Welcome to Wednesday and Day 17 of the Baltimore Ravens training camp! If you were wondering when a concerning injury will arrive at the Ravens' shores, well, here you have it!
Minutes before the second joint practice of the week between Baltimore and the visiting Washington Commanders started reporters watching live on location at Owings Mills, Md., started to sound the alarms.
Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey is not here at practice. I saw him walk off the field yesterday with a slight limp, but he came back for his news conference.
— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) August 16, 2023
Better safe than sorry before another day of padded practice.
Jonas Shaffer of The Baltimore Banner first reported CB Marlon Humphrey's absence from practice. Not only that, but Shaffer revealed that he "saw him walk off the field yesterday with a slight limp," before the cornerback returned to his news conference later after practice was over.
Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic echoed the news minutes later on Twitter, throwing his own tweet into the free world.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, Mike Garafolo (s/o Tom Pelissero) of NFL Network confirmed the worst possible news: "Humphrey is expected to miss time with an injury that may require a medical procedure."
#Ravens Pro Bowl CB Marlon Humphrey is expected to miss time with an injury that may require a medical procedure and his status for the start of the season is now up in the air, sources tell me and @TomPelissero. pic.twitter.com/KdEfjoAzKO
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 16, 2023
Sources speaking to Garofolo and Pelissero added that Humphrey's status for the start of the season is "now up in the air."
If you're not happy enough with that, let me introduce you to Ian Rapoport of all people as he joined the party late but strongly.
#Ravens All-Pro CB Marlon Humphrey is dealing with a foot injury and he's expected to have surgery today, sources say. The hope is he's back in a little over a month. So, out for the first couple games. https://t.co/gkCiVoGuI3
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 16, 2023
"Marlon Humphrey is dealing with a foot injury and he's expected to have surgery today," Rapoport tweeted. "The hope is he's back in a little over a month."
Math 101 taught me and Rapoport to add 1+1, which means that with Humphrey out for a month... he will be "out for the first couple games," quoth Rapoport.
Welp, ugh.
The Ravens have been adding subpar cornerbacks to their training camp roster for a few days now including before and after the first preseason game against the Eagles last Saturday, and they signed Rock Ya-Sin to man the CB2 role opposite Humphrey on a weekly basis.
This news is going to cause a lot of trouble if only for a few weeks, assuming there are no lingering issues or setbacks in the early reported and expected one-month absence.
Baltimore had dodged the proverbial injury bullet for weeks now, but that's no longer the case. Here, we pray.