Ravens leaders show up for offseason workouts

With the collective bargaining agreement limiting the time players and coaches have together during the offseason, it's important for team leaders to get together as soon as possible.

A few of Baltimore's key components did just that on Monday

With Phase One of the Ravens' offseason workout schedule beginning, the Ravens saw its leaders show up to work. That figures to stay the same now that the Ravens enter the third day of offseason work together.

For now, players can work with the strength and conditioning staff, led by coach Bob Rogucki. Among those that showed up on day one were Joe Flacco, Ray Rice and Lardarius Webb.

"Our numbers are high," Rogucki told reporters on Tuesday. "Are our expectations low? No, because if they're here, we'll get them to where we need them to be. Anybody that comes into this program right now, our expectations are always going to be high for them. We're always going to press that button, because if we don't start pressing that button today, then three weeks from now they're not going to be ready. We do it in a group, and then we do it individually."

Rice, in particular, has been working to get in better shape after playing the 2013 season too heavy. Working with an offseason trainer before coming to the Ravens' facility has paid off for the seventh-year running back.

"He's doing some things differently as far as his diet and so forth, and he told me he has a handle on it," Rogucki said. "So, he looks good. Whatever he did from the end of the season until now, he's in a good position right now."

Rogucki said the approach stays the same for every player, regardless of veteran status.

"It's not that the program has changed," he said. "We still grind. It doesn't matter if they've played 10 years or five years. We still make an attempt to grind, because the bottom line is it doesn't matter if they're in their 15^th year when they're out there competing. You can't say, ‘Oh, hold up now, I've been here 15 years. You've got to slow down a little bit.' It doesn't work that way, so we do make an attempt. The older you get, the more problems you're going to have maintaining strength, so that's why they've got to work harder to do that.