Ravens Activate S Ar’Darius Washington, OLB Tavius Robinson to 53-Man Roster
The Ravens are getting some defensive reinforcements for the closing stretch of the regular season. Baltimore is activating veteran safety Ar’Darius Washington from the reserve/physically unable to perform list and third-year pass rusher Tavius Robinson from injured reserve. Both players held starting roles before being placed on their respective injured lists. 
It was seven months ago, to the day, that Washington suffered an Achilles tear that was expected to hold him out for the entirety of the 2025 NFL season. A former undrafted free agent out of TCU, Washington started out as a strong special teamer and a role player on defense. When Baltimore’s defense was struggling throughout defensive coordinator Zach Orr‘s first season, the team jettisoned veterans Marcus Williams and Eddie Jackson and placed Washington as a starter next to star Kyle Hamilton.
With Washington and Hamilton manning the defensive outfield, the Ravens defense rebounded, becoming one of the league’s strongest in the back half of the season. Shortly after suffering the offseason injury, Washington made a late-season return the target of his recovery. By arriving with four weeks left in the regular season, he’s more than met that goal. In Washington’s shorter-than-expected absence, the Ravens have become accustomed to fielding a three-safety defense. At any one time, the team will usually have rookie first-rounder Malaki Starks and trade acquisition Alohi Gilman in the secondary as the versatile, All-Pro Hamilton roams to places of greatest need.
With so many assets in the secondary, the Ravens may slow-play Washington’s return to the field. Alternatively, they may attempt to utilize him in a similar role to Hamilton. In the past, they’ve moved Washington back and forth between nickel and safety, so he holds a versatility of his own that the team could easily utilize out of their talent-rich safeties room.
Robinson has missed the last eight weeks after suffering a broken foot. Logging two sacks in his first six games of the season, Robinson led the team in that statistic before landing on IR. The Ravens have attempted to make improvements to their pass rush this season, giving Robinson a starting job across from Kyle Van Noy, drafting Mike Green in the second round, and making two trades that saw Odafe Oweh sent to Los Angeles (in exchange for Gilman) and Dre’Mont Jones arrive in Baltimore.
It hasn’t amounted to much, considering the Ravens currently rank 30th in the league with only 19 sacks this season. They’ll hope that adding Robinson back to the fold will help in that regard. The Ravens have been working with 51 players on their active roster since placing running back Justice Hill and defensive tackle Taven Bryan on IR in late-November, so no corresponding moves were needed to activate Washington and Robinson.
Ravens Designate OLB Tavius Robinson, S Ar’Darius Washington To Return
The Ravens designated outside linebacker Tavius Robinson (injured reserve) and safety Ar’Darius Washington (non-football injury list) to return to practice on Tuesday.
Robinson broke his foot in Week 6 and was placed on IR shortly after. Washington suffered a torn Achilles during offseason training and has been on the non-football injury list since the start of training camp. The two defenders could provide a late-season boost to a Ravens defense that has turned things around after a rough start to the season.
Robinson, 26, started the first six games of the season and saw a substantial increase in playing time after Kyle Van Noy went down in Week 2. The Ravens were hoping the 2023 fourth-round pick would take a third-year leap after a promising campaign last season, but it has not quite materliazed. Robinson made a few highlight plays, including a strip-sack of then-Browns quarterback Joe Flacco in Week 2, but like the rest of Baltimore’s edge rushers, he struggled to make a consistent impact.
Robinson’s return will nonetheless give the Ravens another option off the edge. After trading Odafe Oweh in October, they have relied on 2022 second-rounder David Ojabo and veteran Carl Lawson to fill the back end of their outside linebacker rotation. Ojabo has not performed well, while Lawson held up but did not excel in his 2025 debut as a practice squad elevation in Week 13.
Washington tore his Achilles in May with the hope of returning late in the regular season. His return to practice puts him on track to hit that goal. His 21-day practice window will expire at the beginning of Week 17, by which time he must be activated or revert to season-ending IR.
The severity of Washington’s injury may require a lengthy ramp-up period, and the Ravens can ease him into action even after he’s activated. The team currently has three safeties playing nearly full-time, so Washington will not fill an immediate need. Instead, he will provide another versatile option with the ability to line up as a free safety and in the slot.
Ravens’ Ar’Darius Washington, Tavius Robinson Nearing Return
A May Achilles tear threatened to end Ar’Darius Washington‘s 2025 season well before it began. The Ravens defensive back has continued to make progress in his recovery, though, and another step could be coming soon.
When speaking to the media on Monday, head coach John Harbaugh said (via The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec) there is a “good chance” Washington will take part in practice this week. The 26-year-old landed on the reserve/PUP list during roster cutdowns, and he has remained there ever since.
Washington has aimed to play late in the season, and the latest update on his situation noted a return to practice was a distinct possibility. Provided the former UDFA can indeed suit up at some point in 2025, he will provide the Ravens with another option in the secondary. Washington emerged as a starter at the end of last season, notching 64 tackles, two interceptions and eight pass deflections.
Returnee Kyle Hamilton, first-round rookie Malaki Starks and trade acquisition Alohi Gilman are in place as safety contributors right now (although since Gilman’s arrival Baltimore has used Hamilton closer to the line of scrimmage). If he is activated, Washington would provide the Ravens with a special teams presence capable of rotating in at safety as well as slot corner. As a pending free agent, Washington seeing any game time down the stretch would provide a boost to his market value.
Harbaugh also said third-year edge rusher Tavius Robinson is a candidate to return to practice in the coming days. The 26-year-old has been on IR since suffering a broken foot, an injury which led to the first missed game action of his career. Once Robinson is activated, he will be expected to return to a starting defensive role and in doing so provide the Ravens with a much-needed boost along the edge.
In other injury news, Harbaugh said running back Justice Hill – who landed on IR just before the Ravens’ Thanksgiving game – will be recovering from his neck injury over the next three to four weeks (h/t Zrebiec). A return in time for the postseason could be in store as a result. Meanwhile, undrafted rookie linebacker Chandler Martin recently suffered an ACL tear, so he will undergo season-ending surgery soon. Martin made three appearance on special teams in 2025.
Ravens Altering Lamar Jackson’s Weekly Prep After Injuries
After a four-week absence earlier in the year, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson came back to salvage a 1-5 start to the year, building momentum off of a Tyler Huntley win over the Bears to continue what would become a five-game win streak that brought them up to 6-5 and first place in the AFC North. Despite the team success, there have been questions about whether or not Jackson is back to full health, and a look at his practice participation may provide clues to the answers. 
It was a hamstring injury that held Jackson out for three games. He was able to get three practices in before his Thursday night return in Miami, and he got a full week of practices in for the trip to Minnesota right after. But, following the win over the Vikings, Jackson missed the team’s first practice of the week with a knee injury before fully participating for the rest of the week before the Cleveland game. Last week, we saw Jackson sit out on Wednesday, again, this time with an ankle injury, before, again, practicing fully leading up to the matchup against the Jets.
Early Sunday morning, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that, after doing this rest pattern over the past few weeks, Baltimore was considering intentionally resting Jackson every Wednesday, in order to keep him fresh for games. True to the reporting, with the Ravens having an altered practice schedule this week due to a Thanksgiving Day assignment, Jackson sat out of Monday’s practice, per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley, and returned to the field on Tuesday, mirroring the recently adopted routine. According to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic, this absence was designated as a toe injury, after Jackson reportedly hurt the appendage at the start of the Jets game.
While Baltimore is calling it rest, reporters, opponents, and more are openly wondering if Jackson isn’t still actually dealing with something. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler was one such member of the media who speculated that, having played through knee, ankle, hamstring, and toe issues so far this year, Jackson’s performance has been limited since coming back.
In the four games Jackson’s played since returning from injury, he hasn’t rushed for more than 36 yards in a game. And after a strong passing performance at Miami (78.3 completion percentage, four touchdowns), he’s struggled to be efficient as a passer in the team’s last three victories, completing only 57.1 percent of his passes while only throwing one touchdown to two interceptions. It can’t quite be said that he doesn’t have the ability to escape from pass rushers or tuck the ball and break off a 15-yard run, because we’ve seen him do a bit of that recently, but he’s seemed to lack his trademark explosive speed making both his run and pass game suffer as a result. Jackson insists that injuries aren’t affected his play, but until he’s seen breaking off 40-yard scrambles, teams will likely have their doubts.
In other injury news for Baltimore, safety Ar’Darius Washington has started getting some pregame work in as he continues rehabilitation for his Achilles tendon. Zrebiec reports that Washington could see his practice window open soon. This would be big for a Ravens defense allowing the 12th-most passing yards in the NFL. Lining up next to All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton last year, the two helped turn a historically bad Ravens defense into a top performing unit. The Ravens traded for Alohi Gilman early this year, as rookie first-round pick Malaki Starks experienced a bit of a learning curve to start his career, and adding Washington back to the fold would give Baltimore an insanely deep four-man rotation at the backend of their secondary.
Ravens Set Initial 53-Man Roster
Every year, the Ravens are one of the last teams to announce their roster moves to get down to 53 players. Finally, via a team press release, Baltimore’s initial 53-man roster is set with the following transactions:
Waived
- CB Jalyn Armour-Davis
- WR Jahmal Banks
- S Beau Brade
- WR Malik Cunningham
- G Darrian Dalcourt
- OL Garrett Dellinger
- OLB Malik Hamm
- S Desmond Igbinosun
- S Keondre Jackson
- DL Jayson Jones
- QB Devin Leary
- OT Gerad Lichtenhan
- ILB Chandler Martin
- TE Zaire Mitchell-Paden
- DL Adedayo Odeleye
- DL C.J. Okoye
- G Jared Penning
- DL C.J. Ravenell
- CB Marquise Robinson
- OLB Kaimon Rucker
- C Nick Samac
- FB Lucas Scott
- TE Scotty Washington
Released
- RB Myles Gaskin
- CB Thomas Graham Jr.
- RB D’Ernest Johnson
- WR Keith Kirkwood
- WR Anthony Miller
- DL Brent Urban
Waived with injury settlement
- WR Xavier Guillory
- LB William Kwenkeu
Placed on injured reserve (with return designation)
- OLB Adisa Isaac
- WR Dayton Wade
Placed on reserve/NFI
- OT Emery Jones
Placed on reserve/PUP
The Ravens opted to keep tight end Isaiah Likely on the 53-man roster after his recent foot surgery, indicating that the team expects him back in the first four weeks of the regular season.
Armour-Davis is Baltimore’s most surprising cut. The 2022 fourth-round pick struggled with injuries across the first few years of his career, but had a solid training camp. Baltimore opted to keep undrafted rookie Keyon Martin instead after an impressive showing in the preseason.
Brade, who made the 53-man roster as a UDFA last year, was beaten out by undrafted rookie Reuben Lowery for the Ravens’ fourth safety spot. Brade, a former University of Maryland standout, is expected to return to the practice squad if he clears waivers, per KRPC2’s Aaron Wilson.
Baltimore is also hoping to bring Lichtenhan, a 6-f0ot-8, 328-pound offensive tackle, back on their practice squad if he sneaks through waivers, according to FOX Sports’ Jordan Schultz.
Urban will likely re-sign to the Ravens practice squad on Wednesday in a handshake deal after being cut from the active roster.
Isaac and Wade suffered injuries late in training camp and will have to spend the first four weeks of the season on injured reserve. Isaac’s IR placement cleared a spot for David Ojabo to make the roster despite appearing to be on the bubble in the preseason.
Jones has been dealing with a mysterious shoulder injury that required surgery earlier this year. He has yet to hit the practice field as a Raven and will be sidelined for at least four more weeks to start the season.
NFL Minor Transactions: 7/17/25
Today’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Placed on active/PUP: S Ar’Darius Washington
Detroit Lions
- Placed on active/PUP: OT Taylor Decker, CB Khalil Dorsey, OG Miles Frazier, DL Alim McNeill, LB Malcolm Rodriguez, DL Mekhi Wingo
- Placed on active/NFI: DL Josh Paschal, CB Stantley Thomas-Oliver
- Waived-injured: RB Anthony Tyus
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: OT Ryan Nelson
Seattle Seahawks
- Placed on active/PUP: LB Uchenna Nwosu
Ravens S Ar’Darius Washington Aiming For Late-Season Return
Ar’Darius Washington‘s availability for the 2025 campaign was dealt a major blow recently when he suffered an Achilles tear. The four-year Ravens safety aims to be able to play at some point this season, though.
When speaking to the media on Wednesday, head coach John Harbaugh said (via The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec) Washington suffered a clean Achilles tear. Surgery has already taken place, and the lengthy rehab process associated with the injury has begun as a result. Harbaugh added that Washington hopes to return to action in November or December.
Given the nature of Achilles tears and their associated recovery timelines, it would come as little surprise if the former UDFA were to be sidelined for the entire campaign. Getting Washington back in any capacity in time for the stretch run and/or the postseason would of course be a welcomed development for the Ravens. Midway through the 2024 season, adjustments on defense resulted in him taking on a full-time starting role.
Taking over from Marcus Williams, Washington appeared in every game last year and made 11 total starts. His 727 regular season snaps on defense came after he totaled just 145 over the course of his first three years in the league. The 25-year-old helped stabilize a struggling Baltimore pass defense when on the field, recording a pair of interceptions and eight pass deflections. Washington was retained via an RFA tender this offseason.
That move set him up to remain a key member of the Ravens’ secondary for one more year before landing a notable deal on the open market next spring. Instead, much of the coming campaign will be focused on rehabbing his injury; any playing time in 2025 would obviously help to rebuild his free agent value to an extent. At least a rotational role should be in store whenever the TCU product is back to full health.
The Ravens still have All-Pro Kyle Hamilton in place at the safety spot, but veteran Eddie Jackson was released midway through last season and Williams was cut in March. Those moves, while expected, created a notable vacancy at the position in advance of the draft. The team’s first pick was used on Malaki Starks, and the Georgia product is in line to operate as a starter right away with Washington set to miss at least some of the 2025 season. If the latter can return as he hopes, though, Baltimore’s defense will receive a boost during the winter.
Ravens S Ar’Darius Washington Suffers Torn Achilles, Likely Out For 2025
The Ravens will likely be without a key defender for much of the 2025 campaign. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, safety Ar’Darius Washington recently tore his Achilles during conditioning. The injury will cause him to “miss most or all” of the upcoming season.
A former UDFA, Washington appeared in a combined eight games through his first three seasons in the NFL. The 2024 campaign represented a breakout year for the TCU product. The 25-year-old saw backup reps to begin the season, but he eventually replaced Marcus Williams as a starter opposite Kyle Hamilton. Washington finished the year with 64 tackles and a pair of interceptions, with Pro Football Focus ranking him eighth among 98 qualifying safeties.
Washington signed his restricted free agent tender back in April, locking him in for the upcoming season. He would have finally hit unrestricted free agency after the 2025 campaign, so the injury comes at a particularly unfortunate time for the safety.
Even with added depth, the Ravens would have continued leaning on Washington this upcoming season, with The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec pointing out the player’s ability to play both safety and nickelback. The team did add Malaki Starks in the first round of the draft, and the rookie will now likely see the bulk of the snaps next to Hamilton. The team’s other options at the position include second-year players Sanoussi Kane and Beau Brade.
Considering the suddenly depleted depth, Zrebic wonders if the team could make a move for a veteran safety. Current free agent options include Julian Blackmon, Justin Simmons, Chuck Clark, and Quandre Diggs, but the Ravens may just end up keeping their eye open for options as team’s trim down their rosters in August.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/21/25
Today’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed RFA tender: S Ar’Darius Washington
Denver Broncos
- Signed: LS Zach Triner
- Designated as IPP participant: TE Thomas Yassmin
Houston Texans
- Waived: G Tremayne Anchrum Jr.
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed RFA tender: OL Cole Van Lanen
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed ERFA tender: TE Tucker Fisk
Miami Dolphins
- Designated as IPP participant: OT Bayron Matos
Philadelphia Eagles
- Designated as IPP participant: OT Laekin Vakalahi
Among literal free agent additions, LS Zach Triner is the only signing on the list. The veteran brings 84 games of experience to Denver, most of which came during a long stint with the Buccaneers. Triner will likely be competing with Mitchell Fraboni for the team’s long snapper role in 2025. As Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette reports, Triner inked a non-guaranteed one-year deal worth the league minimum ($1.17MM).
A handful of teams designated players as their International Player Pathway program participants. Each qualifying team receives one roster exemption from the start of their offseason program to final preseason cuts. Today’s commitments include Thomas Yassmin (Australia), Bayron Matos (Dominican Republic), and Laekin Vakalahi (Australia).
Ravens Draft Rumors: Edge, Kicker, DL, CB, S
The Ravens are well-known for their draft approach of taking the best players available regardless of position, though they’re not above taking a player at a position of need if they believe it’s at a good value. That being said, Tony Pauline of sportskeeda claimed today that Baltimore is “believed to be in the market for an edge rusher in the first round.”
The Ravens aren’t likely to reach for a player at a position at which they’ve already spent a 2024 third-round pick, 2023 fourth-round pick, 2022 second-round pick, and 2021 first-round pick. Because of this, I would think that this would only be true if a top-ranked pass rusher falls to them in the back half of the first round.
Obviously, a player like Abdul Carter isn’t expected to be around by the 27th overall pick. After that, anything can happen, and while it might not be likely, it wouldn’t be a surprise if players like Shemar Stewart, Mike Green, or Mykel Williams were around that late. Options like Donovan Ezeiruaku and James Pearce are expected to be around in that range, and Baltimore could certainly pursue them, but only if they perceive them to be one of the top players available.
Here are notes on a few other positions of focus for Baltimore when next week’s draft occurs:
- Ongoing legal issues with future Hall of Fame kicker Justin Tucker have the Ravens in an uncertain position on special teams for the first time since Tucker signed as an undrafted free agent out of Texas in 2012. As a result, Baltimore has been doing its research on kickers in this year’s draft class and could draft a kicker for the first time in their franchise’s history, per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. The Ravens are the only team not to have drafted a kicker in the common draft era, and general manager Eric DeCosta admits “there’s no blueprint for finding a kicker.” If they find the right kicker at the right time, though, we could see the selection made. Two options on the table could be in-state rivals Andres Borregales out of Miami (FL) and Ryan Fitzgerald out of Florida State.
- Following the retirement of Michael Pierce and the coming contract year for Travis Jones, defensive tackle is a position of need for Baltimore in this year’s draft. DeCosta confirmed as much, per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic, calling the position a priority. DeCosta called this year’s class fairly deep at defensive line and claimed “there’s an opportunity for (them) to get better” at the position.
- Another position that DeCosta singled out was cornerback. After losing Brandon Stephens and Tre’Davious White to free agency, the team added Chidobe Awuzie. They also roster recent draft picks Jalyn Armour-Davis and T.J. Tampa as depth pieces. While DeCosta didn’t guarantee anything, he told the media that “it’s a pretty safe bet that the Ravens will be drafting at least one cornerback next week,” per Zrebiec. The team is likely to start Nate Wiggins and Awuzie on the outside with Marlon Humphrey manning the nickelback role, so they could look for an upgrade over Awuzie, but at the very least, adding depth is a necessity.
- DeCosta didn’t mince words about the safety position either, per Zrebiec. Despite being “fairly confident” that Ar’Darius Washington will return after presumably signing his exclusive rights free agent tender, DeCosta said that it was “more than likely” that Baltimore would still add a safety in the draft, as well. Washington and Kyle Hamilton would return as starters from last year, but the only depth behind them currently are two rookies from last year, Sanoussi Kane (seventh round) and Beau Brade (undrafted).