BALTIMORE — A day after returning to practice, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was not present for the portion of Thursday’s session open to reporters, a possible setback in his recovery from an ankle injury.
A gimpy Jackson was a limited participant in Wednesday’s practice, his first since being carted off the field in a Week 14 loss to the Cleveland Browns. But coach John Harbaugh had said before the practice that he was “really hopeful” Jackson would start in Sunday’s essentially must-win game against the Los Angeles Rams.
Offensive coordinator Greg Roman acknowledged before practice Thursday that the Ravens, losers of four straight games, didn’t know who their starting quarterback would be Sunday. He said the team would “spread the reps around” this week to “be ready for anything.” Backup Tyler Huntley, who’s impressed in five games this season, returned to practice Thursday after missing Sunday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and Wednesday’s practice while on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
“You obviously want to get your starter the reps,” Roman said Thursday. “But when there’s a chance that multiple guys could play, you’ve got to start to consider: Should we give this guy some reps? Can this guy handle all those reps? Are we better off kind of putting him on a pitch count, spreading them out?
“So I think there’s definitely some options there, and as unique as these situations have been, they’ve been pretty straightforward up until this point, because we knew who our starter was going to be.”
Also absent Thursday were wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, tight end Nick Boyle (knee), left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, left guard Ben Powers (foot), right tackle Tyre Phillips (knee), defensive tackle Brandon Williams, outside linebacker Odafe Oweh (foot) and cornerback Anthony Averett (ribs/chest). Powers, Phillips, Oweh and Averett all missed Wednesday’s practice as well.
Along with Huntley and defensive lineman Justin Madubuike (reserve/COVID-19 list), four Ravens returned to practice: wide receiver Devin Duvernay (knee), fullback Patrick Ricard (knee), inside linebacker Malik Harrison (illness) and defensive back Anthony Levine Sr. (knee).
Harbaugh is scheduled to speak to reporters Friday.
