Ravens Week 2 Rookie Report: Nate Wiggins was sorely missed; Roger Rosengarten makes ‘major’ strides 

One of the team’s top two picks played well in limited snaps while their last pick continues to play exclusively on special teams.

The Baltimore Ravens returned home for Week 2 of the regular season to take on the Las Vegas Raiders and didn’t receive a lot of contributions from their 2024 rookie class because most of them didn’t suit up for this game.

On a day when just two of the team’s nine draft selections dressed, neither of them had a profound impact in any of the three phases of the game in the team’s 26-23 loss in yet another late fourth-quarter collapse in which a two-score lead was squandered.

The five drafted rookies on the 53-man roster who did not participate were first-round cornerback Nate Wiggins, who was ruled out with a concussion as a result of a recent car accident, third-round outside linebacker Adisa Isaac, who has been dealing with a hamstring injury since making his preseason debut, fourth-round wide receiver Devontez Walker, fourth-round cornerback T.J. Tampa and sixth-round center Nick Samac. Fifth-round running back Rasheen Ali was placed on injured reserve earlier in the day and undrafted rookie safety Beau Brade was also among the players on the inactive list.

Here is how the first-year players who suited up and took the field fared in their latest taste of regular season NFL action.

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CB Nate Wiggins

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

Even though the first-rounder didn’t suit up for this game, his absence in the secondary was noticeable as the Ravens’ outside corners struggled to consistently cover Raiders’ six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Davante Adams down the stretch. They also hardly played any of their other reserve cornerbacks with third-year pro Jalyn Armour-Davis only seeing the field for just one defensive snap. It would’ve been interesting to see how the rookie, who was lights out in the preseason and surprisingly hardly played in the season opener, would’ve fared against one of the best receivers in the league and if he would’ve prevented him from being the second straight 100-yard wide receiver allowed by this defense.

OT Roger Rosengarten

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

The second-round offensive tackle didn’t get to start the game and despite receiving even fewer snaps (18) than he did in Week 1 while rotating with veteran Patrick Mekari as the right bookend, showed tremendous strides in his second regular-season appearance. After giving up a strip sack on his very first snap against the Kansas Chiefs in his debut, Rosengarten not only comported himself well but was very impressive at times when he found himself blocking three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby.

During his Monday press conference with the media, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh expressed his excitement about Rosengarten’s continued growth and said the plan is to continue rotating them for the time being.

“Roger took really good improvement from Week 1 to Week 2,” Harbaugh said. “He was a rookie [in his] first game, now second game. I thought he stepped it up and played well, so that was – obviously, he’s only played two games – but it was a major improvement from the week before, so let’s hope he keeps on that track.”

The sooner and more often Rosengarten can see the field, the better he is going to become, instead of having to come off the bench going up against edge defenders who might have already gotten into a confident rhythm working against Mekari, who has struggled with consistency against the some of the league’s best to open the season.

DB Sanoussi Kane

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

As expected, the seventh-round safety only saw the field on special teams exclusively for the second week in a row with a new career-high of 27 snaps in that phase of the game, tying for the most on the team. Kane has yet to see a snap on defense and likely won’t anytime soon barring injury or blowout in favor of the Ravens.