When Derrick Henry went to the turf and grabbed for his knee Tuesday, Jesse Minter had his first scare as Ravens head coach.
Henry remained on the ground for a few seconds as the practice came to a halt and everyone watching held their breath.
Thankfully, the Ravens' star running back was back on his feet in a jiffy and re-entered 11-on-11 drills not long after. Henry, once again, proved he's built different.
After practice, Henry said he banged knees with a teammate.
"I laid on the ground a little bit. The ground felt like a bed for a little while," Henry said. "And I saw you all looked hot and bored, so I was like, 'I've got to give them something to tweet and write.'"
Entering Year 11, Henry still looks like he's straight out of central casting for a superhero movie. He said he hasn't switched up his training much. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Here are other notes from Tuesday's OTA practice:
- Lamar Jackson was not at Tuesday's practice. Minter said Jackson communicated that to him and that he had something going on. He's expected back soon.
- Jackson was among a handful of veterans who didn't practice Tuesday. Minter said he expects safety Kyle Hamilton, who watched practice in street clothes from the sideline, to get on the field soon as well.
- In his first field-goal attempts of OTAs, second-year kicker Tyler Loop went 6-for-6, hitting from 25, 33, 38, 43, 48 and 63 yards.
- Robert Longerbeam missed his entire rookie season because of a knee injury, but he's back to full practice participation and had a strong return Tuesday. Longerbeam broke up a pass early in practice, then hauled in an interception when he broke quickly on an underneath pass by Skylar Thompson intended for Mark Andrews. The Ravens are deep at cornerback, but Longerbeam will compete for a spot this summer.
- Cornerback T.J. Tampa also notched an interception on an underthrown ball.
- It doesn't matter who you are when you make a procedural mistake. An offsides penalty or false start gets you subbed out. Andrews was taken out after a false start and Trey Hendrickson went to the sideline following an offsides penalty.
- Rookie wide receiver Elijah Sarratt showed his yards after catch abilities a couple times, once knifing upfield on a catch over the middle and later tiptoeing down the sideline following a nice grab on an out-route.
- Tyler Huntley threw a laser to rookie wide receiver Ja'Kobi Lane that barely beat linebackers Roquan Smith and Trenton Simpson, who collided with each other trying to break up the pass over the middle. Huntley also had a long run that may have gone for a touchdown.
- Wide receiver Xavier Guillory had the catch of the day with a deep diving snag that he plucked off the top of the grass.
- After doing a two-minute plank at the end of practice Monday, Tuesday ended with a competition to see who could toss a medicine ball further. It was offense vs. defense and the offense won all three matchups (Sarratt vs. Chandler Rivers, Josh Cuevas vs. Kaimon Rucker, and Vega Ioane vs. Zion Young). That meant the defense had to do three sets of push-ups. Minter calls it "being at our best when our best is needed."
