Given how much he's already accomplished as a Raven, it's easy to forget that inside linebacker C.J. Mosley is only in his third season in the NFL. Given the responsibilities heaped on the team's first-round draft choice in 2014, it's assumed that Mosley's best is yet to come.
The first rookie in franchise history to be be named to the Pro Bowl, Mosley was moved this season to middle linebacker after the team released Daryl Smith. While no one is comparing the 24-year-old Alabama native to the legendary Ray Lewis, Mosley knows the expectations will be high.
"I feel like I've been making more plays in the middle," Mosley said this week after a practice. "I noticed a lot that I've gotten better in my pass coverage, because I actually see more route combinations...I guess, in a way, because I'm second- or third-oldest in the inside linebacker room, and it's only my third year."
Said Ravens coach John Harbaugh, "In terms of coverage stuff, that's experience. Ray [Lewis] was like that. The great linebackers, it's like they have eyes in the back of their head. They know the routes that are running behind them; they can see the routes, for whatever reason, somehow, without even looking at them."
With a number of rookie inside linebackers in that room, including second-round draft choice Kamalei Correa, Mosley is taking on a leadership role that started last year when he called the defensive signals. Mosley figures to be among the leaders statistically on the field, as he has done his first two years.
Creating turnovers — something the Ravens were woefully deficient at last season — was is one of the collective goals for the 2016 season. Mosley hoped the tone would be set in Thursday's preseason opener against the NFC champion Carolina Panthers. The Ravens did force a turnover on the Panthers' second drive, and then another later in the game.
Mosley had four tackles, including one for a loss.
Mosley is also feeling better physically than he did last season, when he played with a hard plastic brace on his right arm after undergoing surgery prior to the season. He is playing with a smaller, more flexible brace and fewer worries about reinjuring it.
"I don't have to worry about taping it up and hammering down on people," Mosley said. "It feels good to be free from it."
Harbaugh said Monday that he is seeing steady improvement in Mosley as he transitions to the middle. Considering that Mosley sat out a majority of the spring trying to make sure the wrist fully healed, Harbaugh conceded that the first two weeks of training camp have helped his budding star knock "some of the rust off."