Keaton Mitchell didn’t waste words. “22.4,” he wrote on X, followed by a yawning emoji.
It was a month ago Friday that the Ravens’ speedy running back reached that in mph during a workout inside the field house at the team’s training facility in Owings Mills.
Through the first two weeks of practices on grass during organized team activities, he has looked the part, too, turning corners and burning angles of would-be tacklers.
Just how much better is the 23-year-old former undrafted free agent out of East Carolina 18 months removed from a devastating knee injury that he suffered in December 2023? His top speed shortly after he signed with Baltimore two years ago, he said, was 22.2 mph, so the answer is he’s even faster.
“He looks good,” coach John Harbaugh said Friday. “He looks way better than he did at the end of last season just as far as movement.
“I have hopes for him. I expect him to be really good.”
Though Mitchell returned to the field in Week 10 last season, he did not look the same. He ran with caution. He didn’t have the same level of acceleration that had raised eyebrows and turned heads his rookie season when he averaged 8.4 yards per carry and 10.3 yards per catch.
He appeared in three straight games but only logged two snaps apiece in the first two, didn’t have a single carry or reception and looked cautious in the four kickoffs he returned.
Mitchell was then inactive for three straight games before returning for Weeks 16 and 17 when he tallied just 30 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. He also returned a kickoff 47 yards in the regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns but he still wasn’t quite the same player.
The road back was also at times difficult mentally for Mitchell, so he leaned on teammates and fellow 2023 rookies Tavius Robinson and Trenton Simpson while he was rehabbing his knee. They kept him up to speed on what was happening with the team and offered encouragement.
“When you face adversity, you need those type of guys with you just to keep you in a positive mindset,” Mitchell said.
Even after he after he returned, he acknowledged that it took time before he felt like himself again.
“The mental part coming back you always thinking about your knee, worried about what’s gonna happen what’s gonna happen if I get tackled,” Mitchell said. “But overcoming that, I’m way much better.”
That confidence and a healthy knee also adds another dimension to what was the NFL’s top rushing attack last season, led by Derrick Henry’s bruising 1,921 yards, 5.9 yards per carry and 18 total touchdowns.
Mitchell’s speed and shiftiness also gives Baltimore another dynamic weapon alongside quarterback and two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson, receivers Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and DeAndre Hopkins and tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely.
His presence will also extend to kick returns. Mitchell said Friday that it’s a role he will “definitely” have this season.
“I wanna be the one to return the kickoff returns,” he said. “and being able to be like a Devin Hester, like, don’t-kick-it-to-that-guy type of guy.”
Hester, who played for four teams from 2006 to 2016, mostly for the Chicago Bears before spending his final season with the Ravens, is the only return specialist to have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after five kickoff returns and 14 punt returns for touchdowns.
With a change to the new dynamic kickoff rule putting touchbacks at the 35-yard line, up from the 30 last season, Mitchell believes he can have a significant impact in that area of the game.
“It’s like a natural instinct,” he said. “It’s like an outside zone play for a running back.”
Mitchell also finally isn’t thinking about his knee anymore.
“I’m out there like normal,” he said. “not worried about what my knee doing.”
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