Ravens protect four players on practice squad ahead of Week 1

After trimming their final 2021 roster to 53 players, the Baltimore Ravens have put together a well-balanced practice squad that includes young talent as well as experienced veterans. With the NFL keeping many practice squad rules from 2020, Baltimore can keep 16 extra players with the team, call up two for game day, and protect four each and every week.

On Wednesday, Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic shed light on who the Ravens would be protecting on the practice squad for the first week of the 2021 season. They used every one of their protection slots, choosing to protect one offensive player and three others on the defensive side of the ball.

Now that McSorley, Bynes, Ellis and Levine are protected, teams can’t sign them from Baltimore’s practice squad until next week at the earliest, unless they are then protected once again.

McSorley is the only other quarterback with the team outside of Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley and he knows the Ravens system, which is valuable. Bynes, Ellis, and Levine each have a case to be game day call ups.

Bynes would be a veteran in the inside linebacker group in the wake of L.J. Fort’s season-ending injury. Ellis could be used for defensive line depth with fellow defensive lineman Derek Wolfe trending in the wrong direction for Week 1 with a back injury. Levine has been the most consistent special teams contributor for years in Baltimore.