BALTIMORE — The injury bug is something NFL teams strive to avoid during training camp. Some injuries come during full contact practices, but the most severe ones typically come when there is not contact. Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh gave an update on a number of injuries that the team is battling after practice on Wednesday.
With the exception of Matt Elam’s torn biceps, none of the injuries that the Ravens are dealing with threaten to cause any players to miss time during the regular season. The most notable injury has been the knee sprain that first round draft pick Breshad Perriman suffered when he made a diving reception last Thursday. The injury was initially said to be a bruised knee but is now described as a sprain. Perriman has missed five practices in a row and is said to be day to day.
Coach Harbaugh gave a brief explanation of the status. “Breshad [Perriman] is going to be a couple days, I think. It’s just how he gets the range of movement going in there with the bruise and everything like that,” Harbaugh said. “I want him out here right now; he wants to be out here, but they’re holding him back. It’s probably smart. [The training staff is] smarter than Breshad and I are about it; I know that.”
Besides Perriman, antoher injury that has caused some concern is Marlon Brown’s back injury. “We [had an] MRI [on] Marlon’s back. We were a little bit worried about it. There’s nothing in there as far as any kind of a disc or anything like that, which is what we were looking for,” Harbaugh said. “There’s a nerve, root issue of some kind. I don’t know how long it’s going to take. I hope not very long, we’ll have more on that later. He was twisting to get a ball, and [his back] has been kind of locked up ever since. He tried to come out a day or two later. I think he was bumped or bumped into and set it off again.” Brown took part in 7 on 7 drills on Sunday and played well, catching a couple of long touchdowns before leaving practice. He did not take part in Monday and Wednesday practices.
Outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil returned to practice and went full speed on Wednesday when the team was in helmets only. Dumervil had missed four practices in a row, including the open practice for the fans at M&T Bank Stadium on Monday. The rest along with treatment allowed Dumervil to get the tendinitis under control. Harbaugh said they will monitor the tendinitis which is affecting Dumervil’s Achilles, they “won’t mess around with it” if it flares up.
Three of the Ravens young defensive backs have missed practices with nagging hamstring injuries. Rookie Tray Walker left practice on Sunday and hasn’t practiced. Harbaugh said that Walker is close to returning. He said the same thing about Chris Greenwood, who has also missed two practices with a sore hamstring. Rashaan Melvin returned to practice on Wednesday. The training staff will monitor keep an eye on his hamstring.
Starting right tackle Rick Wagner took the most reps with the first team since the start of camp. His foot injury late last season caused him to have off season surgery. The Ravens have brought Wagner along slowly, with Jah Reid and James Hurst getting increased reps during practice.