Baltimore Ravens re-sign former Oklahoma Sooner
The Baltimore Ravens have officially re-signed safety Tony Jefferson II, the team announced on Thursday afternoon via a press release. The 30-year old safety was signed to the Ravens’ practice squad on Dec. 13 and was quickly elevated the 53-man roster once their secondary was depleted by injuries. The former Oklahoma Sooner led the team with 10 tackles in Week 16 against the Cincinnati Bengals. He ended the season with 18 tackles in four games, while also playing some on special teams.
With the announcement of him re-signing with the team, Jefferson decided to drop a video on Twitter. Check it out.
From 2017-2019, Jefferson was a defensive leader in the Ravens’ secondary as a hard-hitting safety until he tore his ACL in Week 5 of the 2019 season. That injury ended his first stint in Baltimore. The Ravens released him that offseason and he missed the entire 2020 season.
He returned to the NFL last year with the 49ers, but he only saw action in two games before he was cut. Once he returned to Baltimore last year, he was able to prove he was once again healthy after his long road to recovery from his ACL injury.
The Baltimore Ravens had to deal with some of the worst injury luck in the NFL last season. They lost Marcus Peters, Gus Edwards, JK Dobbins, and LJ Fort all to torn ACLs before the season even started. Then, running back Justice Hill ruptured his Achilles. Injuries are part of the game, but there’s no question the Ravens had some of the worst injury luck a team has seen in quite some time. The franchise is hoping they have much better injury luck for the 2022-2023 season.
The biggest immediate concern for the Ravens will be figuring out what they want to do with their franchise signal-caller, Lamar Jackson. ESPN’s Adam Schefter recently said, “If I was Lamar Jackson, I wouldn’t step onto the field until a deal is done,” he said on PFF’s Ari Meirov NFL Show. Schefter essentially thinks that Jackson should want to get a deal done soon, so that he has the security of a big contract before risking any injury.