The Opening Drive, 7/31: Lane Turns Heads, Huntley Struggles, Familiar Faces on the Field
An eventful day two of camp at The Castle.
July is winding down, and training camp is heating up for the Ravens, as two days of practice are now in the books. There’s plenty to dive into, both from an analysis standpoint, and wider philosophical ones - so, let’s get into it.
Ja’Kobi Lane is Officially #TurningHeads
In my Opening Drive writeup from a few days ago, I spoke a bit about one of my absolute favorite training camp tropes that you see year in, and year out. That would be the player who is quote “turning heads.”
This is of course the (usually skill position) guy who makes a play or two in light action to juice up the crowd, drawing a plethora of tweets from the local beat reporters who know what they just saw is sure to drive engagement. In my piece, I singled out rookie wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane as the most likely to turn heads, so imagine my delight when I came across the following post from ESPN’s Jamison Hensley:
While it wouldn’t have taken an oracle to predict that Lane would be the guy to standout in light pads and shorts, due to A) his 6’4”, 200lb frame, and B) his ridiculous highlight reel at USC, it’s still nice to be one for one on predictions to start out camp. And let’s be real, it was a very nice catch as you’ll see below in the Ravens official video, courtesy of their X account (@Ravens):
I’m obviously being somewhat tongue-in-cheek with all of this, but it’s still nice to see a young receiver getting early reps with QB1. In the case of Lane, his aforementioned physical profile gives him a talent-based advantage towards making an early impact, and could give Declan Doyle some confidence in trying to use him the same way Ben Johnson did with the similarly built Rome Odunze (okay, maybe I am letting the hype train run a bit too far now).
But apart from the physical tools which are ample, the more encouraging sign would be that Lane feels like he belongs in the NFL already. Head Coach Jesse Minter spoke on some of that confidence from the podium after practice:
"I think Ja'Kobi is a confident player," he said. "I think a lot of the guys that are picked are confident players. The confidence has to come to do it day after day, period after period, and then the teammates gain confidence in them when they do that."
Latest Podcasts:
Latest Articles:
Latest Film Rooms:
FILM ROOM: How Nnamdi Madubuike Transforms the Ravens Defense
FILM ROOM: Can Ethan Pocic Lockdown the Baltimore Ravens Center Position
