Rookie Training Camp Begins Today, Kindle Will Not Attend
By Joe Barnes
It’s (almost) football season again! Rookies report to training camp today, and begin to get the feel for what it’s like to be an NFL player. The two-a-day practices begin tomorrow at McDaniel College in Westminster, and you already know that these rookies, especially Terrence Cody, will have a lot of fun doing two-a-days in the Baltimore heat.
Click “Continue Reading” for more on the rookies and the Sergio Kindle situation.
One player who will be not be in attendance is probably the guy whose presence was most anticipated. Ravens’ top pick Sergio Kindle will not be reporting today because of the head injury he sustained falling down two flights of stairs at a friend’s house this week. All indications point to him being ready to go hopefully for pre-season, and almost definitely for the regular season, but the team may want to take it slow. He was expected to sign this week, hopefully this does not delay that.
With practice beginning tomorrow, the new autograph policy goes into effect. Basically, anyone that’s middle school age is allowed to get autographs. Because of safety concerns, the people who are over 5 feet tall are not permitted to get their forehead signed, or anything else for that matter. So just be warned.
The veterans report on Thursday, which is a day off for everyone. Friday begins the really real stuff, with full two-a-day team practices. The first preseason game is on August 12th at M&T Bank Stadium against the Carolina Panthers, so the team is looking at a solid two weeks and change before they have to hit the field under the blaring lights of ESPN.
It’ll be interesting to see which rookies step up in the Tuesday and Wednesday practices, before all their self-esteem is thwarted by the vets. Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta will obviously be gunning hard both against each other and just in general, trying to win playing time over Todd Heap. With a very strong, deep draft and additional undrafted free agent signings, these next couple rookie-only days will be some of the most interesting to follow in the past few years.