The Ravens Have Depth Once Again

After the Franchise QB and the big play skill positions, the most important thing to an NFL teams road to success is their ability to overcome injuries. Preventing injuries is impossible and those teams that manage to escape them do so solely with a leprecaun at their side. The big trick is to overcome the inevitable injuries and the only way to do that is with superior depth.

The last two seasons for the Ravens have been the perfect case in point. In 2008, the Ravens had phenomenal success marching to the AFC Championship game with a rookie quarterback and rookie head coach. Last season they managed to push their way into the 2nd round of the playoffs even after losing their two starting cornerbacks! The reason is not solely the Ray Lewis conditioning regimen which has been a staple of the team since its inception. The real answer is the tremendous team depth the Ravens continuosly manage to fill their 53 man roster with.

The 2010 team looks to be just as deep as teams past. The battle is on for every position on the final roster. Though I do not have season opening tickets for the person who correctly predicts the opening day roster, I do have a challenge to lay down. Let me know how many players from Ravens camp that are let go on final cut day and then find themselves on another NFL team within seven days. A prize will go out to the winner!

For starters, lets look at the automatic keepers by position:

QB:
Joe Flacco
Marc Bulger

RB:
Ray Rice
Willis McGahee
Jalen Pamele

FB:
Le'Ron McClain

WR:
Derrick Mason
Anquan Boldin
Mark Clayton
Donte Stallworth (yes, even with the 8 week injury I believe he will be carried)
Demetrius Williams

TE:
Todd Heap
Ed Dickson
Dennis Pitta

O-LINE:
Matt Birk
Chris Chester
Ben Grubbs
Marshall Yanda
Michael Oher
Jared Gaither

D-LINE
Trevor Pryce
Kelly Gregg
Terrence Cody
Haloti Ngata
Paul Kruger
Terrell Suggs

LB;
Ray Lewis
Tavares Gooden
Dannell Ellerbe
Jameel McClain
Jarret Johnson
Antwan Barnes

Safety:
Ed Reed
Dawan Landry
Tom Zbikowski
Haruki Nakamura

Corner:
Fabian Washington
Lardarius Webb
Chris Carr
Cary Williams (out for 4 games suspension!)

Punter:
Sam Koch

Kicker:
Shayne Graham

Special Teams:
Morgan Cox (long snapper)
Prescott Burgess
Edgar Jones
Marcus Smith (fills 5th WR role until Stallworth comes back)

Yep - that only leaves seven more guys and someone will have to take the place of Cary Williams at corner until he returns from suspension leaving only six more spots! I would assume that Ozzie will be watching the cut lists intently for any cornerback help but I am going to proceed as if we will play our hand as its stands. My final seven:

Prince Miller
Cory Redding
Ramon Harewood
Ken Hamlin
Oneil Cousins
K.J. Gerard
Bryan Mattison (or Tony Moll)

The surprise here of course is no Troy Smith. With a former two-time Pro Bowler as a back-up at QB, we just may try to get through the season with just carrying two quarterbacks. My guess is that there could be a little trade activity after the final pre-season game but I am calling in the above list as is (with the coaches son taking the last spot).

My prediction is that 7 former Ravens will appear on other NFL rosters within seven days of final cuts. What do you think?

Rick Hubata
DugoutZone Digest