The Ravens have once again parted ways with veteran linebacker Josh Bynes , according to Field Yates of ESPN, releasing the 33-year-old today. The loss is not a significant one to the Ravens defense considering Bynes has been inactive since October.
Bynes was introduced to the NFL as an undrafted free agent in Baltimore back in 2011. In his second season with the team, Bynes was elevated to the active roster from the practice squad following an injury to Ray Lewis but remained a backup behind starters Dannell Ellerbe and Jameel McClain. An eventual injury to McClain would grant Bynes his first career starts near the end of the regular season. Bynes would go on to make the final tackle of the Ravens’ Super XLVII victory.
Bynes was named a season starter in the following year after Lewis’s retirement, but he would eventually lose the starting job to McClain and would be placed back on the practice squad following the drafting of C.J. Mosley in 2014. Bynes was signed off Baltimore’s practice squad by the Lions and would eventually become a starter in Detroit, as well, finishing second on the team in 2015 with 82 total tackles.
After his time with the Lions, a short stay in Arizona would be followed with a second stint in Baltimore. He would follow that with his best career season in Cincinnati in 2020, when he would finish third on the team with a career-high 99 total tackles. Bynes would spend the 2021 preseason in Carolina before getting cut in final roster decisions. Now a journeyman, Bynes would return to Baltimore for a third time, finally getting an opportunity as a full-time starter. After a strong 2021 season, the Ravens re-signed Bynes to one-year deal for this season. A quadriceps injury in a Week 7 win over the Browns would take him out of the lineup and keep him inactive for the next seven games.
Luckily for Baltimore, its in-season addition of linebacker Roquan Smith helped ease the team’s loss of Bynes. Having operated for so long without Bynes at this point, his dismissal from the roster shouldn’t require much of an adjustment. Starters Smith and Patrick Queen are still backed up by Malik Harrison and special teamers Kristian Welch and Del’Shawn Phillips.
In an additional couple of roster moves, the Ravens have promoted quarterback Anthony Brown and wide receiver Andy Isabella from the practice squad as standard gameday elevations against the Falcons tomorrow. With star passer Lamar Jackson inactive for tomorrow’s contest, Brown will be elevated to perform backup duties behind fill-in starter Tyler Huntley. Isabella is making his Ravens debut and should provide depth to a receiving corps that currently shows Rashod Bateman, Devin Duvernay, and Tylan Wallace all on injured reserve. Huntley will be passing to the likes of Demarcus Robinson, DeSean Jackson, newly re-acquired Sammy Watkins, James Proche, and Isabella.
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