Ravens rookie makes a major statement for a primary role with impressive performance in preseason win over Colts
Some plays are just undeniable. One of Baltimore’s late-round rookies had one such play on Thursday night.
For Day 3 rookies in the NFL, the most direct pathway to making a roster is usually through special teams. Sure, teams will find a diamond in the rough ready to start on a primary unit every now and again, but the third phase of the game is very often made up of those who are trying to develop their skills enough to earn offensive or defensive snaps.
For the Baltimore Ravens, Day 3 offers a slew of options in 2025. Baltimore made five picks in the sixth-round alone. One of those picks, cornerback Bilhal Kone, is sadly already out for the year with a knee injury suffered on Thursday night’s contest against the Indianapolis Colts. But it was a big night for multiple other rookies making their Ravens debuts — particularly on special teams. One such talent is well on his way to creating a major numbers crunch for roster spots at this rate.
It’s a development that is only going to make John Harbaugh’s eventual cut-down decision that much harder at the end of the month.
Sixth round rookie combo of kicker Tyler Loop, returner LaJohntay Wester flash in Ravens’ preseason win
The decision regarding kicker has already been made. Teams don’t draft kickers and then not roster them that season — it’d be a wasteful use of resources. Fortunately for Baltimore, Tyler Loop has had a strong camp and showed good bounce-back ability on Thursday night after missing his first field goal attempt. He pushed the first kick left from 46 yards but drilled his second down the middle from 52 yards. It would have been good from much deeper.
Loop was also a perfect three for three on extra points.
Loop’s march towards officially seizing the kicker position continues onward, but the declaration of the night on special teams belonged to fellow sixth-round draft pick LaJohntay Wester. Wester provided two dynamic returns on punts, the second of which went for an electric 87-yard touchdown return. Wester, out of Colorado, credited his aggressiveness for helping to make the play. But in a crowded wide receiver room and lots of other competition for 53-man roster spots, Wester entered this camp with a big hill to climb.
Don’t count him out.
“I’ve been overlooked all my life, in this game, since I was 6 years old. I was still making plays. So, for me to be able to overcome all of that, and get here and be able to get my first NFL touchdown in a game like this, it was amazing. It was a whole lot of built-up emotion, anger, frustration, and crying. I just let it loose tonight.”
— Ravens rookie LaJohntay Wester after Thursday night’s preseason win over Colts
Wester is going to need to dominate in his role as a returner in order to make this team. He’s going to be far down on the wide receiver pecking order in a room that boasts Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, DeAndre Hopkins, and a young receiver this team appears to really like in Tez Walker. Wester, who was 5-foot-9 and change and 163 pounds at his Pro Day this offseason, faces potential limitations of his other roles on special teams units because of that size. He must be undeniable as a returner specialist.
On Thursday night, he was. It’s a great start on the latest mountain of adversity facing one of Baltimore’s smallest players. And now we wait to see what he does for an encore.