Player Misses Practice For..... Jury Duty!

In the NFL, it's very rare that a player misses practice when they're perfectly healthy. However, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh had a first in his coaching career when third-year defensive end DeAngelo Tyson needed to miss practice for jury duty. It's not like the Ravens have anything big going on at the moment, right?

"I've never had a player or coach miss practice for jury duty," Harbaugh said. "It's a first."

Harbaugh did have a fun exchange with the Baltimore Sun's Aaron Wilson, the reporter who originally brought up the topic.

Wilson: "I mean, it is an important game this week. Did you maybe say..."

Harbaugh: "What can I say about it? I'm not in charge of jury duty. (laughter) I'd love to be in charge of jury duty. Tell it to the judge."

Wilson: "You could possibly, maybe work around and get it delayed maybe."

Harbaugh: "Could he? Did you get yours delayed? I don't know how that works. I'm not aware of that."

Wilson: "If it's work related."

Harbaugh: "So you've gotten jury duty delayed before, huh?"

Wilson: "You just have to suggest another time, and usually they acquiesce"

Harbaugh: "Oh, really? OK. I'm not in charge of that in our organization. You have to talk to whomever's in charge of jury duty in our organization."

Now that Wilson gave Harbaugh a little lesson in delaying jury duty, I wouldn't expect to hear of any additional players having to request missing practice to serve? It would have been nice if someone like tight end Dennis Pitta or long snapper Morgan Cox, both on injured reserve, could have stepped up and volunteered instead.

Maybe the courts should make an in-season NFL exception. There you go, injured reserve jurors.

For more Ravens news and juror information, follow me on Twitter @RavenManiac