OWINGS MILLS. -- Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh expressed optimism that linebacker Sergio Kindle could eventually be cleared after missing his entire rookie season with a fractured skull.

"There's some hope there, there's a chance," Harbaugh said tonight during a conference call with season ticket holders. "I’m more optimistic now than ever before that he has a chance to come back and play. It will just be a matter of seeing how well he does.”

Kindle recently visited neurological specialists in Boston and Michigan and told National Football Post that it went well, but emphasized there was nothing definitive learned about his status.

"“I don’t know how to describe it exactly in medical terms, but they're very pleased with his progress," Harbaugh said. 'There’s a chance he could be cleared to compete in football at some point and time.”

Harbaugh was adamant that Kindle has to get medically cleared before the team can begin making any plans for him on the field.

If the Ravens get Kindle back, they'll have a second-round draft pick who never played last season and was named All-Big 12 Conference at the University of Texas.

“He’ll go out there and compete with everybody else,” Harbaugh said. “If he can regain some of that form he had at Texas, here’s a guy that’s a big, fast, strong, aggressive guy who loves football and can rush the passer, that would be a bonus for us. That's for sure."