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Lardarius Webb Passes Conditioning Test, But Concerns Remain

By Joe Serpico

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Lardarius Webb has passed his conditioning test and is eligible to get on the field for the Baltimore Ravens. The starting cornerback was held out of practice yesterday for failing to pass the test.

Head Coach John Harbaugh made it clear yesterday that he was displeased that Webb was not ready for the opening day of camp.

“Webby is in really good shape in a lot of different ways. You can see it in the way he moves. But he’s not in the kind of anaerobic shape he needs to be in to come out here and practice,” Harbaugh said. “The idea being that if I go play after play after play, and I begin to get fatigued, and I can’t move the way I need to move, I’m going to have a fatigue type of injury.

To Webb’s credit, the test is no walk in the park. In case you were wondering what the Ravens conditioning test consists of, Aaron Wilson tweeted it out yesterday:

it kind of makes you wonder how someone can go from failing a conditioning test one day and not the next. It is not like a written test that you can go back and study for over night. If it was the majority of us reading this, we would need at least another week to pass a conditioning test. That test above? Forget about it. That would take months if not a year.

It made me think of the years I was an athlete. My team was one of the better skilled teams in the area, but not the best. Other teams had higher quality players and our coaches knew that. Our coaches made us run like crazy at practices and we hated it. We thought we were good enough to beat teams with skill alone. The reality is that when our opponents got tired, we were still physically fine. Looking back now, that’s why we were so successful. We easily outran most of those teams.

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That’s why Harbaugh stresses this conditioning test. He doesn’t want his players fatigued when it matters most. That’s how you get beat in the NFL.

Some might be saying it is only training camp and there is over a month of practices ahead before the real games matter. It’s more important than that. Not being in the proper shape can cause injuries and Webb hasn’t exactly been the healthiest player for the Ravens over recent seasons.

We are also talking about a starting cornerback here. A player who is required to go full speed on the majority of plays. If he is starting, he is in on just about every defensive play. He is going against guys with incredible speed like Antonio Brown and AJ Green on a regular basis. There is no excuse for him to be coming into camp slow. That is why Harbaugh cannot be pleased.

Webb also should be looking over his shoulder. The Ravens just asked him to take a pay cut this offseason. Jimmy Smith, the other starting corner, got his pay day. They also signed proven veterans Kyle Arrington and Cassius Vaughn. As long as they stay healthy, there is plenty of competition in the secondary.

It is likely that once Week 1 comes against the Denver Broncos that many of us have forgotten about Webb not passing his conditioning test. However, it Emmanuel Sanders or Demaryius Thomas burns him for a touchdown, you better believe those guys are in better shape.

Next: Breshad Perriman Shines in First Ravens Practice

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