The Ravens got the update they've been waiting on all camp. Nnamdi Madubuike passed his physical and is off the physically unable to perform list, clearing him to practice with the team as Baltimore ramps up training camp.
Adam Schefter broke the news that Madubuike passed his physical and is off the PUP list.
Ravens DT Nnamdi Madubuike passed his physical and was removed from the physically unable to perform list.
Context matters here, and it's a lot bigger than a routine camp transaction. Madubuike missed the final 15 games of last season with a serious neck injury that required surgery in April, and for a while his long-term future was genuinely murky. He hadn't played since Week 2. This is a guy who made back-to-back Pro Bowls in 2023 and 2024 and signed a 4-year, $98 million extension before that run, so the stakes on getting him back right were never just about one roster spot.
Baltimore opened camp cautious, placing Madubuike on the active PUP list alongside five other players, including fellow DT Travis Jones. But the tone around Madubuike specifically was already trending positive going in — he'd reportedly been cleared by independent spine and cervical doctors before camp even started, with the team using the PUP designation mainly to reacclimate him and monitor conditioning rather than as a red flag on the injury itself. GM Eric DeCosta had said as much this month, calling the trajectory encouraging.
Getting officially cleared off PUP is the next domino, and it's a big one. It means Madubuike can now actually practice with the team instead of just going through individual work on the side, which is the real test of whether the neck holds up under football activity. For a Ravens defense that leans heavily on interior pressure to make the whole scheme work, having a healthy, disruptive Madubuike back in the lineup changes the ceiling of this unit in a way depth signings can't replicate.
Nothing here is a guarantee he's playing Week 1, and after a neck surgery the team is going to be deliberate about workload no matter what the calendar says. But this is the clearest positive signal on Madubuike's return since the injury first sidelined him, and it's the kind of camp update that quietly reshapes how good Baltimore's defensive line projects to be come September.