When Head Coach Jesse Minter picked Aeneas Peebles for the "at our best when our best is needed" drill at the end of a practice last week, Peebles won the backwards over the head medicine ball toss.
The next day, teammates Roquan Smith and Kyle Hamilton chose Peebles to represent the defense again. And again, he tossed it further than his offensive counterpart.
It's just OTAs, but Peebles is getting a lot of work in. With several defensive linemen not participating, Peebles has filled in, working with the first-team defense. On top of that, he's now become a medicine ball toss specialist.
"It's a small victory," Peebles said with a smile. "'He don't lose no one-on-ones, so we got to pick him.' That's what they saw."
Peebles will take all the work coaches and teammates will give him after a rookie campaign in which he didn't see the field as much as he would've liked.
A sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Peebles played in the Ravens' first five games last season, carving out a role as a situational interior pass rusher. After that, however, he saw action in just one more game and played four defensive snaps.
Peebles said it was tough to spend ample time on the sideline, but he leaned on advice from his father, William, an All-American defensive lineman at Appalachian State who briefly played Arena League football in the 1990s.
"One of the things my dad always told me was everybody was the guy where they were from," Aeneas said. "Ot's just about starting over and humbling myself and coming in every day with my head down to work. It's not letting the lack of reps or maybe not doing what I wanted to do last year discourage me and allow me to think that I'm not who I am. Just being confident in myself and my abilities."
As he enters his second season, Aeneas wants to carve out a bigger role in Baltimore's defensive line rotation. It starts with impressing a new coaching staff with Minter at the top, Anthony Weaver coordinating the defense, and Lou Esposito as Peebles' new defensive line coach.
"Everybody's cup of tea might not be everybody's cup of tea. Everybody has their own opinion on what guys can and can't do," Aeneas said. "My job is to make that decision as easy as possible for these coaches, just leave no doubt so those things like last year can't happen anymore."
It's going to be a numbers game on the Ravens' defensive line in terms of depth. They added veteran Calais Campbell and drafted Rayshaun Benny, who played for Esposito at Michigan, in the seventh round. With Nnamdi Madubuike's future still unclear, the Ravens have a question mark with their interior pass rush.
While Aeneas is working to improve as a run defender, rushing the passer is his calling card as a twitchy lineman who is adept at shooting gaps. While he's shorter than his peers at 6-foot-0, Aeneas has added more bulk this offseason, going from the 285-287-pound range to 295-299.
Aeneas is getting plenty of opportunities to test out his new weight at OTAs. He left one practice last week with his jersey ripped in multiple spots.
That's fine with him.
"I didn't sign up to stand around. I signed up to play ball," Aeneas said. "That's what I love to do. So, I'm just happy to be out here."
