Ravens Place Two Veterans on IR

While head coach John Harbaugh named Bryan as a possible and likely candidate to go on the shelf temporarily with a knee injury he suffered in the Ravens' Week 12 win over the New York Jets, Hill popped up on the injury report on the second day of practice with a neck injury and was already ruled out for the Bengals game.

Injuries to key players involving the neck can be scary, and the Ravens have already dealt with one this year after losing Pro Bowl defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike to what some speculate is a career-threatening injury. Hopefully, that isn't the case for Hill as his an underrated yet important piece to the offense when healthy as their primary option at the position on obvious passing downs and two-minute offense due this his ability as a pass catcher coming out of the backfield and protector in pass protection.

In his absence, the Ravens will feature third-year speedster Keaton Mitchell and second-year special teams ace Rasheen Ali more to spell and play in tandem with five-time Pro Bowl starter Derrick Henry. Mitchell, in particular, has been deserving of a larger role for weeks after flashing explosive playmaking ability when he's touched the ball, and both players will be key on kick returns.

As for who will fill Bryan's role as a quality depth piece in the trenches, the Ravens will likely have sixth-round rookie Aeneas 'Fub' Peebles, who has been inactive for their past six games. The former ACC standout from Virginia Tech via Duke last appeared in a game in Week 5 and recorded 3 total tackles, a quarterback hit, a pressure and a batted pass in the first five games.

Proven pass rusher finale gets to make debut in revenge game

After being initially signed to the Ravens' practice squad over a month ago on Oct. 23, ninth-year veteran edge defender Carl Lawson will be appearing in his first game for the team. It just so happens to be against the same one that he began and spent the first four years of his career with after being selected in the fourth-round of the 2017 NFL Draft out of Auburn.

Lawson brings experience and has been a productive pass rusher with every team he's been with: 20 in four years with the Bengals, 7 in 23 games with the Jets and 5 in 15 games with the Dallas Cowboys last year.

Some have questioned why it has taken so long for the Ravens to finally call Lawson up from the practice squad, given how little pass rush juice they've gotten from underwhelming 2022 second-rounder David Ojabo, but there a three likely factors that led to the longer-than-expected wait.

The first is that he wasn't on any team during the offseason or to open the season, so he needed to get into football shape. Second, he had to learn the playbook, having only ever played in a 4-3, and needed to get comfortable playing in a 3-4. Lastly, the addition of seventh-year veteran hybrid pass rusher Dre'Mont Jones had an immediate impact, and their pass rush was already trending in the right direction, so he was more of a luxury than a necessity.

While this marks Lawson's first time being called up from the practice squad, it will be undrafted rookie linebacker Chandler Martin's third and final standard elevation. The former University of Memphis standout was very active on special teams in his first two career regular season appearances, leading the team with 5 total tackles in the third phase of the game.

With fellow undrafted first-year pro Jay Higgins on injured reserve for at least another week, Martin could be a prime candidate to get signed to the 53-man roster to fill one of the two recently vacated roster spots.