Ravens activate veteran DT Brandon Williams off the Reserve/COVID-19 list
The Baltimore Ravens will be getting one of their key defensive starters back when they return to work following their Week Seven bye now that starting nose tackle Brandon Williams has been activated off the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
The list was created for players who either contract or come into close contact with those that have contracted the virus.
The eight-year veteran defensive lineman was placed on the list on Oct. 17 and missed the team’s Week Six road trip to Philadelphia to face the Eagles.
Even though they came away with a decisive 30-28 win, his absence as the anchor in the middle of the defensive front seven was noticeable.
The Ravens gave up a season-high 182 rushing yards to the Eagles and allowed Miles Sanders to become the first individual player to rush for over 100 yards against them since Raheem Mostert gashed them for 146 yards in Week 13 last season.
Sanders racked up a game-high 118 yards on nine carries and didn’t even finish the game due to a knee injury.
In games that Williams has missed due to injury, Baltimore’s rush defense has surrendered nearly double the yardage on the ground, compared to only yielding an average of around 80 yards per game when he’s in the lineup.
Even though he missed practice on Thursday and Friday last week before being placed on the reserve list on the day before the game, Head Coach John Harbaugh was confident that Williams would be back in no time.
“He did not have COVID-19,” Harbaugh said Monday. “He never tested positive, but it was a close contact. He’ll be fine.”
Williams will fill the spot on the active roster that was vacated when the third-year cornerback Anthony Averett was officially placed on injured reserve.
Averett suffered a shoulder injury in the first half of the Ravens game against the Eagles and is expected to out fix to six weeks per Harbaugh.
“He has a slight fracture in one of the bones in the clavicle or shoulder, somewhere in there,” Harbaugh said.
The Ravens will possess one of the scariest defenses in the league from front to back once the trade for Pro Bowl pass rusher Yannick Ngakoue is finalized pending a physical.
He will be joining Williams and reuniting with his former teammate with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Calais Campbell, in Baltimore to make life hell for opposing offense to throw or run the ball against them this year.
