Derrick Henry is 30 years old and has already accomplished more in his NFL career than most players could ever dream of. But anyone who thinks he’s resting on his laurels doesn’t know Derrick Henry.
Henry, who signed with the Ravens this year after eight seasons with the Titans, is turning heads in his first training camp in Baltimore with his hard work. Ravens running backs coach Willie Taggart described a play on which Henry was furious with himself for not catching a pass that was intended for him, and said it’s infectious to see a player demanding so much of himself.
“It’s like the damnedest thing ever. He wants to be perfect on everything. We love it,” Taggart said, via the team’s website. “He’ll eventually come around, but probably the first two plays after a mistake, he’s going to be ticked off.”
Henry’s personal trainer, Melvin Sanders, works with several professional athletes but says no one works as hard as Henry.
“He’s the most consistent. He just doesn’t skip,” Sanders said. “It’s relentless pursuit of perfection. He just wants to be great. He wants to be the best.”
Running backs have almost always declined by age 30, but Sanders insists that Henry is better physically right now than he’s ever been.
“I think he’s better right now than he was in year four and five,” Sanders said. “He’s a lot stronger now. He’s a lot more mobile. He’s able to move better. His lateral quickness is better. He’s just a stronger athlete now.”
Henry averaged a career-low 4.17 yards per carry last season, which may indicate that some wear and tear is slowing him down, but he’s going to put in as much effort as humanly possible to be the player he was at the height of his career. That’s the player the Ravens hope they signed.
Ravens defensive end Brent Urban had a challenging path to get where he is, as a 33-year-old heading into his 11th NFL season.
As a freshman in college, Urban suffered a torn ACL. As a senior in college, Urban suffered an ankle injury that required surgery after the season and affected his pre-draft preparation. As a rookie for the Ravens, Urban suffered another torn ACL in training camp and never got on the field. In his second season he suffered a torn biceps in training camp and missed most of the season. The fourth and final season of his rookie contract saw Urban suffer a season-ending foot injury after just three games.
In seven years since then, Urban has signed seven one-year contracts, as teams just weren’t interested in a long-term commitment to an injury-prone player. But Urban has persevered, bouncing around the league with the Titans, Bears and Cowboys before returning to the Ravens, where coach John Harbaugh now sees him as the epitome of a player who wouldn’t give up.
“I’m going to start using [Urban] as an example for those guys, because it’s a perfect point,” Harbaugh said, via BaltimoreRavens.com. “Those first couple of years were tough, and here he is now. He’s got a testimony as a result of all the tests he’s been through.”
Urban is the only player from the Ravens’ 2014 draft class who’s on the team now. (Only one other player the Ravens drafted in 2014, Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley, is still in the league.) Urban has outlasted a lot of players who looked like safer bets early on, when Urban couldn’t stay healthy.
“Just being in the league is privilege,” Urban said. “Every single day, you’ve just got to relish it, because you see so many guys in and out, and just even looking at my class now, nobody’s still around. So just finding your own role, just appreciating it. As I get older, I’ve started to be able to take a seat back and really just appreciate how thankful I am to be here. When you’re young, your nose is on the grindstone, you’re just hustling every day – you’re stressed out and all that stuff – and now I feel like I can kind of be at a luxury to sit back and just really appreciate things each and every day – and that’s kind of helped me continue to play well in this later stretch of my career.”
That’s the kind of veteran presence Harbaugh likes having in the Ravens’ locker room.
Big companies prefer arbitration to litigation for many reasons.
Here’s an important one. Court proceedings are open and transparent. Arbitration happens in a closed, private setting.
This summer, for example, the NFL has defended (unsuccessfully, so far) an antitrust lawsuit that played out in the public eye. At the same time, the NFL has been dealing with the trial of an arbitration grievance, out of the prying eyes of the media or the public.
The claim arises from the allegation that the NFL’s teams colluded on the issue of not giving guaranteed contracts to certain players.
Information isn’t easy to come by regarding the case, because no one wants to alienate the arbitrator by blabbing. We’ve nevertheless picked up a few nuggets.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the arbitration hearing resumes (and is expected to end) next week. Last month, a week was devoted to the case.
After the hearing concludes, the arbitrator (appointed by the NFL and NFL Players Association) will issue a decision.
In the Sunday Ticket case, a final judgment (if any) will be shared in equal measure by the plaintiffs, based presumably on the number of years that each plaintiff purchased Sunday Ticket during the class period. In this case, specific players could ultimately receive significant amounts of money, based on the damages evidence submitted to date at the trial.
One such player would most likely be Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. He received no external interest or contract offers while subject to the non-exclusive franchise tag in 2023, and his five-year contract was not fully guaranteed.
The NFL could still prevail. Collusion cases are hard to prove, because those who collude aren’t inclined to admit it. The case will have to be established with circumstantial evidence and/or any silver bullets the NFLPA might have found during the discovery process.
Unlike the Sunday Ticket case, the league will have little or no recourse if it loses. In the court system, multiple layers and levels of appeal are available. Here, the arbitrator has the final say — and there are very limited avenues for attacking the ruling in court.
The Ravens made a couple of moves involving linebackers on Tuesday.
They have signed Quincy Roche to the 90-man roster. Malik Hamm was placed on injured reserve in a corresponding move.
Roche was a 2021 sixth-round pick by the Steelers, but he failed to make the cut to 53 players and wound up being claimed off waivers by the Giants. He had 40 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and a forced fumble in 17 appearances with the team.
Hamm suffered a knee injury and the timing of the move means that the Ravens won’t be able to activate him during the regular season. That was also the case when Hamm hurt his ankle last year, so the undrafted player will have to try again in 2025.
Lamar Jackson has two MVP awards and a 58-19 record in the regular season. He is a top-five quarterback in the league.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh said the first day of camp that his vision for Jackson is to be remembered as one of the all-time greats.
“I appreciate that coming from coach,” Jackson said, via Clifton Brown of the team website. “Keep doing what I’m doing. Keep trying to get better. Keep trying to win these games. Keep trying to reach that goal.
“I’m not the GOAT [greatest of all time]. Tom Brady’s the GOAT. But I believe that’s motivation. I appreciate that. I’m still on my way.”
Jackson, 27, reached the AFC Championship Game for the first time last season. He has yet to play in a Super Bowl and is only 2-4 in the postseason.
Harbaugh said he believes the criticism of Jackson is unfair.
Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and John Elway are among the quarterbacks who were older than Jackson before winning a first Super Bowl.
“Patience is the key,” Jackson said. “Only a few quarterbacks have won a Super Bowl in the last few years. A lot of people haven’t won. I’m focusing on me, and I want that real bad. I’m just focusing on what I can control and go from there.”
Patrick Mahomes, who turns 29 in September, has won three of the past five Super Bowls and has become the measuring stick for young quarterbacks. Jackson wants what Mahomes has.
On the night the Ravens drafted him in 2018, Jackson promised Baltimore a Super Bowl.
“That’s been the first check box for me since 2018,” Jackson said. “April 26, whenever I was drafted, I said that, and I meant that. But this is the highest level of this game we play. You’ve got to go out a champion, and that’s what I want to be labeled, as a champion, not just MVP here and there. I want to be a champion.”
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s return to practice from an illness last week was a short one as he left the field halfway through the session, but the second time around has gone better.
Jackson practiced on Saturday after missing four of the team’s first five sessions of training camp and he has now gone through multiple workouts without any issues. Jackson told reporters on Monday that he was dealing with a “bug” that he’s finally been able to shake.
“I feel wonderful,” Jackson said. “Good to be back. Back out with my guys, back with the coaching staff.”
Jackson said he felt he remained “locked in” and that his “mind was still in it” while he was off the field, so he doesn’t feel he has a lot of catching up to do now that he’s working again. He and the Ravens will be hoping that it’s the last extended absence of the year for the two-time MVP.
Patrick Mahomes has seen plenty of items on his cell phone device in recent days about quarterbacks from other teams making more and more and more money. Because the media has generally accepted new-money annual average as the universal currency for ranking player pay, it looks like Mahomes is woefully underpaid.
The three-time Super Bowl winner, whose worst outcome in any of his six seasons as a starter is losing in overtime of the AFC Championship, has a new-money APY of $45 million. Three quarterbacks (Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Jordan Love) are at $55 million. Five others (Tua Tagovailoa, Jared Goff, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts) are north of $50 million.
But there are other ways to look at these contracts. One way is to focus on the cash to be paid in the coming years.
And from 2023-26, as well as 2024-27, one player still leads the way in four-year cash flow. It’s Mahomes.
Here’s the four-year cash flow from 2023 through 2026, per a source with access to the numbers:
1. Mahomes: $210.6 million.
2. Lamar Jackson: $208 million.
3. Deshaun Watson: $184 million.
4. Joe Burrow: $181 million.
5. Daniel Jones:: $160 million.
6. Justin Herbert: $157 million.
7. Jalen Hurts: $157 million.
8. Kyler Murray: $153 million.
9. Josh Allen: $136 million.
10. Matthew Stafford: $121.5 million.
With recent deals included, here’s the four-year cash flow from 2024 through 2027:
1. Mahomes: $215.6 million.
2. Burrow: $213.9 million.
3. Jared Goff: $193.6 million.
4. Tua Tagovailoa: $186.1 million.
5. Jordan Love: $186 million.
6. Hurts: $184 million.
7. Herbert: $182.6 million.
8. Kirk Cousins: $180 million.
9. Jackson: $179.2 million.
10. Trevor Lawrence: $155.5 million.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the player will cash every check. Jones, for example, has little chance of making the $160 million he was due to earn from 2023 through 2026. Ditto for Cousins and his $180 million in Atlanta.
It’s still a factor. An important one. Along with other important factors, like signing bonus, full guarantee at signing, practical guarantee at signing, and the number of years until the team can activate an escape hatch from the rest of the deal.
For some reason, the media at large only ever looks at new-money APY.
Yes, Mahomes still lags on that factor. But he was due to make more than anyone from 2023 through 2026. And he’s due to make more than anyone from 2024 through 2027.
And that’s still a bargain for the Chiefs and for the NFL.
Colts backup quarterback Joe Flacco was not at practice Saturday, attending the funeral of his former teammate Jacoby Jones.
Jones died this month at the age of 40. No cause of death has been reported.
When Flacco and Jones played together on the Ravens, they connected on one of the greatest plays in franchise history, a 70-yard touchdown pass to force overtime with 31 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Ravens would win the game in overtime and go on to win the Super Bowl, with Jones scoring a 108-yard kickoff return touchdown in the Super Bowl as well as catching another touchdown pass from Flacco.
Flacco and Jones played together on the Ravens from 2012 to 2014. Jones was laid to rest on Saturday in his native New Orleans.
And on the sixth day, Lamar Jackson had a full practice.
Jackson missed four of the Ravens’ first five practices, participating in only an hour of Wednesday’s work, because of an illness. He made it through Saturday’s practice, looking like himself.
“I thought he did really well, especially considering the fact that he’s had to come back from being sick,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “I thought he looked good.
“He put his best foot forward. Even as the practice went on, you could see him finding himself more and more. I was really happy about it.”
The reigning MVP underwent tests and treatment from doctors, who got him back on the field.
Cornerback Trayvon Mullen injured his shoulder in a fall, and wide receiver Zay Flowers missed practice to attend a wedding.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has been battling an illness for the last week, but he is feeling better on Saturday.
Jackson returned to practice with the team at training camp after missing Friday’s session. The reigning MVP also missed the first three practices of training camp before taking part in Wednesday’s practice.
Jackson had to leave that workout early, however, and he went for tests in order to get more information about what was causing the illness. It’s not clear what was being looked at, but the results were presumably positive given Jackson’s return to action.
The hope for the Ravens will be that there won’t be any more setbacks and that Jackson’s healthy for the rest of the summer and into the fall.