The Baltimore Ravens could be without of one of their best defenders for the 2019 season. Following Thursday night's 26-13 preseason win against the Green Bay Packers, head coach John Harbaugh said cornerback Tavon Young has an injury which may make him miss all of 2019.
According to The Athletic's Jeff Zrebiec, Young sustained the injury over the weekend. He noted that the cornerback “has [a] disc issue in [his] neck.”
After Thursday night's game, Harbaugh said:
“Tavon has a more serious issue than we thought,” Harbaugh told the media, per the Ravens official website. “He has a neck issue. Doctors can explain it, but it’s a disc issue. That’s a serious injury. He could be out for the remainder of the season. We’ll know soon, but it doesn’t look good for Tavon.”
The head coach mentioned that there is an “outside chance” that the injury will heal by the end of the 2019 season.
The Ravens gave Young, 25, a three-year, $25.8 million contract, making him one of the highest-paid nickel cornerbacks in the NFL. The Ravens selected him in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Temple. Since then, he's played two seasons, sitting all of 2017 with a torn ACL suffered in OTAs.
Young performed well in the two seasons he played. In 2016, he played in 16 games (starting 11) and recorded 50 combined tackles, two interceptions, and eight pass deflections. In 2018, he tallied 37 combined tackles, an interception, and five pass deflections in 15 games (starting six).
The injury is a major blow for the Ravens. Luckily, Baltimore boasts one of the league's best cornerback rooms, with Marlon Humphrey, Jimmy Smith, and Brandon Carr on board with Young.