Ravens restricted free-agent center Matt Skura, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last November, says he’s progressing well during rehab and is hopeful for a possible return during training camp.
Skura tore the ACL, MCL PCL and kneecap in his left knee against the Los Angeles Rams on “Monday Night Football” Nov. 25. Already ahead 7-0 late in the first quarter, the Ravens decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Rams’ 23-yard line. Lamar Jackson got the first down on a quarterback sweep, but Skura’s knee gave way on the play.
Skura was replaced by rookie Patrick Mekari, who started the final four games and the Ravens’ divisional round playoff loss against the Tennessee Titans. It was the first major injury of Skura’s career; he had started 36 straight games dating back to 2017 before the November knee injury.
“It was obviously tough, when the injury happened and basically sitting at home watching the games,” Skura said on Glenn Clark Radio March 13. “I had to kind of take a new perspective on football. That was definitely tough, just because I had never had a serious injury in my career before, just having to manage how to do all that stuff too is definitely tough because you just never know if you’re going to make it back onto the field and all those sort of things.”
Skura said he had been off crutches for two and a half months and hoped to get back to running within the next two weeks. He’s now focusing on getting the strength and mobility back in his knee. His agent, David Canter, tweeted the following March 16:
And Skura shared another update March 18:
Skura is currently a restricted free agent, meaning the center can talk to other clubs, though the Ravens can match any offer. The Ravens placed an original-round tender on Skura, who was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Duke in 2016. Thus, if another team signs Skura to an offer sheet and the Ravens don’t match, Baltimore would not receive draft-pick compensation for the center. An original-round tender, should Skura sign it, will earn him about $2.1 million with Baltimore in 2020.
Wherever he’s playing, Skura is hopeful he can be back out on the field during training camp this summer.
“We’re definitely going to see where I’m at when training camp starts,” Skura said. “If things are feeling good and my knee is strong and we’re kind of moving and hitting on all cylinders, then yeah, I think getting right into the mix of training camp is definitely where I want to be.
“If we just want to wait maybe a week or week and a half into training camp and play a little bit more on the precautionary side, then I’m fine with that too because with me, the biggest thing is I don’t want to have is a setback that actually creates more damage or a new injury or something like that.”
Skura was in the middle of a breakout year when the injury occurred. He was cog in an offensive line that paved the way for the Ravens’ historic rushing attack. Baltimore ran for 3,296 yards — the most ever in a single season — for an average of 206 per game and 5.5 per carry. Jackson was also kept clean, as he was sacked just 27 times.
Skura played 717 offensive snaps, committing just two penalties and allowing only one sack, according to Pro Football Focus. Even though the injury was a significant setback for Skura, he’s been able to show the Ravens — and the league — what he’s capable of when healthy.
“When I would talk to my wife I’m like, ‘Well, I guess I’m glad this didn’t happen when I was on practice squad’ or something like that where I had no chance, really, to show my skills and prove that I can play in the NFL and be a starter and all these sorts of things,” Skura said. “So yeah, that’s definitely a little silver lining that I’ve been able to put three years of quality tape together and show that I started here in 2017 and I’ve made significant improvements since then. That’s definitely a huge part of it. I’m just ready to get back onto the field.”
Skura also discussed the retirement of Marshal Yanda and what the Ravens legend meant to his career …
On meeting Yanda:
“Marshal didn’t get in my rookie year until mandatory minicamp because he never really went to OTAs or really did all that stuff just because he didn’t have to. It was kind of like this huge buildup because we have rookie minicamp and all the rest of the guys came back, but Marshal’s locker was a little empty and he wasn’t around. It was kind of like this buildup, like, ‘Oh man, what’s Marshal like? What kind of guy is he going to be? Does he like rookies?’ And all this stuff. I don’t know, it was just kind of like this ominous thing. It was kind of like a buildup. When he finally got here, he was just like any other guy. He was great to the rookies. He’s funny. I knew he liked fishing a lot, so I tried to ask him about fishing, try to create small talk.”
On learning about preparation from Yanda:
“Just in meetings and stuff, I would see him writing notes and I’d sit next to him and be like, ‘Hey, what do you do when you’re game-planning for a certain person,’ or, ‘What certain things do you look for,’ and how you take notes and all that stuff. Kind of just started talking to him about that stuff and just picking his brain a little bit just because he’s had so much experience and so much success. I kind of just wanted to see what he does because I really didn’t know any different being a rookie and honestly just how to be a football player in the NFL. It was definitely good to just kind of start picking his brain and seeing how he approached the game.”
On how Yanda built up his confidence:
“As a person who’s just starting in the NFL or just starting to get their first playing time, you don’t think anyone else was nervous or has ever been nervous before, especially Marshal. I never thought he would ever get nervous before a game or he would have the same jitters, but he does, and he understands that. He’s able to calm guys down and be like, ‘Hey, we’re all in this together, and we’re going to fight for each other.’ He definitely makes it not about him. He makes it about succeeding for one another and doing well for one another. So that was a big thing for me, especially as a young player. I was like, ‘Well, I’m not going to screw up for Marshal because I know Marshal doesn’t want to screw up for me.'”
On how Yanda gave off a sense of calmness:
“Especially as a center, you think you have to make every call and do all these crazy things and you start getting anxious in your mind of, ‘Oh, I need to make sure of this and that.’ And then Marshal just comes and says, ‘Do your job. Focus on the things you need to do. Make your calls. Make our calls on the left and right side and we’ll be fine. As long as you’re doing your job well, the whole offensive line’s going to do well.’ That’s definitely calming for really any of us, especially for the younger guys too because you’re just trying to mentally prepare, physically prepare. He’s just always been someone who mentally helps you out, just getting ready for a game and preparing mentally.”
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox
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Ravens RFA Matt Skura On Rehabbing Knee Injury, Marshal Yanda's Lasting Impact - Press Box
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