So what if Ray Rice decided to skip OTA’s which opened Wednesday May 23 at Owings Mills for the Ravens?
Everyone knows Rice has stayed in top shape physically… he’ll stay away from OTA’s until he has signed either his $7.7 million franchise tag tender or he gets a new long-term contract. It makes sense for Rice to withhold his participation until business gets done. In a way, it’s also good for the team as the young running back candidates (Anthony Allen, Bernard Pierce, Damien Berry) now get a chance to run a lot more reps with the first team offense.
Ravens rookies join the veterans in a voluntary OTA camp May 23 and two more voluntary mid-week sessions before mandatoory full-squad minicamp in mid-June. It’s a great opportunity for young guys like guard Kelechi Osemele (above) to get familiar with some playsets and formations, and get a leg up on competition for job openings in July…
Rice’s decision not to attend was hardly a surprise, as it’s common for veteran players to skip voluntary offseason activities, especially if they’re in the midst of contract negotiations.
Other veterans like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Haloti Ngata and Matt Birk also did not participate.
The practice session runs from 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. It consists mostly of passing drills and defensive drills involving 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 formations, but without any real contact or hitting allowed. No pads required…
Coaches work with guys on some fundamentals like blocking technique and sets. They also run a few special teams drills. And yes, Billy Cundiff was the only placekicker present at the current OTA session…
I expected a lot more Ravens media hype on the voluntary OTA session. So far I have not found it. No running streams of Twitter reports from press personnel inside the ropes at Owings Mills…Maybe some details of how the workouts went will emerge after the Ravens’ press conference later in the day.
I would be curious to know how Courtney Upshaw looks in the defensive drills, how’s Joe Flacco working with Jacoby Jones and Tommy Streeter (the new receivers)?… How is Jah Reid moving? Who looks like they’re in prime shape? Where are they lining up Paul Kruger? Does Jimmy Smith look like he could challenge for a starting cornerback position, or is it just way too soon to tell? How does this kid Gradkowski from Delaware look?
Maybe I can dig up some inside info to answer some of these questions. I sure expected a lot more dish to emerge from the Castle. I may be wrong, but I don’t think OTA’s were designed to be top-secret affairs.
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