Is Todd Heap Soft?

If you ask some posters on the Baltimore Sun’s Ravens Insider blog, then the answer would be yes. Where is all of the angst towards Heap coming from? He’s hurt yet again, out this time with a calf injury.

Some fans are just idiotic. Anybody who would call Todd Heap soft would probably call Willis McGahee slow or Jonathan Ogden a quitter. Heap plays a position that involves hitting on every single play he’s involved in. If he’s not blocking, he’s running a route. And when healthy, he’s the Ravens’ best receiver, which makes him a target for more hits going across the middle and on possession-saving downs.

No one accuses people with chronic injuries of being soft, particularly in the violent sport of football. To do so would indicate a lacking knowledge of the sport, and a general ignorance about the human body. Don’t just look at the injuries throughout Heap’s seven years in the league, but also consider his collegiate and high school career as a total body pf physical torture .

Now to the football side of it. With Heap out, the reps have been going to Adam Bergen, a tight end who was waived by the Arizona Cardinals last spring. Daniel Wilcox has been out of practice with a toe injury, so it may be a first look at the potential for some three tight-end sets this season from the Ravens.