After taking some grief on social media over the weekend, rookie first-round safety Kyle Hamilton responded Monday with his best practice of training camp.
Early in practice, Hamilton got physical with Isaiah Likely and broke up a pass intended for the rookie tight end. Later, Hamilton swatted the ball away from Mark Andrews after blanket coverage on the All-Pro tight end.
Hamilton was also a presence defending the run. He knifed into the backfield quickly on a toss play after making a quick read, and had the Ravens been working with full contact, Hamilton was in perfect position to make a tackle for loss.
Monday was the first training camp practice in pads, and Hamilton made a statement with steady play. He also showed his sense of humor over the weekend, after he was hammered on social media for being beaten badly by undrafted wide receiver Bailey Gaither during a one-on-one drill in Saturday's stadium practice.
On Monday, Head Coach John Harbaugh had Hamilton's back, saying that versatility was one of talented safety's many strengths.
"Someone gave the opinion that he's a limited guy that has to play in the box," Harbaugh said. "Because they saw him try to cover a guy who ran like a ten 400 meters. I don't know. We're not going to match him up against a ten 400 meters guy, but he played man today pretty well, as you saw. So, he's going to be very versatile. He's going to play in a lot of different spots."
Here are other observations from Monday's practice:
- The defense won the day, as Hamilton was not the only defensive standout. Marlon Humphrey made a nice recovery to break up a deep pass intended for Rashod Bateman.
- Odafe Oweh was a disruptive force coming off the edge to make quarterbacks hurry their throws. With Lamar Jackson at quarterback, the offense struggled on a two-minute drill and gave Jackson little time to make decisions.
- Rookie defensive tackle Travis Jones had a sack when he muscled his way into the backfield and putting himself in the path of quarterback Tyler Huntley, who fell to the ground trying to avoid Jones.
- Rookie center Tyler Linderbaum got ample on-the-job training during his first practice in pads. He was pushed into the backfield on one play by defensive tackle Michael Pierce, but stood up nicely against inside linebacker Patrick Queen, preventing him from getting into the backfield on a blitz.
- Cornerback Kevon Seymour made nice breakups on passes intended for James Proche II and Jaylon Moore. However, Moore also made several nice catches.
- Offensive tackle Ja'Wuan James missed his first practice but Harbaugh said it was a "nagging" injury that wasn't serious. Wide receiver Devin Duvernay, who suffered a thigh bruise Saturday night also did not practice.
- The Ravens hosted youth football teams from the Baltimore area at Monday's practice as part of the organization's RISE Youth Football Outreach. The young players added plenty of vocal energy to the crowd and enjoyed getting autographs afterward.
