It has been almost a full calendar year since Darren Waller played in a regular-season game, having made an appearance on special teams in the Ravens' 26-18 loss at the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 26, 2015. So it might be natural that the tight end is eager to play as early as perhaps Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins at M&T Bank Stadium.
"I'm just planning on doing what I can with the reps they're giving me," Waller said after Wednesday's practice at the team's training facility in Owings Mills. "If they want to feature me and let me run routes, I'm fine with that. If I'm coming in and blocking, I'm cool with that. If it's just special teams, I'm cool with that. I'm preparing like I'm ready to do all three of those things, and I'm just going to see what happens."
Waller's participation in Wednesday's session was his first since serving a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy on substance abuse. Although he was not permitted to practice with his teammates and coaches, Waller said he worked on a plan drawn up by the coaching staff to keep him in shape and in the playbook.
"When they were practicing, I had my own script put together for me," he said. "I was working indoors with the strength coaches, putting me through drills, running routes, doing everything they were doing in practice. It was just that there was nobody in front of me. So I worked on route work, technique, staying active."
Ravens coaches are high on the 6-foot-6, 255-pound Waller, who is expected to fortify a tight end group that suffered a hit when Maxx Williams injured his knee in Sunday's 28-27 loss to the Oakland Raiders.
Asked about Waller's first practice, coach John Harbaugh replied, "He hasn't practiced up until today. It's the first practice in a while, so that's kind of how he looked."
Waller admitted that training on his own was nothing like Wednesday's session.
"I didn't feel like completely out of my game, but definitely a little rust because I hadn't had bodies in front of me the past four weeks," he said. "But as practice went along, it definitely started to come back."
The team also elevated tight end Daniel Brown from the practice squad to the active roster. Brown, who fills the spot vacated by Tuesday's release of running back Justin Forsett, compared the promotion to a similar move when he was on the active roster for the final six games of last season.
"It just happened quicker this year," he said. "I don't want to say it's a sigh of relief, but now I've got to show that I deserve to be up. I have to push myself a little harder."