When Ravens Assistant Head Coach/Pass Game Coordinator Chris Hewitt stepped up to the microphone after Wednesday's practice, he couldn't help but grin.
"Great day today, huh?" Hewitt said.
The Ravens' pass defense architect said he wasn't keeping count of his unit's interceptions, but reporters were. There were at least six.
Marcus Williams took the first play of 11-on-11s for a pick-six when Josh Johnson's pass bounced off Derrick Henry's hands. Marlon Humphrey got two interceptions. Kyle Hamilton, Jalyn Armour-Davis, and Trayvon Mullen all also notched picks.
On the day when Lamar Jackson returned from an illness that sidelined him for the first three days of training camp, Baltimore's red-hot secondary spoiled the party.
Baltimore's secondary has had interceptions all four days of training camp and just about everyone has been part of the action.
The Ravens' 18 interceptions last season finished in a five-way tie for the third most in the league, trailing the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers (22 each). Baltimore was led by safety Geno Stone, who had the most in the AFC with seven.
Even though Stone is now in Cincinnati, the Ravens feel confident they have the players to keep the stream of takeaways going, including new veteran safety Eddie Jackson.
"Hopefully we get a lot of those [during the season]," Hewitt said. "I give a lot of credit to [General Manager] Eric [DeCosta] and his staff for putting this roster together. We've got a lot of talented guys back there. We've got length, we've got speed, we've got guys who are pit bulls. We've got it all."
Here are more notes from Wednesday's humid practice:
- Jackson's return was a welcome sight, but it didn't last long. He completed one pass, overthrew Rashod Bateman on a deep ball that Humphrey intercepted, and left about an hour into practice.
- No player is harder on themself than Henry. After the pass went off his hands and was intercepted, Henry went to the side with Josh Johnson and caught about a dozen passes.
- Rookie Devontez Walker made a pretty toe-tapping deep catch down the left sideline and nearly hauled in a second but the ball was jarred loose at the last second by cornerback Christian Matthew.
- Outside linebackers Malik Hamm and undrafted rookie Joe Evans are flashing their potential. Hamm got the edge quickly against undrafted rookie Darrell Simpson for what would've been a sack. Evans bowled over undrafted rookie tackle Julian Pearl.
- Undrafted rookie wide receiver Dayton Wade showed his zip on a jet sweep for about 10 yards and made at least one intermediate catch.
- Defensive tackle Broderick Washington is in fantastic shape and looks like he's playing with more swagger. Rookie running back Rasheen Ali bounced backwards off Washington on a goal line run.
