-Pro selections
Ravens veteran Morgan Cox on Friday became the first long snapper named All-Pro by Associated Press. The position had previously been excluded from consideration.
“To me, it should be that way,” coach John Harbaugh said Friday of the position’s inclusion. “It’s a position that plays and really matters. So Morgan has been great at it for a long time. It’s nice to see it recognized out there. I’m very happy for him. … He’s well deserving of it. It makes us all very proud.”
Cox, 34, has appeared in all but one Ravens game since 2015 and is a free agent after this season. A four-time Pro Bowl selection and staple of the Ravens’ “Wolfpack” on special teams, he signed a five-year, $5.6 million contract extension in 2016.
Ravens kicker Justin Tucker was voted second-team All-Pro, behind only the Miami Dolphins’ Jason Sanders. Tucker, an All-Pro selection in five straight years and six times overall in his career, went 26-for-29 on fieldgoal attempts and 52-for-53 on extra-point attempts this season.
Ravens offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. and cornerback Humphrey — like Cox and Tucker, both Pro Bowl selections — also received All-Pro votes in a national panel of 50 media members. The Ravens had six players named to the two All-Pro teams last season: quarterback Lamar Jackson, left tackle Ronnie Stanley, right guard Marshal Yanda, cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Humphrey, as well as Tucker.
Macdonald moving on
Ravens linebackers coach Mike Macdonald is expected to be named Michigan’s defensive coordinator after the season, according to the NFL Network.
Macdonald, who joined John Harbaugh’s Ravens staff in 2014 as a coaching intern and has overseen the team’s linebackers since 2018, would work under Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh, John’s brother. Former Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown was fired last season after a disappointing 2-4 record.
“I like Michigan. I love my brother. I’ll put it that way,” said John Harbaugh, who declined to comment further on the report Friday, saying the Ravens were “locked in” on Sunday’s wild-card-round game against the Tennessee Titans.
The Ravens last lost an assistant coach to another job in 2019, when running backs coach Thomas Hammock accepted a job as Northern Illinois’ head coach. Both offensive coordinator Greg Roman and defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale interviewed for NFL head coaching vacancies last season and could be candidates this year, too.
Macdonald served as the team’s defensive backs coach in 2017 before taking over as linebackers coach after Martindale was promoted. He’s worked with two Pro Bowl players over the past three years, outside linebacker Matthew Judon and inside linebacker C.J. Mosley, and this year oversaw the development of young inside linebackers like Patrick Queen and Chris Board.
Before arriving in Baltimore, Macdonald served on Georgia’s staff from 2011 to 2013.