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After another tremendous start in training camp Ravens 2014 fourth-round pick is likely out for the season after tearing his biceps muscle on Thursday during team drills. According to ESPN Staff Writer Jamison Hensley “Urban’s injury occurred during a low contact drill, when his elbow got over extended.The team learned of the extent of Urban’s injury from a magnetic resonance imaging test Friday night.”
The 6’7 295 lb defensive end out of the University of Virginia will be out three months at a minimum as torn pectoral muscles generally take 12 weeks to heal. The 24 year old will face a lengthy rehabilitation in his conditioning to get back into game shape.
This makes the second serious injury for the defensive end in as many years. Urban recently returned to the field after a year of rehabilitating a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that occurred in training camp last season last July. The injury landed the rookie on injured reserve for the entire 2014 campaign.
Urban was busy this August chasing down Joe Flacco, batting down passes and closing running lanes in Owing Mills, day after day, and is said to have impressed coaches with his strength at the point of attack. Coach John Harbaugh recently commented that Urban looked good in practice and defensive coordinator Dean Pees recently stated: “He was poised to be in a position last year before he got hurt to play a lot. I see him in the same situation now. I think he has fought his way back and bar anything else happening, he is going to be a contender for a starting job.” The latest injury is an another unexpected setback for a player who showed great promise and potential upside when healthy.
Urban was expected to push seasoned 32 year-old veteran DE Chris Canty for playing time and perhaps even take over the starting job by season’s end. Those duties will now fall to Lawrence Guy who is listed as the number on the depth chart behind Canty. Luckily, the Ravens are stacked deep with talented DE’s this year with DeAngelo Tyson and Kapron Lewis-Moore also in the mix for a roster spot.
Baltimore is faced with the decision of placing Brent Urban or Matt Elam on injured reserve which will end the player’s season. Both Elam and Urban face similar rehabilitation periods from their respective injuries. However, only one player on each NFL franchise can be placed on injured reserve with the designation to return, which allows the player to return to the active roster in 8 weeks.
Urban faces the difficult challenge of another long rehabilitation process. The former Cavalier is no stranger to the adversity of injury and at 10:58 this morning he tweeted out “I appreciate the support and the hate. I will channel my frustration into training & again come back as if I never got injured and sooner then you think.” After another excellent start in training camp Brent Urban is down and out in Baltimore.
Christopher DuVall is a writer for Couch Rider Report
