Arthur Brown not quite the bubble player he was expected to be

Linebacker Arthur Brown has been a player that some expected to be a bubble player and that he might be trade bait. Yet when head coach John Harbaugh took to the podium on the last day of training camp, the tone took an interesting tone that few expected.

Arthur has really come on. We've played him a lot. We played him with the ones a lot, with the twos a lot and he's flashed a number of times athletic ability. As hard as he's worked in camp, I think that he'll play faster in the regular season because he's so quick, so explosive of a player.

That isn't talk typically associated with a player that is about to be cut.

Harbaugh did note one of the larger issues surrounding Brown; the ascension of C.J. Mosley and the veteran play of Daryl Smith, both top level linebackers in the league.

He's kind of in a tough spot. He's sitting behind two really good linebackers. Daryl Smith is the most underrated linebacker in football, without question. I'll stand on that all day long. And C.J. Mosley obviously we all know he is one of the best young linebackers in football, if not the best young linebacker in football. That's where Arthur is at.

Arthur Brown has had trouble in the past with living up to the expectations of a second round draft pick for the Ravens, but now that he seems to be getting it, he is stuck behind one of the best starting linebacker tandems in football as noted by Harbaugh. While Daryl Smith is at the tail end of his career being 33, Brown has to fight off Zach Orr and Albert McClellan to get the chance to sit behind and wait for his starting spot to open up.

By the sounds of it, he is doing exactly that and should be in the mix for playing time even this season. Thankfully, the Ravens look like they will get some use out of Arthur Brown in 2015.