Ravens bring back TE Eric Tomlinson on practice squad and make a couple more roster moves

The Baltimore Ravens made a trio of roster moves on Monday including two pertaining to injured players with the most notable involving veteran tight end Eric Tomlinson, who was released and immediately signed to the practice squad. Since he is a vested veteran, he wasn’t subjected to the waiver claim prosses and was eligible re-sign with the Ravens or any other interested party.

This development further suggests that veteran tight end and run blocking extraordinaire Nick Boyle will be making his long awaited debut very soon after missing the first seven games of the regular season. He opened the year on injured reserve as he continued to rehab from a season-ending knee injury that cut his 2020 campaign short.

Although he has yet to record a single reception and has only been targeted once in 13 games as a Raven dating back to last season, Tomlinson has performed admirably as a blocker in Boyle’s absence over that span.

Boyle was designated to return from injured reserve on Oct. 20 and has been practicing for the past two weeks. In addition to being a key cog as a blocker that often serves as a extra offensive lineman on the end of the line or an extra fullback in the backfield, the seven-year veteran is an effective outlet receiver underneath and in the flat for Lamar Jackson.

During his Monday press conference, Head Coach John Harbaugh shared that Boyle isn’t the only veteran player that is close to returning to the field after missing time with an injury. Wide receiver Sammy Watkins missed the last two games with a hamstring, running back Latavius Murray missed one game with an ankle and defensive tackle Derek Wolfe has yet to play this season due to a back/hip injury.

“They all have a chance,” Harbaugh said. “Whether they make it or not is up in the air.”

In other roster related news, the Ravens placed veteran offensive tackle Andre Smith on the practice squad injured/reserve list and put second-year inside linebacker Malik Harrison on the non football injury list after he was struck in the calf with a stray bullet and suffered a non life threatening injury.