Ravens OTA Attendance Worth Watching

After this week's schedule release, the next big event on the NFL calendar is organized team activities (OTAs) in late May and early June. While OTAs are great for players to work their way up to mandatory minicamp and eventually training camp, they're often more notable for which players aren't in attendance than those who are.

It's become very common for players to hold out on OTAs as they seek new contracts, whether they're entering the final year of their current deals or just want a raise. Not every player holds out, but many do in the modern NFL.

This year, the Ravens have quite a few players who could realistically hold out this year, which makes their attendance at OTAs worth keeping an eye on, according to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic.

"The Ravens have many key players entering the final year of their deals," Zrebiec wrote. "Running back Derrick Henry, center Tyler Linderbaum, tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely, [Odafe] Oweh, [Kyle] Van Noy and safety Ar’Darius Washington are part of that group. They also have some players (Van Noy, Rashod Bateman) who have outperformed their current contracts."

"Every player has their reason for attending or not attending voluntary workouts, but this is the time of year when contract dissatisfaction rises to the forefront."

Baltimore thankfully hasn't had too many players hold out over the years, which may be a byproduct of the team being more comfortable with letting players walk than others. That's just speculation, but it would make sense, as such a mindset would give the Ravens more leverage in negotiations if they can comfortably replace potential holdouts.

The Ravens begin OTAs on May 27-29, with later sessions scheduled for June 3, June 5-6 and June 9-12.