Standing on the Ravens’ indoor practice ground on Friday, running back Tyler Baddie smiled as he remembered where he started.
“Down the road,” he recalled at the team’s rookie minicamp. “That I was over there.”
The sixth-round pick spent most of his childhood in Randallstown. He took root for the Ravanas. He went to football camp organized by Ed Reed at Randallstown High School, even receiving an autograph from Hall of Fame security.
But Baddie’s first game was with the Owings Mills Wolfpack at Northwest Regional Park, a short walk from the Ravens’ facility. He remembered watching legendary linebacker Ray Lewis cheering on his daughter as she played for a small Wolfpack team. (Naturally, he played the linebacker.)
To return to the Baltimore area as a Raven, though — to take any shot of making the NFL, really — Baddie had to leave the house. After a local private and public-school powerhouse in football he went to Friends School from sixth to 10th grades and turned them down or ignored them. His favorite sport was lacrosse; Loyola Maryland and Maryland were recruiting him, and he looked to then-Duke star Miles Jones, a fellow midfielder.
“I was going to play lacrosse in college if I had stayed, because [with] 15 people in a football team [at Friends]People are not looking to make such offers,” Bady said.
When his mother was offered a job in Memphis, Tennessee, however, Badi looked another way. He spent his early years in New Orleans before being displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He knew how serious the field was about football. When Badi’s mother asked him if he wanted to leave Maryland, he said yes. His early days had hardened his resolve.
“I never see anything as negative,” he said. “With life, stuff happens. I use that as a positive. [Relocating after Hurricane Katrina] Taught me a lot about adversity and cruelty. I use it on the field. Sometimes people don’t come from where I come, they see what I see. So many times, it’s just one more thing to add to your stripes. Just use it as inspiration to keep going. ,
In Memphis, Baddie emerged as a Division I recruit, rushing nearly 1,200 yards as a senior. After turning down the hometown Tigers to play for Missouri, he spent his time behind Larry Rowtry III, now a Los Angeles Chargers reserve, before dropping out last year. He set the school’s single-season running record with 1,604 yards and added 54 catches for 330 yards, a byproduct of those early days on the lacrosse field.
“At the end of the day, when you play running back, you don’t just sign up to get the ball,” he said. “You sign up to play the ball, you sign up to block, a lot of things. So going into my final year, I just wanted to prove that. The biggest thing was durability.’ Is he going to be available? He’s not 200 pounds; can he stay?’ My biggest thing was just to be out there and just be able to show that I can play against the best. So that’s what I did.”
Draft signed by free agents
The Ravens announced they signed 17 unfinished rookies on Friday, including six wide receivers: Slade Bolden of Alabama, Shemar Bridge of Fort Valley State, Trayvon Clark of California, Macai Polk of Mississippi State, Raleigh of The Citadel. Webb and Devon Williams of Oregon.
Also signed on offense were Oregon quarterback Anthony Browne, North Carolina State’s Ricky Persson and South Dakota State’s offensive tackle Aaron Johnson.
Defensively, the Ravens defeated Stephen F. Austin signed defensive tackle Reshad Nichols, Auburn inside linebacker Jacoby McClain, Michigan inside linebacker Josh Ross, Texas San-Antonio outside linebacker Chuck Willey, Florida outside linebacker Jeremiah Moon, Newbery cornerback David Wren, Villanova cornerback Denzel Williams. and Georgia State Security Chris Moore.
extra points
- Third-round pick Travis Jones has a stout build for 325-pound defensive tackles, and the Connecticut product said he models his game after disruptive inner defenders like Akim Hicks and Philadelphia Eagles’ Fletcher Cox. Jones is hoping to earn a third-down snap this season, which means proving himself against quarterback Lamar Jackson. “It’s going to be fun,” he said. “I know he’s fast. I’m going to try to knock him down a couple of times.”
- Fourth-round pick Jalyn Armor-Davis said he was “grateful” for the adversities he faced early in his Alabama career, when injuries limited his impact. He stood out in his lone year as the start of last season. “It was good,” he said. “It was solid, but it’s nowhere near the surface. I know and believe – I think everyone here believes, and so they took a chance on me, that my best football is definitely ahead of me.” “
- Cornerback Damarian “Pepe” Williams got the NFL in part because of his versatility; He lined free safety, strong safety, boundary cornerback, field cornerback, nickel back and dime back during his Houston career. How did the fourth-round pick get this nickname? “‘Pepe’ originated when I was young. I had two Spanish godmothers, [and] They were twins. So, one of them named me Pepe, and my brother’s name is ‘Papa’. ,
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