Hamstring strains, pec injuries, and unnecessary conditioning drills that drained players: that is what life felt like for many Ravens players when John Harbaugh was in charge. So when former Ravens players Patrick Queen and DeShon Elliott had a chance to open up on that topic, they didn’t hold back. The two former Baltimore defenders, now teammates in Pittsburgh, opened up about what life under Harbaugh’s regime actually felt like behind the scenes.

Before players even got to the conditioning test, there was the daily grind in the weight room. Speaking about it on Wednesday’s episode of “Not Just Football” with Cam Heyward, Elliott didn’t sugarcoat what that looked like.

“We lifted a lot of weights. We lifted hard. Heavy, heavy, every day,” Elliott said on Heyward’s podcast. “Dead clean, Power clean, (squats). I tore my pec out there one year because of that s***.”

According to both defenders, the real damage came from the conditioning test.

“I think the worst thing was the conditioning test by far,” Queen said, walking through the mechanics of it. “We had (to run) 25 yards (and) back, 25 yards, back, 25 yards, back, and you got to make that a certain amount of time, and you only get half that rest. So, it was… a lot of hamstrings got pulled. Training was crazy”

The shift at the Ravens reflects a broader change in how these players are being coached now. Instead of grinding through extreme off-field conditioning, the emphasis has moved toward load management, positioning, and simply keeping bodies healthy over the long haul.

Still, it wasn’t all bad memories. Queen made a point of separating the physical toll from what being in the locker room actually felt like.

“But culture-wise, I think that locker room was close, that I was a part of. It was every single guy on the team connected with each other,” he said. “Like Lamar would be hanging out with the D-line, and you got Roquan going to hang out with freaking O-line, and Mark Andrews over there talking to us, and you got kickers and everything, just like everybody was close. So, the culture was cool. It was a good place.”

As for Harbaugh, he didn’t leave the conditioning test behind when he took the job with the Giants. He brought it with him, just in a different form. Instead of those grueling 25-yard back-and-forths, players now run 50- or 60-yard dashes depending on position, with linemen getting a shorter distance, per Steelers Depot. Everyone still has to hit a target time, but this go-around, nobody failed.

Baltimore, meanwhile, has moved forward under Minter, who’s bringing his own approach to a team still adjusting to life after nearly two decades with the same Super Bowl-winning coach.

Jesse Minter Earns the Respect of Ravens Veterans

Jesse Minter is now running the show in Baltimore. He took over as head coach back in January 2026, stepping in for John Harbaugh, and this isn’t exactly new territory for him.

Minter has spent time with the Ravens before under Harbaugh’s leadership, working on the defensive staff from 2017 to 2020, so in a lot of ways this feels like a homecoming as much as a promotion. And with him at the helm, things in Baltimore are already starting to look different.

Under Minter, that pass-fail conditioning test is gone. In its place, the new staff reportedly has built in-practice, football-like series that test conditioning and endurance in ways that actually resemble game situations. Per Steelers Depot, veterans who fully commit to the offseason program now get an added perk too: an exemption from the test altogether.

The history behind that old drill explains why so many were glad to see it retired. Former Ravens defensive back Aaron Ross tore his Achilles during the test in July 2014 and missed the entire season. Harbaugh had called it a “tough break” and a “difficult thing” for Ross. Former Ravens receiver Mike Wallace received a lot of flak online in 2016 after failing the test, and it took him until 2017 to pass it. His failure was a surprising development because he was considered one of the fastest NFL players, with a personal best of running the 40-yard dash in 4.21 seconds.

Harbaugh’s exit from Baltimore hasn’t exactly been regretted by everyone who played for him. Rashod Bateman and Ronnie Stanley have been open about preferring life under Minter.

“From head coach to [offensive coordinator] to receivers coach, everybody really harps on the details and the small things,” Bateman said Thursday. “That’s just not what we were in our past. He’s very communicative with us, very talkative, very informative with us, and that’s what we’ve never had here.”

Stanley echoed Bateman’s stance, saying, “I think Jesse just values details and the finer details a little bit more. I think that is something that is very much harped on, and he is also a very positive overall guy.”

At no point can Harbaugh’s credentials be doubted. Since joining the Ravens in 2008, he led the team to a 180-113 record and won the Super Bowl XLVII. But Minter’s shift toward practicality in training already feels like real progress to those who survived Harbaugh’s old test.