The Baltimore Ravens have chosen a cautious, proactive approach in managing the health of their two high-profile rookie wide receivers, Marquise Brown and Miles Boykin.
Per The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec, Boykin, a third-round selection, is dealing with a minor hamstring injury. Zrebiec reports via Twitter that the team is “expected to be cautious” with Boykin during this week’s organized team activities. It remains to be seen what capacity Boykin will practice this week. Boykin was a full participant at the team’s rookie minicamp, which took place earlier this month.
Though Boykin’s status for OTAs remains up in the air, fellow rookie Brown will certainly be sidelined for the proceedings. Brown — who also had to sit out of minicamp — is slated to return to the field in late July for training camp. The first-round selection is recovering from January foot surgery to repair a Lisfranc injury.
“We feel really good about his prognosis long-term,” Baltimore general manager Eric DeCosta said of Brown, via ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “So conservatively, I think training camp we’ll have him back. But I think he’s at the point now where his rehab is going to be ramped up quite a bit, and he’ll be here with some of the best trainers and strength coaches around. I think it’s going to be great.”
It’s hard to not draw parallels from Brown’s situation to the 2015 debacle with Breshad Perriman.
Back then, Ravens coach John Harbaugh characterized a knee injury the then-rookie wide receiver sustained on the first day of training camp as minor and insignificant.
“It’s all sound,” Harbaugh said in July 2015. “He’ll be back as soon as the knee feels a little bit better. It could be as early as tomorrow, or a couple days at most.”
Perriman wouldn’t see the field again that year and ultimately ended up on injured reserve after reinjuring his knee during pregame warmups.
Hopefully, Baltimore has taken the cautionary tale of Perriman to heart. So far, that seems to be the case.
