Ravens open camp with rookies today, the rest of the team tomorrow
by Brett Nieves on Jul.26, 2010, under Football, Pro Sports
The 2010 Baltimore Ravens offseason has been seemingly more eventful than past offseasons.
John Harbaugh’s January 19 presser culminated the ’09 season and started the offseason. The Ravens then signed troubled wide out Donte Stallworth one month later.
Anquan Boldin made his way to Baltimore on a March 5 trade. Derrick Mason was re-signed 10 days after.
Sergio Kindle (OLB) — who won’t be attending camp immediately due to a head injury — Terrence Cody (DT), Ed Dickson (TE), Dennis Pitta (TE), and David Reed (WR) were all acquired in the 2010 NFL Draft.
Marc Bulger, Ken Hamlin and Walt Harris were all signed by the Ravens as part of their insurance policy initiative.
Recently, Ed Reed’s name has been brought up a lot because of his remarks in a radio show claiming he will start the season on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list and will miss the first six weeks of the season.
It’s been a busy offseason for Baltimore but training camp is officially underway and the Ravens will need to prepare well during camp as they start the season off with the New York Jets.
What matters now for the Ravens is how they will gel as a team. The offense and defense had some identity issues last year, but hopefully those will be resolved.
Ray Rice is coming off a monster Pro Bowl season where he totaled 2,041 all-purpose yards — 1,339 rushing and 702 receiving. Joe Flacco threw for 3,613 yards in 2009 with 21 touchdowns to only 12 interceptions. He also set a record for the Ravens posting the best quarterback rating in the team’s young history with an 88.9 rating. Willis McGahee played the backup role perfectly last season averaging 5.0 yards a carry and racking up 544 yards while reaching pay dirt 12 times.
Anquan Boldin caught 84 passes for 1,024 in Arizona last season and Derrick Mason paced the Ravens receiving corps with 1,037 yards on on 73 grabs.
Ray Lewis (who else?) led Baltimore’s defense with 134 tackles, 90 solo. He, and Pro Bowl defensive lineman Haloti Ngata are back for the 2010 season. Terrell Suggs vows to have a great season and Jarrett Johnson is the unsung hero of the defense.
The rookies will get their turn to learn their way around McDaniel College before the rest of the players report to camp tomorrow and start an 8:45 morning practice.
There are high expectations for John Harbaugh and his team this season and the road to achieving those expectations starts now.
It could be a special season in Charm City, but only time will tell.
