OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Day number two of training camp brought practice number two without Lamar Jackson. The MVP quarterback is still in COVID-19 protocol after testing positive on Tuesday.
"No updates. There’s not going to be any updates. Those aren’t things that we’re really allowed to make," said Head Coach John Harbaugh.
Backups Trace McSorley and Tyler Huntley filled in once again. Every day without Jackson is valuable time missed working on improving the NFL’s worst passing offense from last season. Veteran receiver Sammy Watkins signed as a free agent to help. He’d rather be catching lasers from Lamar but has to wait.
"Of course. That’s the starting quarterback but at the end of the day we know Lamar is fine," he said. "We got to move on. We have a great group of quarterbacks."
While this is Watkins’ first training camp with Baltimore, it’s J.K. Dobbins' first training camp having off-season workouts on which to build. The second-year running back missed out on OTA’s and minicamp last year. They were canceled because of the pandemic.
"That helped a lot," said Dobbins. "When you get back into camp it’s like you’ve already worked on plays and things like that. You don’t got to knock rust off that much."
Cornerback Marcus Peters did not practice on Thursday. Harbaugh said he is dealing with a toenail issue and will probably return to practice on Friday. Wide Receiver Marquise Brown left practice early. Harbaugh said that was a precautionary measure.
Jimmy Smith is back for his eleventh season. On Thursday the cornerback shared details about the February incident in Los Angeles when he and his family were robbed at gunpoint.
"Terrifying. I mean, just with your family… You feel helpless. Just some cowards running up on you with three guns. You don’t know if you’re going to lose your life in that moment. Your kids are right there in the car, and the crazy thing is, I had seen it kind of coming. You know, when something bad happens, you get this eerie feeling? I kind of had an eerie feeling, and I didn’t really listen to it. I hopped out of the car and just saw dudes coming at me with guns, and they surrounded me. All you could think of is, ‘I want to live. I want to get out of here.’ At that moment, jewelry didn’t matter, and none of that matters. Just give them what they want, so they can go. And after it happens, you kind of have PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. So, going out, going into a store, or just being around anybody with a mask and a hood on, it really kind of just makes my heart thump to this day. So, terrifying situation. Glad we lived. [I’ll] definitely take better precautions. I mean it’s hard to take precautions when you’re driving to a hotel with your family, but it’s just being aware of the situation and understanding that people want your watches, chains. Not this one; this is tiny (holding chain around his neck). But people, they’re after what you’ve got, so you’ve just got to be careful."
It happened outside of his hotel upon arriving from the airport.
"We got off the airplane, rented a car, went to the store to get some juice, and they followed us to In-N-Out, then followed us to Jack-In-The-Box, then followed us [to the hotel] and waited for me to check in. I brought the car back around, talked to my girl inside the car for like two minutes, hopped out of the car, and I saw two dudes with their mask on, and then they just kind of looked at me and kind of tracked my footsteps. Then I kind of knew they were on me, but I didn’t know why, because I had my hoodie up and everything, so I wasn’t sure what was going on," said Smith. "Then, some guy came this way (point to his left) with a gun and two dudes came this way (pointing straight forward) with a gun, and (putting his hands straight up in the air, indicating how he responded to the men approaching). And the scary part was another guy ran up on my girl and put a gun to her belly, and she’s pregnant. So, it was terrifying."
No arrests have been made.
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