Thursday brought contrasting news on the injury front of the Baltimore Ravens ahead of Sunday's season opener as Odell Beckham Jr. was listed with an ankle injury. Things got only mildly better following Friday's practice, as OBJ exited the injury but another starter was ruled out.
The Ravens released their Friday's Injury Report ahead of the Week 1 season opener against the Houston Texans after the Flock wrapped up their training session offering just a brief, 15-minute glimpse of it at the start of practice.
There was a rather large uncertainty involving both Mark Andrews and Odell Beckham's status following early-week reports in which they appeared injured on the lists released by the franchise, but that changed partially on Friday.
Here is our breakdown of the current injury bill of the Ravens entering the weekend with their season opener against the Houston Texans fewer than 48 hours away.
Available: OT Ronnie Stanley, WR Odell Beckham
Stanley hit the list as a "limited" participant on Wednesday but he already exited it following Thursday's practice. The veteran left tackle, who is the second-highest earner at the position (per Over The Cap) should be available come Sunday without carrying any nagging issue.
Stanley was a full participant on Thursday and his ankle is now healed, assuming he ever suffered any problem rather than just sitting out some drills for precautionary reasons. The latter case is more reasonable, considering Stanley missed 33 games in the past three seasons combined.
Odell Beckham seems to be in a similar situation, as he popped up in the injury report on Thursday but was already removed from it following Friday's session.
Beckham was listed with an ankle injury and as a "limited" participant on Thursday's report, but he was a full participant on Friday and he doesn't carry any designation for Sunday. He is listed as the WR1 in the Ravens depth chart for Sunday.
OBJ first suffered an ankle injury in 2017 when he fractured his left ankle as a member of the Giants. He has carried some issues linked to that injury throught his career, but none of them very worrying nor truly alarming or limiting.
Available: QB Tyler Huntley
Backup quarterback Tyler Huntley avoided getting into the injury report at any point throughout the week of practice leading up to Sunday's matchup, and he should be available and unlimited if John Harbaugh decides to use him as Lamar Jackson's understudy.
Huntley was injured in the first preseason game and has missed nearly a month with a hamstring injury suffered on Aug. 12.
It's still unclear if the Ravens will use Huntley or a healthy Josh Johnson as Lamar's backup in Week 1 and going forward.
There is also the possibility of Baltimore naming the two backups in their gameday squad as they would incur no penalty by doing that after the NFL brought back the "third-QB rule" this season.
Questionable: TE Mark Andrews
Mark Andrews' status for the upcoming game is more uncertain than it's ever been with the Ravens labeling his game status as "questionable" entering the weekend and fewer than 48 hours from the season opener.
Andrews continued to recover from a quad injury suffered in late August, once more practicing in "limited" capacity on Friday.
The tight end had been a limited participant in practice for three consecutive days before getting labeled "questionable", literally raising questions about his availability for Sunday's matchup.
Head coach John Harbaugh and Andrews were both tight-lipped about whether the star tight end would take the field on Sunday. Harbaugh refrained from providing any definitive information on Andrews' availability, deferring to the official injury report.
Per Ryan Mink of BaltimoreRavens.com, the coach made sure to emphasize the delicate balance between Andrews' eagerness to play and the team's long-term perspective. He acknowledged that the injury report would ultimately determine the course of action, and pointed reporters to it.
"Every week is different in terms of what's at stake, etc. and all that," Harbaugh said. "Guys want to play, and if they're capable of playing, they'll be out there playing."
Andrews' health has mostly been robust during his Ravens career, with the TE missing just five regular-season games in five years.
In the event of Andrews' absence, the Ravens would turn to young tight ends Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar, who had shown promise in the 2022 regular-season finale when Andrews was sidelined.
The Texans are surely not a team to fear that much, but not having Andrews would be a bummer and truly hurt the Ravens' offensive upside, even more considering the strong rapport between Lamar and the tight end.
CB Marlon Humphrey - Out
Humphrey restructured hiscontract with the Ravens on Wednesday but that's all he's done in the past few weeks as he has not practiced since mid-August.
Baltimore has now been ruled out for Sunday's season opener against the Texans. Nothing shocking on that front, really, as it was the most probable outcome following his foot surgery and recovery timeline.
With Humphrey out, the Ravens are expected to deploy Rock Ya-Sin and Ronald Darby across from each other; on the outside barring the inclusion of Brandon Stephens in the starting lineup demoting one of the two veteran free-agent signings.
Harbaugh said Monday that Humphrey is “right on schedule” for an early return, which might mean he could be available to play against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2.
When it comes to defending the slot, there is still no answer from the team about who will be the starting nickel corner in Week 1.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Arthur Maulet is seemingly leading the race, but it's also probable that Ar'Darius Washington is in contention to get the start at least in the first game of the season against a lowly Texans team expected to go through some growing pains.