Baltimore Ravens Not Taking the Field for OTAs
By Joe Serpico
The Baltimore Ravens were supposed to take the field for organized team activities today, but the NFL took away their three-day practice period for breaking CBA rules.
The Under Armour Performance Center was originally scheduled to hold the Ravens personnel this week, but the team is not at the facility after wearing pads during a rookie minicamp last month.
Most NFL teams are taking the field at some point this week, but the Ravens cannot take the field for scheduled practices today through Friday.
The team accepted the NFL’s discipline saying, “We made a mistake and we are sorry for that.” Head Coach John Harbaugh was fined $137,223, and the team $343,057 for the infraction.
It really was a dumb decision on Harbaugh’s part to have his players in pads. He might have said he read the rules wrong, but everyone knows that no one is to wear pads before training camp. It’s as simple as that. He knew he was bending the rules, and got punished for it.
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Baltimore might lose three practices, but it’s not that big of a deal. While every practice is important, missing three days should not alter the season’s plans. The Seattle Seahawks suffered a similar penalty in 2014, and won the Super Bowl that season.
The Ravens have a long list of players on the mend that can spend time rehabbing in the upcoming days. Joe Flacco, Steve Smith and Terrell Suggs are coming back from pretty significant injuries, and several have nagging injuries that can be tended to this week. The team also loses the risk of injury during the three days.
Some say a concern with the missed practices is the amount of work the newcomers will not take part in. The Ravens have new pieces throughout the roster, but with Flacco still out, there is no real loss on offense either. The timing with his new receivers will have to wait until training camp anyways.
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The Ravens still have another session of OTAs from June 6-9 before a mandatory minicamp June 14-16. They still have plenty of time to get acclimated with each other. Three days will not paralyze this team moving forward.