Another player is down for the Ravens. On Friday, the team placed tight end Nick Boyle on short-term injured reserve.
Boyle is still healing up from the knee injury he suffered in November. He also had microscopic surgery on the knee recently, but that only elongated his rehab. The good news is that Boyle is expected to return this year. The league’s short-term IR list allows for players to return after three games, and that’s a feasible timetable, per head coach John Harbaugh.
“[We just want to] get his knee right, get his body right,” Harbaugh told reporters on Friday. “We expect him to be back Week 4, Week 5, somewhere in there, whenever he gets back.”
It’s just the latest blow to an offense that’s already without running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards. Without Boyle, the Ravens will lean more on tight ends Mark Andrews and Eric Tomlinson, though Tomlinson is more of a blocker than a pass catcher and not as strong of a protector as Boyle.
Boyle’s best season as a receiver came in 2019 when he had 31 catches for 321 yards and two touchdowns. The Ravens have him under contract through 2023 thanks to the two-year, $13M extension he inked back in January.
More must-reads: