Maybe the football gods just couldn’t resist Sunday. There was at least a smidge of cruel irony to the whole proceedings. As the Ravens opened training camp in Owings MIlls, armed with maybe the franchise’s most skill position talent in recent memory, their top two wide receivers stood ready for takeoff.

There was Zay Flowers, eager to build on last year’s record-breaking rookie year. There was Rashod Bateman, eager for his first healthy camp in Baltimore. All they needed was their quarterback, the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player, the star most eager to get Baltimore back to a Super Bowl.

One problem: Lamar Jackson was sick. “It just wasn’t good,” coach John Harbaugh said after practice. “He was sent home by the doctors.” And so the off-and-on construction of the Ravens’ passing game would have to wait out another day of delays. (Maybe longer, depending on Jackson’s immune system.)

It’s nothing that offensive coordinator Todd Monken isn’t used to. Last summer, Bateman’s rehabilitation from Lisfranc (foot) surgery sidelined him until midway through training camp, where his explosiveness was still returning. Flowers’ first camp, meanwhile, featured moments of one-on-one brilliance and quiet stretches in team drills as he acclimated to NFL-level coverage.

This offseason, Jackson and Bateman missed a handful of voluntary practices during organized team activities, rarely overlapping on the field. In mandatory minicamp, their connection came and went.

It will have to be training camp, then, where Jackson, Flowers and Bateman build the foundation for a high-level passing attack under Monken. The Ravens have six-plus weeks to get things right before their Sept. 5 season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs. Every practice repetition together will be important, every day under the Owings Mills sun a potential lesson.

For Flowers, some throws could be more revealing than others. At Boston College, he was a home run threat who buzzed past cornerbacks and safeties downfield with 4.42-second speed in the 40-yard dash. But of his 77 catches last season (for 858 yards, a franchise rookie record), just five (for 224 yards) came on passes of at least 25 air yards, according to TruMedia. Flowers tied for fourth among rookie receivers in long receptions and had just two after Week 5, both of them coming in the Ravens’ Week 17 blowout of the Miami Dolphins.

Flowers will need Jackson to be his deep-shot partner in camp. Backup Josh Johnson tends to focus more on intermediate- and short-range targets in practice, and Flowers probably won’t get too many reps with the stronger-armed and more aggressive Devin Leary. Plus, Jackson, an inconsistent downfield passer, may need the practice as much as Flowers needs the looks.

“I feel like I can go get them,” said Flowers, who caught five of his 14 targets of 25-plus air yards last season. “If they’re in the air, I’ll go get them. That’s one of the things I want to improve. … I’ll say that’s one of the things, just hitting more deep balls. Because that’s what I did in college, so I want to come out and try to hit more this year.”

For Bateman, any passes will do. After finishing last year with 32 catches for 367 yards and a touchdown, he said he hadn’t shown enough in practice last year to earn more of Monken’s trust in games. Monken acknowledged in May that injuries were a concern early last season, but that as Bateman’s ability to separate in coverage improved, “we certainly could have found a way to get him the ball more.” Bateman was targeted just 56 times last season, with just four games of at least five targets.

With Bateman’s foot fully healed — “It’s not a problem anymore,” he said Sunday, “thank God” — he should have ample opportunity to sync up with Jackson. He said consistency would be key, so that “Lamar can trust me, so the team can trust me, so Todd Monken can trust me,” and so would his health. A core injury before Bateman’s rookie year sidelined him until Week 6, and his Lisfranc injury wiped out the second half of his 2022 season and lingered into last offseason.

“Obviously, this year is different than last year,” Bateman said. “I’m healthy, 100%, and that’s all I can say about it. I don’t really want to keep talking about my injuries. It’s past me. That’s the past now, so we’re onto bigger and better things now.”

Stock report

• Cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who missed most of the Ravens’ open offseason practices with what Harbaugh said were nagging injuries, was maybe the team’s biggest standout Sunday. With players limited to playing in helmets — shoulder pads are scheduled to come out Tuesday and full pads Thursday — Humphrey forced incompletions in seven-on-seven work against Bateman on a back-shoulder throw and against wide receiver Tylan Wallace on a deep shot, both down the right sideline. “Having Marlon Humphrey at full speed and at his best would be massively beneficial, and that’s what we expect him to be,” Harbaugh said.
• Tight ends Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar all had solid days over the middle of the field, but only Likely had a highlight on the perimeter. With cornerback Brandon Stephens in tight coverage, Likely separated for a back-shoulder completion on a pass from Johnson down the left sideline.
• Cornerback Arthur Maulet, one of the most disruptive defenders in minicamp, added another takeaway when he went to the ground to secure an interception after a short throw from Johnson got tipped up by wide receiver Malik Cunningham.
• Running back Owen Wright, a practice squad member for most of last season, was a popular target out of the backfield. Justice Hill had the biggest gain at the position, though, after running a wheel route down the left sideline and connecting with Johnson in the practice’s first 11-on-11 session.
• Leary flirted with trouble a couple of times. The rookie third-stringer nearly had a short pass picked off by inside linebacker Josh Ross in his first 11-on-11 work. His footwork also seemed out of sync with running back Derrick Henry’s as he extended the ball for a handoff on a stretch run, leading to a fumble the offense recovered.
• Leary’s arm strength can hurt him at times — Flowers dropped a check-down over the middle of the field that looked too hot to handle — but it can help him at other times. The rookie connected with undrafted rookie wide receiver Dayton Wade on a field-flipping deep shot for the longest play of the day, beating rookie cornerback Bump Cooper Jr.
• Offensive lineman Josh Jones, who’s struggled with penalties over his career and is vying for a starting job, had two presnap penalties. The Ravens’ punishment, as it was during offseason workouts: one lap around the field per penalty.

Up next

The Ravens will practice in helmets again at 1:20 p.m. Monday. Henry and Harbaugh are scheduled to talk with reporters afterward.