Ravens

Ravens second-year K Tyler Loop is set to be the team’s starting kicker, but Baltimore still brought in K Jake Moody to their practice squad. Ravens HC Jesse Minter weighed in on the situation during a recent conversation with The Athletic.

“It’s whatever’s best for the team at that particular moment,” Minter said, via Jeff Zrebiec. “We added a guy to compete on the practice squad, and we’ll see how it shakes out from there.”

Minter said he still has “a lot of confidence” in Loop, but wanted to make sure they have competition at kicker. 

“I have a lot of confidence in Tyler still,” Minter said. “He’s had a great training camp. I expect him to be our kicker going into Indianapolis, but I think, again, you’re always trying to just have every scenario covered. That’s what we’re trying to do as a team.”

Although Minter is pleased with Loop’s performance in training camp, he knows the kicking role comes down to executing in high-pressure situations. 

“It comes down to making the kicks in the pressure situations in the game,” Minter said. 

Ravens 

Ravens WR Ja’Kobi Lane enters his rookie season after being a third-round pick out of USC. Lane thinks his personality fits well into the organization and is taking examples from veterans like RB Derrick Henry, QB Lamar Jackson, and TE Mark Andrews. 

“My personality fits very well in the sense of being able to come to work and just be myself and not be worried about people trying to tell me what to do or trying to dictate how my day is going to go,” Lane said, via Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. “It’s your option to do whatever you want, but you see guys like Derrick (Henry), Lamar, Mark (Andrews), they come in every day and work as hard as they can. The proof is in the pudding. It’s just crazy to think that now I’m in this position.”

Lane didn’t contribute heavily as a freshman with the Trojans but emerged as a starter the following two years. USC WRs coach Dennis Simmons said there was a misconception that Lane wasn’t engaged early on and that his development was based on learning their system. 

“The notion of him not being engaged wasn’t really one of those issues,” Simmons said. “It was just a matter of him just making the transition, relearning verbiage and being detailed on his alignments and his assignments. Once he got that down, and understood it like the back of his hand, he was obviously able to step in and let his talents be showcased.”

Ravens OC Declan Doyle compared Lane to former Saints WR Michael Thomas. 

“Mike Thomas had these strong hands where he could pull it down in a way, and you threw it in the vicinity, and you felt like he was going to go get it,” Doyle said. “There is a lot of that feeling (with Lane). He’s a very friendly guy to throw to.”

Steelers

Steelers OLB Alex Highsmith told reporters that the team has more motivation to succeed this season, given it will be QB Aaron Rodgers‘ last year in the league.

“We know our goal,” Highsmith said, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Chris Harlan. “Not just get to the playoffs, but when we get there, to make noise. To win and go to the Super Bowl. But there definitely is extra added motivation to send ‘eight’ out the right way.”