OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The NFL’s most dominant rushing attack will be without one of its top runners to start the season.
Baltimore Ravens running back Gus Edwards was placed on the reserve/physically unable to perform list Tuesday, which will sideline him for at least the first four games of the regular season. He is one of two players in NFL history to produce at least 700 yards rushing and average 5-plus yards per carry in the first three seasons of a career.
This was one of the six moves made by Baltimore to trim its roster to 80 players.
Edwards, 27, tore an ACL during a practice last September, which caused him to miss all of last season. He signed a two-year, $10 million extension in June last year and has yet to play a game since.
“We did not expect him to be back probably the first part of [the season],” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “Gus is still on schedule and I fully expect him to play quite a bit of football this year.”
Edwards’ absence is compounded by the uncertainty surrounding starting running back J.K. Dobbins, who is looking to come back from a torn left ACL from a year ago. Dobbins has been limited to individual drills since being activated off PUP on Aug. 8. When asked last week whether Dobbins would be ready for the regular season, Harbaugh said, “We’ll see.”
Mike Davis, who is entering his eighth season, has started at running back in the first two preseason games and could play a prominent role early in the season. He had an excused absence Tuesday for the birth of his child.
The Ravens have averaged an NFL-best 180.5 yards rushing per game since 2019. Over the past three seasons, Baltimore has also run the ball 1,668 times, which is 151 more than any other team in the league.
In other injury news, Ravens first-round pick Tyler Linderbaum returned to practice. The rookie center injured his left foot Aug. 4. Linderbaum was limited during the media viewing portion of practice, but he did snap to quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Another rookie, backup defensive tackle Travis Jones, is expected to miss three to five weeks after spraining his left knee in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s preseason game.
“It just depends on how fast he recovers and how good he looks when he comes back,” Harbaugh said.
The Ravens also announced they have signed wide receiver Demarcus Robinson, who had totaled 1,679 yards receiving over the past five seasons for the Kansas City Chiefs. Robinson was cut last week by the Las Vegas Raiders.
