"I was brought in here to do a job. ... I won't disappoint," Tavares Gooden says. "I'll fit the role of a new and improved Bart [Scott]." (Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston / May 9, 2009)
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If this was a job audition, Tavares Gooden was over the top with first impressions. By the time the Ravens shut down a three-day minicamp Sunday, they didn't appear to have an opening on defense beside Ray Lewis.
Bigger tests will come later, but for three days in May, Gooden looked like a worthy successor to Bart Scott at inside linebacker.
"I think everybody knows the answer to that," Gooden said at the conclusion of the mandatory camp. "I was brought in here to do a job; that's what I'll do. I won't disappoint. ... I'll fit the role of a new and improved Bart."
A third-round draft choice a year ago, Gooden saw his rookie season end in Week 6 with a hip injury that required surgery. He also had surgery for a sports hernia, then spent the winter preparing for 2009.
When he showed up for camp last week, he was wired.
"I see a stallion," defensive coordinator Greg Mattison said. "I see a guy who looks like he's been to the Kentucky Derby that's been tied up for a year and is bigger and stronger. He came out the first day [Friday] and was like a wild horse. But he's gotten better and better. ... It's the same attitude he had last year, which got you to love him."
While younger players were trying to get up to speed with the defense this weekend, Gooden was playing at game speed, so eager was he to show he can handle the promotion.
Lewis, who nurtured Gooden as a wide-eyed rookie, had to slow him down at one point this past weekend.
"Tavares is sometimes going too fast," Lewis said. "At a jogging pace, he wants to hit somebody, like right now. So I've got to calm him down."
Essentially, Gooden is competing against second-year linebacker Jameel McClain for Scott's position. But McClain, the only rookie free agent to make the team in 2008, is new to playing inside.
One of the moves Mattison made after replacing Rex Ryan was to move McClain from strong-side linebacker to the middle.
"I'm prepared to play wherever I have to play," McClain said. "To make myself better, I have to learn the defense better, be as wise as the veteran players, become a smarter player."
The transition for both started before minicamp. Both have been to Lewis' home to look at film and gain insight.
"The exciting part about those guys is what they learned off the field," Lewis said. "On the field, athleticism, they're gifted in that area. But ... Jameel and Tavares have already been over to the house to gain that knowledge. They're searching for it, and I'm giving it to them."
Learning the defense and staying healthy are the key issues for Gooden, 24. He had a history of shoulder problems at the University of Miami and missed the Senior Bowl with a hip injury.
He has exceptional quickness for an inside linebacker - an asset that might lend itself to inside blitzes under Mattison - can change direction easily and has adapted well in pass coverage.
Those are skills Scott displayed during seven seasons in Baltimore.
Gooden even measures up to Scott in size. Scott plays at 6 feet 2 and 240 pounds. Gooden said Sunday that he weighs 247 at 6-1, knocking down the perception that he isn't big enough to play inside.
"They keep saying I'm too small," he said. "I weigh 247. When I came in [for March sessions], my coaches wanted me to lose weight. They wanted me at 235."
But Gooden said he got down to 235 only for the NFL scouting combine a year ago, and that he normally plays at more than 240. Once coaches saw him run down receivers this weekend, he said they were satisfied with his higher weight.
Miami kept Gooden at outside linebacker for three years before an injury shuffled him to the middle. He flourished inside and was undervalued in the 2008 draft by virtually every team except the Ravens.
"I don't think 'big enough, physical enough' has anything to do with it because if you watch my first preseason games, I was knocking people's helmets loose," he said. "I was being physical. ... Sometimes, it's more about someone's heart and determination."
The second time around in an NFL camp makes a difference, too.
"I feel like a leader out there," Gooden said.
"I feel like I am more part of the team. I know my role on this team is to make tackles this year, be a vocal leader whenever I can, and also stay humble. I've got one of the great linebackers ever next to me."
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