Wide receiver Rashod Bateman has been activated from the physically unable to perform list and is on the practice field for the first time at Ravens training camp.
Bateman is coming off Lisfranc foot surgery that he underwent last November. He participated in a limited capacity during Ravens OTAs but was shut down for minicamp after getting a cortisone shot in his foot.
Bateman started training camp on the PUP list as he continued to deal with soreness. He has missed 12 days of practice, but the regular season is still a month away, giving Bateman time to get up to speed.
"Bateman's Lisfranc surgery is good; he's fine," Head Coach John Harbaugh said after the first day of training camp. "But with that, sometimes other areas compensate and get a little sore, and that's what we're dealing with."
The third-year receiver is projected to start opposite Odell Beckham Jr. this season and be a key ingredient to unlocking the full potential of Baltimore's passing game under first-year Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken.
A first-round pick in 2021, Bateman has flashed his premier talent when healthy. After missing the first five games of his rookie season due to core muscle surgery, he caught 46 passes for 515 yards and one touchdown.
He got off to a strong start last season, when he was the clear No. 1 receiver. In the first three games, Bateman averaged 75 receiving yards per game and scored two long touchdowns – a 55-yard bomb against the Jets and 75-yard slant versus the Dolphins. He suffered his foot injury in Week 4, sat out the next two games, then tried to play the following two but wasn't the same and opted to undergo surgery.
Bateman's big-play potential, paired with his slick route-running, will help open up the Ravens offense alongside Beckham, rookie first-round pick Zay Flowers, Nelson Agholor, tight end Mark Andrews and others. The arrival of more weapons should also help Bateman get more single coverage.
Now it's a matter of getting practice reps with the first-team offense, continuing to work through the process of coming back from foot surgery, and staying healthy. That process begins now.
