The Baltimore Ravens held “football school” as a way to start preparing for the grueling 2023 season. Football school wasn’t mandatory for players to attend, however some of the veterans on the team were in attendance, impressing members of the coaching staff such as defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.
Macdonald was asked what kind of message it sends to the rest of the team knowing that veterans like cornerback Marlon Humphrey and inside linebacker Roquan Smith were in attendance at football school. He said it’s “huge” for the team, and referenced past conversations he’d had with the duo.
"It's huge for us."
DC Mike Macdonald on @marlon_humphrey and Roquan being in this offseason: pic.twitter.com/wxi2aNRD7s
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) May 17, 2023
“Yes, I mean, it’s huge for us, and those are conversations that we’ve had with Marlon [Humphrey] and guys like Roquan [Smith] – just encouraging them to kind of take the team by the horns and make it their team. And some of the conversations we had last year [were], ‘Hey, it was great that we hit our stride at some point in the season, but why don’t we do that earlier?’ And having the guys around and building camaraderie and building a team chemistry is a great byproduct of this whole process, as well as improving your individual skills and understanding the scheme and all that type of stuff. But that’s really the biggest part, in my opinion, about this kind of stage of the offseason.”
