In the past three years, the Ravens have persuaded free agents Steve Smith Sr. and Mike Wallace to join them. Their opponent Monday night, the New England Patriots, also sought the wide receivers.

Smith was poised to visit New England and perhaps the Seattle Seahawks and San Diego Chargers in March 2014, but the Ravens signed the five-time Pro Bowl selection to a three-year, $11 million contract before he could leave the team facility in Owings Mills. The organization applied the same approach to Wallace two years later.

Smith, who is in the final year of his deal, declined to revisit that sequence of events Wednesday.

“That was a long time ago,” he said during a news conference at which he wore a Yoda onesie he said he had bought at a Holiday Helpers event. “A lot has transpired.”

Similarly, New England coach Bill Belichick was not in the mood to take a trip down memory lane.

“Free agency is free agency,” he said during a conference call with Baltimore-area reporters. “It's the National Football League. Players change teams, they talk to multiple teams. We've signed guys, we've had guys leave just like every other team in the league has. So that's free agency in the NFL. I don't think we should act like it's never happened before.”

Harbaugh, Belichick talk lacrosse: Belichick's roots in lacrosse run deep. He played at Annapolis and Wesleyan. His daughter, Amanda, played attack at Wesleyan and is in her second year as women's coach at Holy Cross. His son Steve was a defenseman and long-stick midfielder at Rutgers and is the Patriots' safeties coach. His other son, Brian, played midfield at Trinity and is a scouting assistant for the Patriots.

Patriots wide receiver Chris Hogan played midfield at Penn State, and former Johns Hopkins long-stick midfielder Mike Pellegrino is a Patriots assistant.

So Belichick used some time on the conference call with Baltimore-area reporters to talk about the sport.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh has been following the sport because his teenage daughter, Alison, plays. Belichick, who with Harbaugh attended a lacrosse game between Johns Hopkins and Maryland in 2012, joked that it was nice to have Harbaugh on the lacrosse bandwagon. “Yeah, I think John has seen the light,” he quipped.

Harbaugh acknowledged that he “is a lacrosse guy,” but said he favors women's lacrosse. “Girls lacrosse is a great sport,” he said. “It's a great skills sport. The sticks are a little bit tougher, and it's more of a skill game, I think, in some ways.”

Practice report: The portion of Wednesday's walk-through open to the media was abbreviated, and the players did not wear jerseys, but it appeared that rookie guard Alex Lewis (high right ankle sprain), tight end Crockett Gillmore (pulled hamstring) and running back Lorenzo Taliaferro (hamstring) did not participate.

Running back Buck Allen returned after missing two days of practice last week and being deactivated for Sunday's 38-6 rout of the Miami Dolphins because of a nonfootball injury.

Cornerback Jimmy Smith and wide receiver Kamar Aiken, who were dealing with back and thigh injuries last week, also took part in Wednesday's session.

End zone: Steve Smith was nominated as the team's candidate for the 2016 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. The honor recognizes a player's volunteer and charity work while maintaining excellence on the field. Smith — who was nominated for the award last season, which went to former Ravens and then-San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Anquan Boldin — pointed out that there are more NFL players worthy of similar recognition. “You see that they have police [blotters] or police alerts when players get in trouble. I don't think they have enough charity alerts when guys are giving their time and effort,” Smith said. ... The team re-signed running back Stephen Houston to the practice squad Tuesday night. Houston had been waived from the practice squad Nov. 1 to make room for tight end Nic Jacobs. A vacancy for Houston opened when the Detroit Lions signed cornerback Asa Jackson off the practice squad Tuesday. … Smith on his Yoda onesie: “It's been a few decades since I last wore one,” he deadpanned. “I tried it on. So I bought it and thought, ‘I've got to use it.'?” Asked whether he was a Star Wars fan, Smith replied: “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I am.”

edward.lee@baltsun.com

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