The Baltimore Ravens appear to have officially set their 53-man roster, at least for the time being. If nothing else changes health-wise, this is probably exactly what they want their roster to look like as they head into week one.
That is after some small tweaks to the roster that they made on Wednesday. What were those moves, and what were the resulting implications?
3. Baltimore Ravens place Pepe Williams on IR, sign Kevon Seymour
One of the least surprising moves was the Baltimore Ravens placing Pepe Williams on the IR. Of all of the Ravens players with injuries, he appears to be the longest-lasting, and he is probably the least likely to return to the active roster this season. The issue is his ankle.
That is probably why the correlating move was signing a cornerback in Kevon Seymour. Still, it does bring questions because the Ravens now have eight cornerbacks on their roster. Marlon Humphrey will miss a week or so, but they did not place him on the IR. The question is, what are they going to do with all of these cornerbacks?
They technically have Ar'Darius Washington at safety, but he is more likely to start in the slot than Arthur Maulet at this point, although that certainly coudl change.
So, the plan on the outside would likely be that Rock Ya-Sin and Ronald Darby start on the outside with Brandon Stephens and Seymour as the depth. Jalyn Armour-Davis would be inactive. If they cut anyone at this point, it would need to be Armour-Davis, but with the Ravens something tells me that injuries will sort this out soon enough.
2. Baltimore Ravens place Keaton Mitchell on IR, Sign Josh Johnson
One of the key UDFA rookies to make the roster was Keaton Mitchell. However, they placed him on the roster to get him to the IR. He has a shoulder issue, and while it may be serious, the Ravens almost needed a reason to put him on the IR.
They have a healthy backfield as they stand. With J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards, and Justice Hill healthy and looking solid, the team has no offensive snaps for him. As a kick return option, he is not as good as Devin Duvernay, and he did not bring any other special teams abilities.
So, he was going to be inactive for the first four weeks while the team sorted out their running back depth chart. He has not had time off as he went from college to the draft process to grinding to make the roster as a UDFA. Now that he is here and locked into the roster, the Ravens can buy him time to heal his body while they are healthy. If anything happens and they need him down the stretch run, they have to feel good.
Without needing a running back, the correlating move is a third quarterback. The team can keep a third quarterback active and it does not count against the active roster on game day. This allows the Ravens to swap out Mitchell, who would have been inactive, for Johnson who will certainly be active. With this move, they can also easily call up players from the practice squad for game-day elevations.
1. Baltimore Ravens place Malik Hamm on IR, sign Brent Urban
The Baltimore Ravens placed Malik Hamm on the IR with an ankle injury. They re-signed Brent Urban. Urban went through this process with Baltimore last year, so this was procedural. Still, with Angelo Blackson moving onto the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team needs some depth up front. That is why they signed Bravvion Roy, who has NFL experience to thier practice squad.
Hamm did not play in the preseason finale, which should have given you a sign that there was a chance this would happen. As we noted, the Ravens adding Johnson to the roster means that they will take advantage of the practice squad elevations. One of those is likely to be Jeremiah Moon, who started over Hamm in preseason week two.
The Ravens probably wanted to get Hamm on the IR, knowing he would miss some time. Now, they can use the three elevations that Moon has before deciding if they want to call him up or if they think Bowser will return. The overall flow of decision-making adds up.