The Ravens backed out of a trade for Maxx Crosby in March after the edge rusher failed their physical. The team reportedly was concerned about Crosby’s durability because of a degenerative issue in his knee.
Crosby and the Raiders don’t share those concerns.
He is back with the Raiders and still rehabbing from a January surgery to repair a torn meniscus on Jan. 7. Crosby jogged and stretched with teammates at Wednesday’s OTA before going inside to continue his physical therapy.
Crosby expects to be back soon.
“I’m at the point where I’m almost there, but I forget that I need to relax a little bit, so that’s kind of been the biggest battle right now,” Crosby said, via Ryan McFadden of ESPN.
Crosby played through the left knee injury from Week 7 last season before going on injured reserve on Dec. 27.
“Ultimately, it has probably been the best [rehab] by far, and we’re not even to the finish line,” Crosby said. “It’s been better because I’ve been able to focus on other things. Whether that’s being in the weight room, like I’m moving more weight than I ever have, and doing things in a different way, and being able to get my body the proper rest that it actually needs.
“This has forced me to have to take a step back in certain areas and not run 8,000 yards on the field every single day.”
Ravens Clips
The Browns added a little extra protection for themselves to complete the Myles Garrett trade to the Rams this week.
While Cleveland received edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2029 third-round pick from Los Angeles in exchange for Garrett, the league’s daily transaction wire noted that the final pick was conditional.
According to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, the condition on that 2029 third-round pick is that it will become a first-round pick in the event that the Rams trade Garrett to a team in the AFC North.
It doesn’t seem likely that the Rams would even want to trade Garrett at any point in the future.
But just in case they do, the Browns have at least made it unlikely that they’ll ever see Garrett twice a year on the opposing sideline.
Ravens wide receiver Rashod Bateman is absent from organized team activities, and offensive coordinator Declan Doyle said some “personal things” have kept Bateman away.
Bateman, though, has been in the building for much of the offseason.
“Yeah, Bate’s been around,” Doyle said, via video from Giana Han of the Baltimore Banner. “He’s dealing with some personal things, so he hasn’t been here for a little bit. He was here that first week, and we were able to work him in quite a bit. Then, he was here pretty much the whole offseason, every day. He’s an early morning guy, so a lot of times I’d be going to work out, and he’s in there doing stuff by himself at times. I’ve been pleased with him. Obviously, . . . we’re working with the guys who are here, and guys who aren’t, we’re expecting them to be working kind of on their own. But I’m excited for him to get back in here at training camp and keep rolling.”
Bateman dealt with a high right ankle sprain last season, and caught only 19 passes for a career-low 224 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games.
The Colts have announced that Hall of Fame receiver Raymond Berry, who won two NFL titles with the Colts and later coached the Patriots to their first Super Bowl appearance, has died. He was 93.
In 13 NFL seasons after arriving in Baltimore as a 20th-round draft pick in 1954, Berry caught 631 passes for 9,275 yards and 68 touchdowns in 154 regular-season games. He was named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1950s, the NFL’s 75th Anniversary All-Time Team, and the NFL 100 All-Time Team.
The Colts won the NFL championship in 1958 and 1959. In the epic 1958 title game (known as the Greatest Game Ever Played), Berry caught 12 passes for 148 yards and a touchdown in a 23-17 overtime victory against the Giants.
Berry was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973.
Immediately after his playing career ended, Berry went into coaching. After serving as a receivers coach with the Cowboys (1968-69), the University of Arkansas (1970-72), the Lions (1973-75), the Browns (1976-77), and the Patriots (1978-81), he returned to New England as the head coach in 1984.
In his second season, the Patriots advanced to Super Bowl XX against the Bears.
Berry coached the Patriots through 1989, generating a record of 51-41. He worked as quarterbacks coach for the Lions in 1991 and the Broncos in 1992.
Berry is a member of the Baltimore Ravens’ Ring of Honor, along with seven other Baltimore Colts players. His No. 82 was retired by the Colts.
We extend our condolences to Berry’s family, friends, and colleagues.
A report last month indicated that Ravens defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike plans to play this season after missing most of last year with a neck injury, but he has not been taking part in any of the team’s practices this spring.
During a Wednesday press conference, Ravens head coach Jesse Minter was asked about Madubuike’s status and said that he has been with the team during the offseason program. Minter did not provide any specifics about when Madubuike might be ready to make a full return to action.
“I think Nnamdi is here a lot,” Minter said, via a transcript from the team. “He’s working. He’s doing some certain parts of our program. I’ll probably, again, leave that up to him of when it’s really to the point where he may be out there, but he’s definitely getting a lot of work in. He’s trending in a great direction, I would say.”
Madubuike’s return would be a significant development for Minter’s defense, but any plans for him will be written in pencil until there are some surer signs that he’ll be playing this fall.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s first media session since the end of the 2025 season included questions about his contract situation.
The Ravens restructured Jackson’s contract in March in order to slash his cap number for 2026 by nearly $40 million, but he’s now set to have a cap hit of nearly $85 million in 2027 as a result. That’s led to a lot of talk on both sides about an extension, but no agreement has been reached at this point.
Jackson said he’s going “keep those conversations private” when asked about his communication with the team and that “we’ll go from there” after the restructure. Jackson asked for a fully guaranteed contract before signing his current deal, but wasn’t interested in revisiting that request when discussing the current state of affairs.
“What year was that? 2022? That conversation is in 2022,” Jackson said, via a transcript from the team. “This is 2026. We [are] going to leave that conversation in 2022. We’re going to leave it in 2022.”
Jackson said he “absolutely” still envisions himself staying with the Ravens, but questions about the future will linger as long as Jackson’s current deal remains in place.
The Giants have made another veteran addition to their defensive line.
They announced the signing of defensive tackle Josh Tupou on Wednesday. They waived offensive tackle Reid Holskey in a corresponding move.
Tupou played in six games for the Ravens over the last two seasons and he posted eight tackles and a sack for Baltimore. Tupou spent his first six seasons with the Bengals and had 86 tackles, two sacks, and a forced fumble in 65 appearances.
Defensive linemen D.J. Reader, Shelby Harris, Leki Fotu, Sam Roberts, and Zacch Pickens have also joined the Giants this offseason, but a need for more reinforcement arose when Roy Robertson-Harris tore his Achilles in a recent workout.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson said on Wednesday that he was “shocked” to learn that John Harbaugh was fired as the team’s head coach earlier this year, but he’s embracing the arrival of the new coaching staff.
Jackson said that the “atmosphere is smooth” with head coach Jesse Minter, offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and the rest of the new arrivals in Baltimore. He also said it’s been energizing to go back to square one with new voices in the room.
“Everything is just new basically besides upstairs,” Jackson said. “Coaching staff is just new and I can say it’s a breath of fresh air because everything is just new.”
Jackson missed a couple of days of voluntary work last week, but he’s been in attendance for more of the offseason program than in previous years and said that all of the changes led him to take a different approach this time around. The Ravens hope that will help the team reach the Super Bowl for the first time since Jackson joined the team.
Safety Malaki Starks jumped right into a leading role for the Ravens during his rookie season, but the 2025 first-round pick wasn’t thrilled with his overall body of work in 2026.
Starks played the most snaps of anyone on the Baltimore defense and finished the year with 84 tackles and two interceptions, but said last week that he doesn’t “think enough is said about entire draft process and how much of a toll that takes on you coming into the league.” Starks said he’s more comfortable with the process of preparing for the season this time around and has added muscle he believes will help him have “a breakout season or whatever you want to call it.”
“How I played last season was okay, but it’s not the standard I set for myself,” Starks said, via the team’s website. “I know I can play at a higher level. There were plays I should’ve made and didn’t. This season, I’m expecting to make them.”
Safeties were key to new Ravens head coach Jesse Minter’s defense with the Chargers and they’ve also been vital to Baltimore’s defensive success over the years. With Kyle Hamilton and Jaylinn Hawkins on hand in addition to Starks, that figures to be the idea for the coming season as well. That would make a leap for Starks a welcome development over the coming months.
When Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s was absent from the team’s organized team activities last week, head coach Jesse Minter said that Jackson had a “couple of things going on” and was expected back soon.
Minter was proven correct on Tuesday. The Ravens shared video of Jackson in uniform with a helmet on as he made his way to the practice field.
Tuesday’s workout is the team’s fourth of nine scheduled OTAs this year. The sessions are all voluntary, but Jackson has a $750,000 bonus tied to his attendance at 80 percent of the team’s offseason program. Jackson did not attend enough sessions to qualify for that bonus the last two years.
Jackson was working in a familiar offense in those seasons, but the Ravens have a new offensive coordinator in Declan Doyle in Minter’s first season in the top job for Baltimore.
