OWINGS MILLS, Md — The Baltimore Ravens opened their training camp with a packed house at the Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills as fans gathered to watch the team begin preparations for the upcoming season.
WATCH: Ravens kick off training camp with full roster and high expectations
All players reported for the first day of camp, with no notable absences, as the team looks to build on last season's success.
Head coach John Harbaugh expressed optimism after the first practice session.
"We had an excellent first day. And we're pretty good. At the same time, we still have miles to go in our journey to get to where we'll be ready to play the kind of football that we need to play early in the season," Harbaugh said.
This marks year three for the Ravens under offensive coordinator Todd Monken, whose unit made NFL history last season as the first to throw for 4,000 yards and rush for 3,000 yards. The addition of wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins could make this offense even more potent.
Monken compared his offensive philosophy to military strategy.
"Wouldn't it be an advantage if the defense doesn't have a real good idea where the ball is going? In any given play at any given time, or if you can react to the defense after the ball snapped, kind of like if you think about warfare, like maybe the Civil War, you know, it's you got all these lines of battle maybe we can attack them, or their defense isn't displayed quite as strongly," Harbaugh said.
The Ravens' defense has undergone significant changes during the offseason, including drafting Malachi Starks in the first round and adding cornerback Jaire Alexander, giving the unit more flexibility.
"We're a special unit, and there's 20 guys that can really play out there. So like I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of different combination whether there's linebackers, safeties, DNs, the tackles, or whatever the case may be. There's probably the most talented defense that I've been on," Roquan Smith, Ravens linebacker, said.
While Super Bowl expectations run high in Baltimore, linebacker Roquan Smith emphasized the team's focus remains internal.
"I think the expectations are high here ever since the Ravens have been an organization, ever since I've been born and known of the Baltimore Ravens, but at the end of the day you can't focus with the outside stuff. It's just more so about the people that's in this building," Smith said.
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