The Ravens were in the second day of their "Expanded Roles" minicamp, and Troy Smith was doing what he has never wanted to do at the NFL level: expand his role beyond the quarterback position.
Smith lined up at wide receiver and made a couple of nice catches, one in particular at the expense of his former high school teammate, Ravens safety Haruki Naka-mura.
"In high school, he actually played receiver sometimes," Nakamura said. "He can play wide receiver. You can tell he's a natural athlete."
That's no great secret, but Smith would rather keep his original Ravens job description. He came here as a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and doesn't seem terribly interested in morphing into Kordell Stewart or any skills player on last season's Miami Dolphins roster.
"Well, it's expanded role camp," Smith said. "Definitely, when they put you in a situation where you get a chance to do something different and expand your role, you just step up and rise to the occasion."
He did just that on several downfield routes Tuesday. He also threw the ball well and ran like a slick tailback. Smith is the guy you automatically think of when somebody trots out the old cliche about versatility being a curse.
There doesn't seem to be any doubt he could help the team in a varied role. That much was pretty obvious as he snatched those balls out of the air in close coverage.
"I don't know if Troy likes to do that," starting quarterback Joe Flacco said, "but he's a pretty good athlete, and he's capable of doing that."
It might not matter what Smith likes because this is the NFL, and you pretty much do what the head coach and offensive coordinator tell you to do. And it sounded Tuesday like coach John Harbaugh wasn't just putting him out there for laughs.
"Troy looked good," Harbaugh said. "He made a nice catch over the middle. Without making a big, huge story out of it, I'm quite sure Troy will be lined up in some different places this year."
This is not a new concept. Coordinator Cam Cameron is constantly adding new wrinkles to his offense, and there were times last season when Smith was behind center and Flacco was split wide. The question now is whether we're talking about a more dramatic role change for Smith this season with Cameron protege John Beck joining the team and competing for the backup quarterback job.
