ExtremeRavens Posted June 4 Posted June 4 There were more than 20 Ravens players absent from Tuesday’s voluntary practice in Owings Mills. For the first time in two weeks, quarterback Lamar Jackson wasn’t one of them. Jackson hit the field for just the second time during organized team activities and the first time since May 22, the first of five sessions open to the media over a three-week span. While he’s been largely absent — and hardly the only player to skip out, with veteran outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy yet to appear — the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player looked fairly sharp in limited action during team play Tuesday, including on a pretty deep ball to wide receiver Zay Flowers down the sideline and on another shorter route to the corner of the end zone to Flowers for a touchdown. That the two have chemistry with one another isn’t a surprise. Flowers, a first-round draft pick, led the team in catches (77) and receiving yards (858) as a rookie last season. The South Florida natives also worked out there at least part of last week, with clips on social media showing Jackson connecting with Flowers on a deep ball, an out route and a slant on a high school field. They were also joined by veteran receiver Nelson Agholor, who is back for another season with Baltimore after signing a one-year extension earlier this offseason. What exactly did they work on? “Top secret,” Agholor mused with a wry smile Tuesday. While most of the particulars of what they did and how long the session lasted remain a mystery, Agholor, a 10-year veteran who won a Super Bowl title with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018, did shed some light on his second season playing alongside Jackson. That included an anecdote from Tuesday’s practice about a mistimed route in which Jackson’s pass to Agholor was too far out in front of the veteran wideout. “People don’t realize how cerebral Lamar Jackson is,” he said. “The conversations he has with you one-on-one about what he sees and what you may see …” “People don’t realize how cerebral Lamar Jackson is,” Ravens wide receiver Nelson Agholor said. That included not being on the same page over the position of the nickel defender as Agholor cut over the middle. With Agholor thinking the defender was dropping back into coverage, he broke off the in-breaking route early. After the play, Jackson articulated to Agholor that he saw the nickel as well but that he would have gotten the ball to the receiver before the defender could make a play on it. “I saw something, he saw something else,” Agholor said. “That was what makes a special quarterback special, because you may see something, but when they allow you to see what they see you now can be consistent with your mannerisms and your cuts.” During the South Florida workouts, which included route running, speed training and weightlifting, Agholor said Flowers’ work ethic stood out as well. “He’s a young dude that loves football,” Agholor said. “He loves grinding. “It’s cool because that’s where the brotherhood comes from. That’s when, crucial situation, third-and-whatever, you trust each other and work well for each other.” Simpson bulked up, ‘ready to roll’ With Patrick Queen now on the Pittsburgh Steelers after signing with them in the offseason, Trenton Simpson, a 2023 third-round pick out of Clemson, is set to step into a starting inside linebacker role. One change for Simpson from last season has been bulking up; he looks like a sledgehammer and is now up to 238 pounds after adding some weight. Another is what he says is an improved level of understanding and communication. “[I was] taking every day my rookie year just day by day, learning from Roquan [Smith] and Patrick Queen,” he said. “Now, it’s just like, ‘Man, I’m ready to roll.’ Just every practice, I’m getting more comfortable and more comfortable. “I would say communication, like talking, relaying the calls, everybody being on the same page. That’s just what a year of growth gives you, being a part of a great defense like the Ravens’.” There will be much scrutiny on Simpson as he takes over for last year’s second-leading tackler in Queen, who was also one of the defense’s more emotional leaders, a trait that Simpson says he won’t have a problem replicating on the field. He’s also motivated. After playing 12 games as a freshman at Clemson before becoming a starter over his final two seasons there, Simpson wasn’t used to spending as much time on the sideline as he did last year, when he played just 46 snaps on defense and lined up mostly on special teams. “It definitely humbled me a little bit,” Simpson said. “But it was exactly what I needed, because it was a year of growth, and it was a chance to come [and] practice in the NFL. That’s a blessing, because I wasn’t rushed and thrown into any type of pressure. I was able to grow every week on [our] scout team, and then when I got a chance to play in Week 18, I had 17 weeks of practice, I was ready to roll. “[I’m] ready for Year 2.” Coaching connections New Ravens inside linebacker coach Mark DeLeone and defensive line coach Dennis Johnson didn’t know coach John Harbaugh before he hired them both this offseason to replace Zach Orr, now Baltimore’s defensive coordinator, and Anthony Weaver, who left to become the Miami Dolphins’ defensive coordinator. But there is a connection. DeLone, who spent the past two years as a defensive analyst at Kansas, worked under Andy Reid, Harbaugh’s former boss with the Philadelphia Eagles, for six years with the Kansas City Chiefs. He also spent 2019 and 2020 as the inside linebackers coach for the Chicago Bears, where he coached Smith before the All-Pro was traded to Baltimore midway through the 2022 season. New Ravens inside linebackers coach Mark DeLeone spent the past two years as a defensive analyst at Kansas. (Amy Davis/Staff) DeLone said he didn’t lean on Smith when it came to getting to know Ravens players, but the past relationship didn’t hurt, either. “He’s a great player,” DeLeone said. “We all know that. He’s a better person than he is a player. For me to have the opportunity to coach him again, be able to do that two times, that’s really special.” As for Johnson, he too came from college and most recently was the defensive line coach at Baylor, where he worked under coach Dave Aranda, whose linebacker-friendly scheme has similarities to Baltimore’s. “I’ve been blessed to be around a lot of great defensive coaches,” Johnson said. “Coach Aranda is one of the biggest mentors that I have and just the amount of football I’ve learned from him to help translate that to here, helped a lot. It helped a lot in the interview process, it helped coming out here in a ‘D’ staff, because a lot of the stuff that I have learned is coming from Coach Aranda.” View the full article Quote
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