The Ravens will have to move forward without one of their best players.
Cornerback Jimmy Smith will be sidelined "for a few weeks" with a foot sprain, Head Coach John Harbaugh announced Monday.
Smith went down on the opening series of Sunday's loss to the Bengals and missed the rest of the game.
"He'll be out for a few weeks, but he'll be back soon," Harbaugh said.
The silver lining for Smith and the Ravens was that he didn't have a Lisfranc injury, which is more serious and has the potential to be a season-ending problem. Smith will likely miss the next two games against Pittsburgh and Tennessee, and then the Ravens have their bye week before the Week 12 game against the Saints.
Smith, 26, has been one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL this season. He had been a lockdown defender through the first seven games, and had generated plenty of talk about an eventual Pro Bowl nod.
Now the available cornerbacks left on the roster are Lardarius Webb, Chykie Brown and Dominique Franks. Brown was a healthy scratch Sunday, and Franks filled in for Smith after the injury. Franks ended up playing 60 snaps, which was the most action he's seen since Week 2 of 2012.
Franks, 27, signed with Baltimore on Oct. 8 after spending the first five weeks of the season as a free agent. Franks spent training camp with the Ravens, but was one of the final players released prior to the season.
The Ravens re-signed Franks after cornerback Asa Jackson was placed on injured reserve with a toe injury. Jackson does have the designated to return distinction, so the Ravens could get him back as early as Week 14.
Baltimore could try to bring in another cornerback through free agency or via a trade. The NFL's trading deadline is Tuesday at 4 p.m. The Ravens could bring in available cornerbacks for workouts to see if they would be a good fit.
"We don't have to [add a corner]. If we could find the right guy, then we'd do that," Harbaugh said. "They're scarce."
