Making rookie camp count
The Ravens turned a minus into a plus when they rescheduled their first rookie minicamp for this week. The impetus for the change was the NCAA rule that precluded quarterback Joe Flacco and safety Haruki Nakamura from attending the first camp because their college class had not graduated.
By rescheduling, both Flacco and Nakamura were able to participate, and coach John Harbaugh saw dividends just from Monday's practice.
"It's kind of neat now to have the rookie camp at the end after these guys have had the minicamp they were allowed to be at, plus all the OTAs," Harbaugh said. "They’re so much further along than if we would’ve had this camp in the beginning before they had been through the offense twice. For a lot of these guys, it’s their third time through the offense, and it showed up today in their ability to operate the offense and run the routes and make the adjustments."
Along those lines, the Ravens coaches were able to go farther into the respective systems because of the familiarity. "We're taking it deeper than we would have had the rookie camp been earlier," Harbaugh said.
Harbaugh did not rule out the possibility of scheduling a rookie camp at the end of offseason preparation in the future.






