The Best Rookie Storylines at Baltimore Ravens OTAs

You can feel the upcoming NFL season inching closer when teams begin organized team activities. 

The Baltimore Ravens have already held their rookie minicamps to get their newest players acclimated to the NFL. However, organized team activities are different from rookie camp. B/R's own Matt Bowen is a former NFL player, and he has great insight on what goes on in OTAs:

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Forget the rookie minicamps that just went down over this past weekend. Those are basically teaching sessions designed to walk these first-year players through basic alignments and the structure/schedule of a pro practice.

That will change when the vets take the field. The rookies will make mistakes and struggle with their technique, and their conditioning level can be exposed after months of training to run the 40-yard dash, short shuttle, three-cone drill, etc.

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As Bowen said, the practices rev up once the veterans take the field along with the rookies. For the most part, OTAs are a chance for the vets to kick some rust off the tires.

For the rookies, though, everything here is a learning experience. For the Ravens, there will also be several storylines for their newest players. 

Some will be fighting for a starting job while other rookies are simply trying to make the 53-man roster this year. There will even be rookies trying to adjust to positions different from what they played in college. 

Here are five rookie situations to watch closely during OTAs.

Finding a Position for Za'Darius Smith

Associated Press

The Ravens took Kentucky defensive end Za'Darius Smith in the fourth round of this year's draft. 

While it was a solid value pick where they got Smith, they must now find a way to incorporate him into their 3-4 defense. In college, Smith played in a hybrid 4-3/3-4 defense in Kentucky's scheme after two years of playing defensive end in junior college.

This past season, Smith had 61 tackles, 4.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss. In 2013, Smith totaled 59 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and six more sacks.

Smith does a great job of setting the edge and maintaining his gap, something a 3-4 defensive end must be able to do. Smith also offers enough as a pass-rusher to be an effective end in Baltimore's defense.

However, At 6'4" and 274 pounds, Smith will need to bulk up if he's going to play on a 3-4 defensive line. A defensive end in that kind of defense needs to be carrying around 330 pounds in order to hold up in the NFL. 

As of now, all of Baltimore's defensive ends weigh over 300 pounds, and getting to that weight may not be something Smith can do his rookie year. 

That may be why Baltimore appears to be using Smith at outside linebacker for the time being. They even told Smith after they drafted him that they viewed him as a similar player to Pernell McPhee. 

The former Ravens outside linebacker left this offseason to sign with the Chicago Bears after notching 7.5 sacks for Baltimore last year. 

Head coach John Harbaugh thinks they may have found his replacement in Smith, as he told Ryan Mink of BaltimoreRavens.com. 

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The physicality, the heavy hands, the high motor. He’s got pass-rush ability – even maybe more than we saw from Pernell coming out – he’s got hips and gets around blocks. If he develops like Pernell, we’re really going to have something. He’s a great young man. He’s a very hard worker and he plays really hard, so those were all characteristics Pernell had as well.

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If Smith moves to outside linebacker, he probably won't see the field much with Elvis Dumervil, Terrell Suggs and Courtney Upshaw there.

Whatever position Smith plays, he's a talented player who should find a way to make an impact in Baltimore. 

Breshad Perriman Drawing Praise from Joe Flacco

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

Baltimore drafted UCF wide receiver Breshad Perriman with the 26th overall pick in this past draft.

Now, Perriman will be given every opportunity to win a starting job at the Ravens' biggest position of weakness heading into next season. 

He is a talented pass-catcher who should come in and start every game as a rookie. The 6'2", 212-pound Perriman caught 115 passes for 2,243 yards (19.5 avg) and 16 touchdowns over his three years at UCF. 

What makes Perriman special are his deep-threat skills and ability to stretch a defense. That should mesh well with Joe Flacco and his big arm.

Flacco loves to air it out, and Perriman makes his biggest impact down the field. It just so happens Perriman is already catching Flacco's eye in OTAs. "I'm happy with Breshad," Flacco said, via Garrett Downing of BaltimoreRavens.com. "He looks really good. He looks big, powerful, runs well. His hands look like they're really good. He looks like he has big, strong hands. He snatches the ball out of the air."

Flacco lost his No. 1 receiver this offseason when Torrey Smith left to sign with the San Francisco 49ers in free agency. He and Flacco hooked up for a franchise-record 30 touchdowns over Smith's four years in Baltimore. 

As good as Perriman is, if he can become the No. 1 or 2 pass-catcher in Baltimore's offense as a rookie, it won't be surprising to see he and Flacco set some records of their own over his career. 

For now, Flacco just needs Perriman to get acclimated to the NFL and become a significant contributor in Baltimore's offense. 

Will Maxx Williams Take over Starting Role?

Between now and the start of the 2015 regular season. Baltimore's biggest rookie storyline will be Maxx Williams taking over at tight end. 

The Ravens traded up in the second round to select the Minnesota star. The 6'4", 249-pound Williams led the Golden Gophers in receptions (36), yards (569) and receiving touchdowns (eight) this past season as a John Mackey Award semifinalist. 

The good news for him is the tight end has been a focal point in Baltimore's offense since Joe Flacco became the quarterback. That won't change with new offensive coordinator Marc Trestman calling plays now.

He loves to feature tight ends in his offense, and Williams will be counted on heavily now that Dennis Pitta is looking less likely to play in 2015. 

ESPN Ravens reporter Jamison Hensley expects Pitta to open 2015 on the reserve/PUP list after suffering a season-ending hip injury last year. 

It was his second major hip injury in the past two years. It now looks like he won't be counted on this year, at least to start the season. That will leave the starting tight end spot up for grabs. 

Williams is a tremendous talent who should be able to take hold of that job. How well he does in OTAs will be a nice indicator as to whether he's making the progress he needs to land that job. 

He won't win the job, though, until the pads are on in training camp and into the preseason. Still, if Williams is to take hold of the starting tight end spot, he needs to begin making that push now.