The Ravens secondary took a hit before practice even started Thursday morning.
Veteran cornerback Aaron Ross tore his Achilles tendon while running the conditioning test Thursday, and he will miss the entire season. Ross was placed on injured reserve Thursday afternoon.
"That's a tough break for him," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "He was just changing direction and he tore it. That's a difficult thing."
The Ravens signed Ross after he tried out for the team during mandatory minicamp. The eight-year veteran has been a starter for the New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars, and he was expected to compete for the No. 3 cornerback spot.
After losing Ross, the Ravens could go back on the free-agent market to bring in some additional depth in the secondary, but Harbaugh stressed that is not a necessity.
"I don't think we have any particular urgency," Harbaugh said. "We have good players at corner. Our guys are competing. We like our guys. I expect the third corner to be one of the guys who was already here. The fourth corner, fifth corner, those guys are going to earn those jobs. But if there is somebody out there who could come in and bolster that competition, yeah we'll bring them in."
The top candidates for the third cornerback spot are Chykie Brown and Asa Jackson. The Ravens also signed free-agent veteran Dominique Franks at the end of minicamp, but Franks didn't practice Thursday because he failed his conditioning test, Harbaugh said. The head coach added Franks will be on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list until he passes the test.
The only other player on the 90-man roster not currently practicing is defensive tackle Terrence Cody, who is recovering from offseason hip surgery and is on the PUP list.
