Ravens News 5/31: Practice report, Thomas impressing and more

Practice Report 5/30: Jaleel Scott Hauls in a Pair of Touchdowns - Clifton Brown

The loudest voice on the practice field was new Assistant Head Coach/Receivers/Passing Coordinator David Culley. He has been an NFL assistant coach since 1990, most recently with the Buffalo Bills. Harbaugh said he loves Culley’s approach.

Newly-acquired edge rusher Shane Ray certainly looks the part – long arms, athletic, quick off the ball. It’s still early in Ray’s acclimation process, but the Ravens won’t complain if Ray comes anywhere close to approaching Dumervil’s production.

Thomas looking good in comeback with Ravens - Jamison Hensley

Thomas looked smooth in drills, backpedaling and cutting with ease. During team sessions, He was aggressive in closing on the ball, colliding with Willie Snead on one play.

“He’s had a great week,” coach John Harbaugh said after Thursday’s practice. “Great anticipation and great ability to cover ground. He shows up in the right spots on a regular basis. That’s what great safeties do. He’s done a great job.”

Biggest Takeaways From Steve Bisciotti’s Call With Ravens PSL Holders - Ryan Mink

On Jackson’s short and long-term ability to stay healthy:

“We won six games to get into the playoffs and we did what we had to do. I think that you’ll be pleasantly surprised that Lamar is not going to be running 20 times a game. That is not what this offense is about.”

On not using the franchise tag on C.J. Mosley:

“We’re cleaning up our salary cap, which has been going on since last year. Even in Ozzie’s last year, our goal was to try to flatten out some of these contracts so we had more money available.”

On remaining team needs:

“Honestly, I’m not dying to spend our last dollars. We do have some salary cap space, maybe a little more than we’ve had in the past at this time of year, but I don’t think that there is a need on our field. I think we’re pretty happy with our young inside linebackers and pretty happy with getting those outside rushers. Getting Pernell [McPhee] back, I was very excited about, and Shane Ray, so far … Denver probably feels like he’s underperformed, but he’s a healthy 26-year old now; he’s had wrist injuries and I think it really slowed down his development.”

THE AFC NORTH’S BEST THIRD-YEAR TALENTS - Benjamin Solak

4) MARLON HUMPHREY, CB, BALTIMORE RAVENS

Marlon Humphrey: back-to-back seasons with at least 10 PBUs despite starting less than 10 games in both years. That...is not regular, folks. His 26 PBUs across his first two seasons put him Top-40 all-time.

I wrote about the under-appreciation for Adoree’ Jackson when I ranked him second among the AFC South’s juniors -- I wish I could get Humphrey higher, because I think he’s under-appreciated as well. Humphrey’s physicality and awareness make him an ideal catch-point player with the ability to erase WR1s with his competitive style of play.