Inside Access with Jason LaCanfora and Ken Weinman
Jonas Shaffer: David Ojabo has done more against the run than the pass in training camp
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I think Arderius Washington was coming over, you know, high points it, bring it down, you know, kind of a mess of bodies there in the end zone. So tough from where we were standing to get a good view of it. It didn't really seem like it was, you know, anything leg related or, you know, shoulder related. So maybe a core area, maybe something for a cage. That was kind of in the general direction of where he was dealing, where he was feeling something after he left practice, like plastic, I think it was after one-on-one. I was on guitar at home. And so, you know, obviously he's kind of classic Rashad Bateman on one of his best days. He does absolutely things a little bit early. No update from Harbaugh, obviously. But I think if it were serious, if you were in extreme pain, you would have left the field as soon as possible and he hung around afterwards, that's going to take off the pads and kind of break things down with everyone. Jonah, she mentioned this is his second injury that he's sustained. But when he's been on the field during training camp, what have you thought of his camp? I thought it's been, I think it's been really good. I mean, I think he's been clearly the most impressive wide receiver out there. I mean, that's the kind of, I'm not trying to say, the theory that I'm trying to work up is, you know, how much of a chance does he have of being the most productive wide receiver on this roster. Because I think he, you know, if you want to stay that getting targeted is a skill, then he's gotten a lot more targets than day flowers. And, you know, he's coming off a record-breaking rookie year for the Ravens. So, obviously, some of those returns last week were not especially impressive because he was getting a lot of targets, but not a lot of catches. But, you know, I think, as we probably all expected, the more reps Belomar and Bateman have gotten together, the better that chemistry has gotten. So, I'm really excited to see what he can do, hopefully in the preseason, if he's available to play, you know, Darius Washington was very complimentary about Bateman and his route running and his release ability after the practice today. So, I mean, obviously kind of, you know, knock on wood season for a shot of Bateman, but I really like what I've seen so far. There's obviously a palpable buzz about Travis Jones, Jonas. And as we spin this forward to Friday night, I'm wondering sort of how they play this with him, because he obviously has breakthrough potential, but he's probably not in a position where you put him entirely in bubble wrap. Like, do you play around with him in some of these games? You know I'm out of B.K. is not going to play. So, like, let's look at him as a five technique. Let's look at him with some different people around him and then get him off after a couple of series or where do you think he is in his sort of development and importance to this team vis-a-vis these these exhibition games? Yeah, I'm gonna, I guess I would not go overboard with the with the bubble wrap. I think the fact that, you know, maybe match what the eels do in terms of their ones, you know, throw them out there for as long as they have their ones out there. If you feel good about it, Jason, to your point out, that's a five-tech. I was kind of peeking over some of the offensive line defensive line on one-on-one, but I think one of the ones that I did glimpse, he all but ran over Roger Rosengarten from the outside. So, that was a, that was what you said. It was the reminiscent of what he did, the 49ers right tackle and that came against him from this co-last year where he, you know, helped force that Patrick Queen interception on Brock Purdy. So, it's been fun to see him move around. I don't know how creative they will get with him, but, you know, you talk to anyone on the team, on the staff, and obviously, the, the buzz around him is very, very high. And hopefully, we get a Friday performance that is worthy of that height. Talking to Jonah Schaeffer since I had access here on the fan, I've been seeing that it seems like every day, Adave OA, is very active in practice. I know we talked to you a little while ago and you, the analytics, you, you feel like that, you see a jump coming. How much can you glean? How much do you translate what you're seeing as we get to, up to September and Sundays? It's tough because, you know, I think a lot of times, he's either matched up with Ronnie Stanley, who I think has had a really nice camp and, you know, that hasn't had a whole lot of luck or maybe isn't going overboard with the speed of power considering, you know, what Ronnie means to the, to the roster or he's going up against the other side where, you know, short arms, passion, McCarrie, short arms, Roger Rosengarten, light passion, McCarrie, light roger, Roger Rosengarten. I think Adave had a really nice day today. You know, there was one where, what do you do? You kind of, you know, use a speed to power move to basically get a nice inside path of Lamar. Obviously, you can touch him, but it would have been a sack and I think there was another play where he won pretty easily for what would have been another sack. So, I think it's, it's really impressive, but you could have said the same thing in the last two years and you just feel good about where he is. Sorry about that, guys. And you, you know, you want to see him build on it. Again, I don't think we'll see more than a series from him on Friday just because of what he means to this team, but I'm still a believer that this could be a breakout season for him, whatever, you know, your definition of that might be. We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature, whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to or the succulents that adorn our homes. Nature makes all of our lives, well, better. Despite all this, we often go about our busy lives removed from it, but the outdoors is closer than we realize. With all trails, you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently with offline maps and on-trail navigation. Download the free app today and make the most of your summer with all trails. This season Instacart has your back to school. As in, they've got your back to school lunch favorites, like snack packs and fresh fruit. And they've got your back to school supplies, like backpacks, binders and pencils. And they've got your back when your kid casually tells you they have a huge school project due tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So first, call your parents to say I'm sorry. And then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a $0 delivery fee for your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order additional term supply. Nothing is more important than getting a good night's sleep. And when you don't get the rest you need, your whole day is thrown off. That's why it's so important to choose the right mattress. Sleeping on a purple mattress is truly a unique experience because purple mattresses are made with a gel flex grid. The gel flex grid is an innovative material that moves with your body to relieve pressure in areas like knees and hips and support in others like your back. It feels soft where you want it and supports where you need it. Purple mattresses instantly adapt when you move. You don't sink in and get stuck like with memory foam. And thanks to over 1400 air chambers in the gel flex grid, you will sleep cooler on a purple mattress. Purple has a wide variety of mattresses from the original purple mattress to the restore hybrid collection that combines gel flex grid with coils and the rejuvenate lux collection, the height of luxury with over 112,000 to five star reviews to prove it. Visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast 10 to get 10% off. Jonas, do you think that this secondary could potentially be better than last year's secondary? It's tough because so much of what made last year's defense in general was so was how elite it was all together. And I'm sure there were some games where maybe the secondary carried the pass rush and there were also some games where perhaps the pass rush carried the secondary. So I do think on a down and down basis the ceiling for this year's team is probably higher because if you are assuming, and maybe this is a bad assumption, but you're assuming that Marcus Williams is going to finally put in a full shift this year. If you assume that Marlon Humphrey is going to put in a cooler shift and that lighter frame helps him play better outside of the slot, maybe another year of growth from Kyle Hamilton. That's a group of little guys with a very high ceiling and that's not even including the possibility of Nate Wigan getting over some of the rookie year nerves and just becoming a stud midway through the year. It's always a possibility. So obviously there might be some games where the pass rush isn't there and the kind of old non-purdier life on the three second, four second dropbacks, but I just love the ability of what this team could do versatility wise, coverage wise, you know, a leveraged spot. It's just a very, very talented group and I don't see why at certain positions the expectations should be higher than what they were last year. Obviously I think we know there's not a whole lot of there there in terms of edge on this team right now outside of Van Noyen Oway and I can't imagine those guys are exposed to a whole lot during the exhibition season. Jonas, is there a deep cut who's caught your eye and I know you have to be judicious in what you can say about evaluating these players versus other players, but we saw David Ojaba really struggle to set the edge and hold anything down against the run game last August. Have you seen any reason to believe that's different? I think he's been a better run defender than he has been a pass rusher in camp. So I think there have been some gains there, but that is perhaps more of a reflection of his pass rush quality so far than anything else. I do think he's put on some good weight, maybe that's kind of the expense of his explosiveness or maybe that explosiveness is just going to take some time to come back. So we'll see what's there. I do think, you know, David is always going to be a good early down option just because of how he could set the edge and, you know, there are some plays where, you know, when he's really engaged and revved up, where he does have good knockback as a speed to power guy. I don't know if he's ever going to be someone who has, you know, overwhelming pass rush moves just because, you know, I don't think he has that quick switch set of skills, but, you know, if they're even playing with a lot of third and longs, you know, then it's possible that he's a guy who gets, you know, four or five exacts if you're, I wouldn't count anything against either. Extremely hard worker, you know, always Malay from always we're going to get stronger. You know, obviously didn't have a great pass rush production there in college, but I think, you know, working with Chuck Smith, it's the ultimate, you know, PED for a lot of these guys. John, before we let you go, last thing, and I know the Ravens love Josh Johnson. This has been like something, a bugable for us. It seems like every day he's, we're seeing you guys report that he's thrown at least in one interception. Are you comfortable with Josh Johnson as the number two entering this season? You know, if you'd asked me before today, I probably said a little bit more comfortable than I had been over the first week I can, but I think the trickle-down effect of Lamar getting back in there with the ones and putting Josh Johnson with the twos seemed to have elayed some of those interception fears. But, you know, today, he throws a pick-six to Arderius Washington, you know, the same kind of mid-level throw over the middle-ish that he threw to Malay Karison, you know, last week, late last week, you know, it could just be as simple as this is a very, very talented Ravens, you know, back seven and the defense is still ahead of the offense. I guess we'll see, you know, if he goes out there and like six for 13 with a pick and finishes with 58 yards, then, you know, that's going to be a tough post-care use coverage for John Harbaugh, but at this point, I don't really know what the Ravens could do to, you know, find a guy without pain to the nose for a backup quarterback. Jonah Schafer covers the Ravens for the Baltimore banner. Jonah's always great, man. Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it, guys. Thank that. I'm not trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again. 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