OWINGS MILL, Md. — It is one of the feel-good stories of Ravens organized team activities. There is a familiar surname suiting up on the field. An Ismail once again catching passes is purple.
Qadir Ismail is trying to follow in his father’s flashy footsteps. He has earned a Ravens roster spot for the spring. His dad is former NFL receiver Qadry Ismail, who was part of the Ravens’ Super Bowl XXXV championship team.
Qadry got a chance to see his son on an NFL practice field for the first time on Tuesday.
"I’m just proud of him. I think that’s the operative word is I’m just so proud of what he has done to put himself in this position," said Qadry. "You dream of it as a little kid and now, obviously, when you have kids you want to help them fulfill their dreams."
Qadir grew up in Bel Air. He played quarterback in high school, at The John Carroll School, and in college at Villanova before converting to receiver and transferring to Samford. He went undrafted this past April before getting a rookie minicamp invite by the Ravens. An impressive showing there landed him a contract on Baltimore’s 90-player roster.
So, dad, how does he look in OTA’s?
"I thought he looked good. Overall I loved his energy. I loved how he was out there hustling and as a dad I could not be prouder," said Qadry. "I was all fan. I was sitting there and on the one route he caught a slant and ran up-field with it and I was like, 'Ahh. Okay. I have to be composed. I’m not going to jump out there and yell'."
Instead he waited until after practice to give Qadir some pointers and positive feedback.
At 6-foot-6 Qadir is the tallest receiver on the Ravens roster by three inches. He is a different kind of player than Qadry was.
"My game was about the vertical. It was about beating you off the line of scrimmage and making big plays down the football field. Whereas my son because of his height, because of his catch radius - I think he has a tremendous catch radius - he has that ability to make those contested catches."
He’ll have to feature that part of his game if he wants to stick around come September.
When it comes to trying to make the regular season roster Qadry said he tells Qadir not to worry about the numbers game. If he does that he will go insane. He wants him to just try to make the coaching staff’s decision as hard as possible on cutdown day.
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