Otaro Alaka‘s injury will keep him off the field for at least several months. NFL Network’s James Palmer reports (via Twitter) that the Ravens have placed the rookie linebacker on the injured reserve.
Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic tweets that Alaka suffered a hamstring injury on Wednesday, and that ailment forced him to miss the rest of the week’s practices. Unfortunately, the injury happened at a bad time for the rookie, who had been inactive for the first three weeks of the season. The Ravens are only rostering three inside linebackers in Patrick Onwuasor, Kenny Young, and Chris Board, so Alaka could have seen the field if a teammate was injured. Plus, starting defensive tackle Brandon Williams was added to the injury report today, perhaps forcing some other players to play out of position.
The 23-year-old Alaka had a standout career at Texas A&M before going undrafted in this past year’s draft. He’ll be eligible to return to the team in eight weeks. The Ravens have until this afternoon to fill his roster spot.