Ravens’ Eric DeCosta expects Nnamdi Madubuike return, awaits ruling on Rashod Bateman

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Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta is “pretty confident” Pro Bowl defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike will suit up within the next four games.

The team has not had its star interior defensive lineman since Week 2 of last season following a neck injury, but Madubuike underwent surgery during the offseason and passed his physical for the first day of training camp.

Since then, he has progressed from working with the strength and conditioning staff on the side to participating in some individual drills. However, he was not participating in team drills by the final training camp practice (the media is not permitted to view the entirety of practice once training camp is over).

But when it came to putting together the 53-man roster, DeCosta elected to include Madubuike rather than placing him on injured reserve to free up a roster spot. If he had been placed on injured reserve, he would be out for at least four games.

“I think the fact that we didn’t put him on IR means that we would expect him to be able to contribute sooner than that,” DeCosta said. “I’m probably more bullish on that right now than I even have been.”

The Ravens kept six defensive linemen on the roster. Although DeCosta said he didn’t want to call the veterans old, he said the number of “experienced” players on the team who have dealt with injuries led to them keeping more defensive linemen.

Bateman’s arrest a distraction

DeCosta said the Ravens knew about wide receiver Rashod Bateman’s arrest when it happened in early June. They notified the league immediately.

Bateman was arrested for allegedly smashing the windshield of a car while his 3-month-old child and the mother of his child were inside, according to Georgia court records. The mother has since sent an email to the district attorney with a different explanation for her injuries than she originally told police.

From here, DeCosta said, the team will let the league and the authorities handle the matter. He has no indication of how long that will take.

“It’s obviously something that we’re very disappointed about that we have to deal with these kind of things, I think, right now,” DeCosta said. “[It’s] a little bit of a distraction at some points.”

A fresh leg and fresh eyes

As DeCosta has mentioned in the past, he is not the resident expert on specialists.

He wasn’t trained in that niche area of the sport, so he defers to those with more knowledge. In the case of Tyler Loop, he let senior special teams coach Randy Brown scout kickers when they needed to draft one.

After Loop finished his rookie year by missing a field goal and ending the Ravens’ playoff hopes, the staff decided not to bring in competition for him in training camp.

Goon: The Ravens shouldn’t have let it get this uncomfortable with Loop

But Loop has since missed more field goals in the Ravens’ three preseason games, finishing 5-for-8.

Now they’re bringing in competition.

The Ravens signed Jake Moody, who was released by the Washington Commanders, to their practice squad. When asked how they chose Moody, DeCosta said they depend on Brown’s input.

“We got to make kicks,” DeCosta said. “Fresh set of legs to look at, evaluate, compare, see how it all works out. I mean, in the end, it’s a performance business, right?”

Moody is 64-for-82 (78%) on field goal attempts and has made 97.3% of his extra-point attempts over 40 career games.

The Ravens are also developing fresh eyes among the staff.

“We are grooming a young guy on our staff to scout kickers, but I wasn’t really trained like that,” DeCosta said. “And that’s a very unique position, I think, to evaluate.”