The Ravens secondary got stronger Wednesday afternoon as veteran nickel cornerback Arthur Maulet returned to the practice field following his training camp knee injury.
This opens Maulet's 21-day window to return to the 53-man roster. It remains to be seen how soon Maulet can return to game action, but it was certainly a boost.
"Arthur is one of those guys where you just feel his energy. Even when he's not playing, on the sideline he was into it," Head Coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday.
"It's a little bit of a process. You've been down for four or five weeks. He's going to have to ramp his way back up. We'll see here day to day how he does with that, but it's great to have him out there."
The Ravens have an open roster spot after Jalyn Armour-Davis (hamstring) went to injured reserve.
Maulet has been out since suffering a knee injury in training camp in early August, which required arthroscopic surgery. He began the year on injured reserve.
Maulet was off to a very strong start in training camp and was re-signed this offseason to continue his work as a hard-nosed defender at nickel. He had 37 tackles, two sacks, and one interception last season.
With Maulet sidelined, safety Kyle Hamilton and cornerback Marlon Humphrey have essentially split slot duties. Maulet's return will add another piece to that mix and free up his teammates to play elsewhere. Rookie first-round pick Nate Wiggins played nearly every snap against the Buffalo Bills last week, but that could change if Humphrey moves back outside more.
"Before injury, I think he was having one of the best camps on the team," Humphrey said. "Super scrappy guy, blitzing, all the different things. It just adds to what we're doing. As far as who is playing nickel, it just adds another package."
