Ravens Head Coach's Words And Actions Indicate This About Lamar Jackson's Status

The Ravens have one of the best records in the NFL while having to workshop around a multitude of personnel and injury issues and face a significant upgrade in level of competition starting in Week 7.

This week presents another unique challenge for rookie head coach Jesse Minter as he prepares for his first AFC North game, on the road at Cleveland, with his offensive line likely to be reshuffled for the sixth-straight week and with quarterback Lamar Jackson’s status in limbo with an ankle injury and his practice time almost surely to be compromised. Now is not the time to deviate from the overarching medical approach that has served Baltimore well during its 4-1 start, and backup Snoop Huntley was excellent in the clutch Sunday night.

There is a strong case to be made for taking no risks with Jackson unless he is able to practice fully at least by Thursday, and a multitude of sound reasons why erring on the side of caution at this point in the season – for a team in Super Bowl or bust mode – makes all the sense in the world. And Minter seems to understand as much. The Ravens have taken the longview with other star players and even in the way the coach spoke Monday about his two-time MVP quarterback it was clear to the discerning ear that he is going out of his way not to raise expectations to the level where his return is anything close to guaranteed.

“Definitely doing better,” Minter said of his superstar QB. “Wednesday, I am not sure about exactly how that practice will look, but again, to Lamar's credit, he is doing everything he can to get back out there. I thought he was awesome (on sidelines Sunday night). There are a lot of cool pictures and clips of him on the sideline in between series talking to Snoop' and hyping guys up.

“What a wonderful teammate and leader that he is, even when he was not playing. So, I am very, very proud of Lamar for handling himself like that, and again he is doing everything he can. I think we will know more definitely by the middle of the week.”

Here’s why we wouldn’t be surprised at all is Jackson came back Week 7 against the Bengals:

What Minter Didn’t Say

The fact Minter made Wednesday sound that murky tells me Jackson isn’t practicing fully to open the week and if Huntley looks good in practice and if Jackson is likely to be limited on Thursday, then should we just devote all the snaps to Snoop and let Lamar take over the following week? With all the offensive line shake-ups are we going to throw multiple QBs into the mix?

Minter leaving things that open ended, and the fact that Jackson was ruled out last Friday and there was no real emphasis put on his pre-game training and work, tends to point to a multi-week absence. This is a team that was very cautious with Zay Flowers early this season and waiting longer with Nnamdi Madubuike’s return from neck surgery than they might have to try to get him back to close to normal, every-snap form before activating him. They brought in a new sports science team headed by former New Zealand rugby trainer Dr. Nic Gill in the offseason to try to rethink their approach to some of this stuff.

Even the call to have newly-signed, $30M/year pass rusher Trey Hendrickson get a procedure on his finger that would take him out at least two weeks spoke to them taking a long-term view with potential lingering issues for key players in September/October given how this franchise’s success is measured in January.

Cam Jurgens Complications

Nov 16, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles center Cam Jurgens (51) blocks Detroit Lions defensive tackle Roy Lopez (51) at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Ravens appear to be in quite the hurry to try someone else at center now – this will be center No. 4 since the start of the regular season – after paying a very steep price to land offensive lineman Cam Jurgens from the Eagles last week in a very risky acquisition. But he was in the concussion protocol when they landed him and was never going to practice last week or play in Week 5.

A player returning to play must go through a battery of sessions off the field and then full work off the side and then come through that okay and be cleared to eventually return to full practices. How will all of this sync up with Jackson also being able to practice anything close to full enough to actually get to practice with this new center before he can play? The idea that Jackson could do nothing all week and then get cleared after a glorified walk-thru and play a game Sunday with a center he has literally never worked with before is quite a stretch.

Remember it’s not like Jurgens has been here for practices and training camps and OTAs before. He just got here. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am more than fine with sticking with Vega Ioane at center – and I am far from convinced that Jurgens is some big immediate upgrade from how that rookie was performing brand new to the center position – but we know how it works and they got Jurgens to impact them right away (it wreaked of a level of desperation likely not warranted).

But these timelines might not align with also making a late QB switch over the weekend.

Schedule Is About To Get Real

Jackson in general needs to feel very good about his body and how fine tuned he is to play at the genius levels where he operates. And while the Browns have very good talent in key defensive spots, the Ravens play a top-five schedule from here on out in terms of quality of opponent defense.

From Week 7 on, the Ravens play six straight teams that went to the playoffs in 2025 ahead of their bye the first week of December. Their season is going to come down to the final four games, invaribly – all AFC North contests – and for all that Huntley brings, having to try to get into the playoffs with him in the dead of winter unable to push the ball downfield isn’t going to work … like it didn’t work last season.

It would make sense for Jackson to truly test himself in practice on mutliple occasionsl before I’d play him this week, and the Ravens are already sending signals that might not be how the work week plays out.

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