In preparation for the 2023 NFL season, the Baltimore Ravens held ‘football school’ at the Under Armour Performance Center, which was open for veterans and rookies to attend.
This was not a mandatory event, so as you can imagine not all veteran players were present.
But one who was there was former Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith. Smith, who was traded to Baltimore from the Chicago Bears last season, is entering his fifth season in the NFL. He’s been one of the league’s most consistent performers at the middle linebacker position since being taken in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft.
And that’s a big reason why Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald was so impressed to see the NFL veteran Smith in attendance and also being so active and involved this offseason, calling it “huge” for the team.
"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.”
