OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman is an eternal optimist. So when his starting quarterback, and one of the most gifted players in the NFL, misses the first seven practices of training camp:
"To me this is all happening for a grandiose reason and he’s going to come back and we’ll get him into shape," he said.
Lamar Jackson is still on the shelf after testing positive for COVID-19 last week. He should be eligible to make his camp debut on Friday. That's a little more than five weeks before the regular season opener.
"Yeah, we’ve got some time and I think we got enough time," said Roman regarding getting Jackson up to speed.
Roman added that it’s hard to predict whether Lamar will see limited snaps when he gets back or just jump right in running the starting offense. That will be a day-to-day assessment .
Practice will also consist of a combination of getting him caught up with the collective offensive progress made so far and building chemistry between Jackson and his teammates.
"The train has already left the station. He’s in his cabin car right now, but, once he gets out of there the train is down the road," said Roman. "So, it’s going to be a little bit of a game of we’re staying on schedule but these are certain things we need to hit."
A couple of the more notable injury absences Wednesday: receiver Marquise Brown missed his fifth full day of practice with a hamstring injury. Guard Kevin Zeitler also sat out after injuring his foot on Tuesday.
The Ravens have Thursday off. They get back on the practice field on Friday.
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