Hope springs eternal in April and May, but the unfortunate reality of football often arrives in the summer with offseason injuries. That was the case for the Ravens on Thursday as the team announced it lost cornerback Tavon Young for the season with a torn ACL.

Young, who was slated to move into the team's starting nickelback role after an impressive 2016 season, will miss all of the coming year.

"As [GM] Ozzie [Newsome] says all the time, you need to build as much depth into your roster as you can, because injuries are going to happen," John Harbaugh said while announcing the injury.

Young came out of Temple last year in the fourth round and made an immediate impact for Baltimore's defense, starting 11 games, recording a pair of interceptions and eight passes defensed. 

The Ravens went out and signed Brandon Carr this offseason then promptly drafted Marlon Humphrey, which set the stage for Young to move to the nickel position. It also set up the Ravens to have an impressive secondary with plenty of upside. (Baltimore's entire secondary was redone, actually, with the addition of Tony Jefferson alongside Eric Weddle at the safety position.)

Now they'll look to fill the role Young will vacate in his absence. The initial guy to step in for Young, Maurice Canady, a sixth-round pick from last year's draft, lit up the Ravens OTAs by recording three interceptions after Young went down, including two that the team filmed and put on Twitter.

Baltimore could also look to Lardarius Webb, a veteran mainstay in the secondary who has struggled with ACL injuries of his own. 

Humphrey told reporters after the practice session that he also played some nickel while at Alabama, so there's a little versatility to work with in that regard as well.