Isaiah Likely prolonged each inch of his 6-foot-4 body and, with one hand, snatched the soccer out of the air simply earlier than it hit the bottom.
Referees working the ultimate day of Ravens minicamp dominated the rookie tight finish out of bounds, however his athletic show was nonetheless a spotlight from the workforce’s final week of labor earlier than an prolonged summer season break.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson and coach John Harbaugh each shouted out Likely, a fourth-round draft decide from Coastal Carolina, at their post-practice information conferences. “Tremendous catches,” Jackson stated.
James Proche II and Rashod Bateman stated the rookie had lived as much as his draft billing as an outsized large receiver. Proche famous that his youthful brother goes to Coastal Carolina, so he has watched Likely for a number of years. “I already knew what he was capable of,” he stated.
The Ravens will most likely begin the season carrying 4 tight ends: Mark Andrews, Nick Boyle, Likely and fellow fourth-round decide Charlie Kolar. Given the paucity of skilled large receivers on the roster, one of many rookies might simply develop into a frequent goal for Jackson, who produced his greatest season in 2019 when he was throwing recurrently to Andrews, Boyle and Hayden Hurst.
Likely doesn’t look or transfer like a conventional tight finish, but when he retains making eye-popping performs downfield and within the purple zone — he caught a number of landing passes Thursday along with the spectacular near-miss — he’ll see the sphere come September.
Jackson concludes a stable week
Though he didn’t throw any single go as spectacular because the downfield magnificence he dropped over Bateman’s shoulder on Wednesday, Jackson continued to indicate the fruits of his offseason work with private quarterback coach Adam Dedeaux.
He threw with loads of zip and wonderful accuracy over the three days of necessary minicamp, transferring together with his common verve regardless of carrying an additional 10-12 kilos added via offseason exercises. Jackson didn’t seem like an entire new participant however like an excellent model of himself, which is all of the Ravens might have hoped for after he skipped three weeks of voluntary workforce exercises to “grind” on his personal.
Ravens quarterbacks coach James Urban stated he informed Jackson he would be capable of discern immediately if the previous Most Valuable Player had labored arduous in his time away from the workforce. “I could tell, in the best way possible,” Urban stated Thursday. “Lamar obviously handled his business when he was away from us.”
Jackson and the workforce’s go catchers plan to proceed that work with classes at Florida Atlantic University within the weeks earlier than coaching camp. Talk of the quarterback’s contract negotiations will proceed to hold over the Ravens, however from a pure soccer standpoint, this was a reassuring week of observe from their franchise participant.
Veteran tackles ‘a silver lining’
The Ravens proceed to specific optimism that left deal with Ronnie Stanley will return to Pro Bowl type after he missed all however one sport final season.
If Stanley’s surgically repaired ankle doesn’t cooperate, nonetheless, they’ve two skilled gamers, Morgan Moses and Ja’Wuan James, competing for the chance to guard Jackson. Both Moses and James took starter reps at left deal with throughout minicamp, and although it’s all the time tough to guage line play in a minimal contact setting, Harbaugh referred to their presence as a “silver lining” ought to Stanley’s restoration once more show harder than projected.
Neither veteran is thought to be a super left deal with, and James has his personal harm inquiries to reply, having performed simply three video games since 2018. But the Ravens do have extra choices to patch their offensive line than they did a yr in the past.
Harbaugh additionally provided encouraging phrases for rookie deal with Daniel Faalele, who once more struggled with fatigue Thursday regardless of comparatively cool temperatures. Faalele, listed at 380 kilos, is among the largest gamers in NFL historical past, and Harbaugh stated he’s carrying “good weight” however that “he’s working his way into NFL-type conditioning as a tackle.”
Harbaugh has criticized gamers publicly for poor conditioning, however he’s taking a extra measured tone with the mammoth fourth-round decide from Minnesota.
Faalele was certainly one of a number of offensive linemen (James and guard Ben Powers had been additionally responsible) to commit false begins Thursday, a sin Harbaugh will likely be much less affected person in addressing if the pattern persists into coaching camp.
Hayes makes his case
Second-year exterior linebacker Daelin Hayes was a summer season star final yr earlier than struggling via a misplaced rookie season undermined by accidents.
With edge rusher snaps there for the taking, the fifth-round decide from Notre Dame is again to creating a powerful impression this offseason. He blew previous deal with Jaryd Jones-Smith to get after the quarterback Thursday, a day after he picked off Jackson.
Hayes has an assortment of high quality rush strikes to go together with his bodily instruments, and he performed with constant fireplace during the last three days, speaking trash to the workforce’s offensive linemen at one level. As Harbaugh famous, his subsequent step is to translate these summer season flashes to coaching camp and eventual sport motion. The Ravens, nonetheless brief a veteran edge defender, might use his assist.
Hoop goals
Jackson and fellow quarterbacks Anthony Brown and Brett Hundley (Tyler Huntley was resting due to shoulder tendinitis) had an excellent outdated time competing to drop 25-yard outs into a protracted, slim web that Urban used to hone their accuracy.
They clanged a number of throws off the rim on the prime of the web, however solely two — one by Jackson, one by Hundley — settled into the nylon. “We were, like, four-for-a-thousand,” Jackson stated afterward, although he loved the aggressive component of the warmup train.
At one level, safeties Chuck Clark and Tony Jefferson wandered over to take their greatest pictures. Both got here up properly brief. “Y’all go back to the other field,” shouted working again J.Okay. Dobbins, who had caught his head out of the coaching room to observe.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com