In the summer before his Pro Bowl season, Ravens tight end Mark Andrews was running routes so expertly that a teammate stole one of his moves.
Now nearly two years later, early in the summer before a season that could make him a very wealthy man, Andrews looks even better.
“Really good. He’s practiced very well,” coach John Harbaugh said Tuesday, after the Ravens wrapped up their third open practice of organized team activities. “I told him today, I really feel like he’s running routes the best that I’ve seen him run routes since he’s been here. Very crisp and very sharp and explosive and all of it. I’m just happy he’s here.”
Here is Owings Mills, in muggy 90-degree weather, where the last thing a Ravens defender wants to see in passing drills — other than maybe a swarm of cicadas — is No. 89 lined up across from them. Andrews, entering the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, could’ve passed on the voluntary workouts, could’ve worked out safely back home in Arizona. Instead, he came to the Under Armour Performance Center to score touchdowns. A lot of them.
Andrews was nearly unstoppable in red-zone drills Tuesday. Quarterback Lamar Jackson found him on a corner route for a touchdown against starting safety DeShon Elliott. Andrews caught another in the back middle of the end zone, the defense apparently having forgotten to account for the Ravens’ most talented receiver. He had two straight grabs in a hurry-up drill near the end of practice before he was finally stopped — by cramps.
For three years now, Andrews has been the most reliable piece of a work-in-progress passing game, the centerpiece of Jackson’s between-the-numbers attack. His showing Tuesday was a reminder, if anyone needed one, that wherever the Ravens’ remade passing attack goes this season — up, down, into the limelight, under center — Andrews will probably be option No. 1.
“It’s just being able to improve each and every year, knowing the things that you’re good at and not good at, and trying to work those little things,” Andrews said of his approach. “But I’ve been running a ton. Obviously, routes are something that’s very important to me, being able to run really good routes. In the offseason, I made an emphasis of that. I feel like I’m getting in and out of breaks really well. I feel light. I feel fast. So I’m excited to see what I can do.”
Andrews didn’t want to make his 2021 goals public — “There are a bunch of things I can get better at” — but he joked to reporters in a news conference that “you guys know where it’s at.” Andrews, as much as anything, is defined by his “Top five” mantra. Whatever Andrews finds himself invested in, he wants to be considered among the best.
So far, so good. Since 1970, the start of the NFL’s modern era, only 16 tight ends besides Andrews have recorded 2,000 receiving yards over their first three seasons, according to Pro-Football-Reference, stars like Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham, Zach Ertz and George Kittle, all of whom played in more pass-heavy offenses.