'Huge for Us!' Ravens Roquan Smith & Marlon Humphrey Earn Praise For Offseason Work
While many teams opened their OTAs on Monday, the Baltimore Ravens got a bit of a head start on their offseason workouts.
The Ravens held a "football school" on Wednesday as a way for the team to begin preparations for the upcoming season. The event wasn't mandatory, but two of the Ravens' top defenders, linebacker Roquan Smith and cornerback Marlon Humphrey, were in attendance. For defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, having two of his top players in attendance was a big deal.
“It’s huge for us, and those are conversations that we’ve had with Marlon and guys like Roquan – just encouraging them to kind of take the team by the horns and make it their team," Macdonald said. "And some of the conversations we had last year [were], ‘Hey, it was great that we hit our stride at some point in the season, but why don’t we do that earlier?'
"Having the guys around and building camaraderie and building a team chemistry is a great byproduct of this whole process, as well as improving your individual skills and understanding the scheme and all that type of stuff. But that’s really the biggest part, in my opinion, about this kind of stage of the offseason.”
Humphrey has been a staple of the Ravens' defense since being drafted in 2017, making three Pro Bowl appearances in six seasons. Meanwhile, Smith arrived in Baltimore at the trade deadline via a trade with the Chicago Bears and signed a hefty extension after a strong showing.
As two of the best, and highest-paid, players on the defense, Smith and Humphrey have high expectations as leaders. Them showing up to an optional workout is a great way for them to lead by example.
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