Bryant McKinnie - Not at 1st practice, Oher at LT for now.

**wickedsolo** · 07-26-2012, 06:16 PM

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...irst-practice/

Ravens coach John Harbaugh told reporters after practice that McKinnie’s representative told the team he was dealing with a “personal” matter and it wasn’t clear when he’d return.

In his absence, the Ravens moved Michael Oher to left tackle, and used Ramon Harewood at right tackle, before he left practice with a leg injury.

Not a good thing folks.

**houstonravensfan** · 07-26-2012, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by wickedsolo

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...irst-practice/

Not a good thing folks.

IMHO it is two BAD things: Oher at LT and Harewood hurt AGAIN. (Make that three bads: WHY Harewood rather than Reid?)

**TTRaven** · 07-26-2012, 06:27 PM

Originally Posted by houstonravensfan

IMHO it is two BAD things: Oher at LT and Harewood hurt AGAIN. (Make that three bads: WHY Harewood rather than Reid?)

Reid is still recovering from an injury.

**Corey** · 07-26-2012, 06:28 PM

Reid his hurt himself. This might explain why they were looking at Steinbach. If we can find a good enough G, maybe Yanda can slide back out to RT.

Either way McKinnie is barking up the wrong tree. The one thing Harbaugh hates is a poor work ethic.

**wickedsolo** · 07-26-2012, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by TTRaven

Reid is still recovering from an injury.

Yup. As is KO, otherwise I'd imagine that KO and/or Reid would be over at the RT spot.

**wickedsolo** · 07-26-2012, 06:29 PM

McKinnie's personal issue is he probably tripped, fell, and landed face first in a pool of cheeseburgers and he's nowhere near the shape that Harbs wants him in and he knows it.

**leachisabeast** · 07-26-2012, 06:31 PM

I'm not so worried about RT as it gives one of our younger players a chance to prove them selves at RT. It's more about Oher playing on the left side, I really don't know if he is mentally prepared to play left tackle, physically? Yes probably, he has all the tools to become an athletic LT, but he just isn't football smart enough if you know what I mean.

Harewood at RT is worrying though, hope Reid or Osemele comes back ready to go.

**BigPlayReceiver** · 07-26-2012, 06:32 PM

We've had 2 1/2 (arguably 3 1/2) off-seasons to engineer a long-term fix for our OT problem.
Shame on the FO for not getting this nonsense together.

(I heard on The Fan that Harewood rolled his ankle. Possibly not serious.)

**wickedsolo** · 07-26-2012, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by BigPlayReceiver

We've had 2 1/2 (arguably 3 1/2) off-seasons to engineer a long-term fix for our OT problem.
Shame on the FO for not getting this nonsense together.

(I heard on The Fan that Harewood rolled his ankle. Possibly not serious.)

It's probably not very serious, but still...3 years in a row dealing with soft-tissue injuries.

And finding a long term LT is extremely difficult. If the Ravens had draft picks in the top 10 over the past 3 years or so they may have been able to land someone, but LT is one of the hardest positions to draft and guys who are even just above avg LT's in the league really don't ever hit free agency.

**bmorecareful** · 07-26-2012, 06:53 PM

Our OL is by far the thing I'm most worried about in this upcoming season. People underestimate how badly the Ravens have mishandled the LT situation since the 2009 offseason. I'm not sure it's all or even mostly their fault, but there has been setback after setback and their responses have not worked.

I think it's inarguable that in an ideal world, a healthy/motivated Gaither at LT and Oher at RT was the ideal long-term outlook for this team. The Oher experiment at LT was a failure and may have destroyed his confidence--he's never been even close to as good a player as he was his rookie year at RT. I'm now no longer confident he can consistently play left OR right tackle at a high level.

Who knows what could have been done about Gaither, but he had long-term LT potential and now we have only McKinnie, who is spiraling towards not making the final 53, AND no other long-term LT options on the roster. Harewood can't get healthy, Osemele and Reid are not LT prospects, and that's it.

I could be proven wrong here, but I do not like this situation at all in 2012 or beyond. I hope the coaching staff and FO has a plan.

**purplepoe** · 07-26-2012, 06:57 PM

McKinnie is a mess.

The FO continued to roll the dice when they gave him the 500,00 bonus back in the Spring.

They really have no choice but to hope and pray they can squeeze one more season out of him but right now it's a coin flip as to if they can IMO.

PP

**leachisabeast** · 07-26-2012, 07:05 PM

Agreed, this has not been handled very well. And Wicked that may be true about it being hard to find legit LT's, but teams like the Raiders find guys like Jared Veldheer in the third round, who is a much better option than Bryant McKinnie at this point. I really hope we do something next year, whether that be in the draft, or in FA, because this offensive line issue is getting worrying.

**The Excellector** · 07-26-2012, 07:07 PM

When is Jah Reid expected back?

**leachisabeast** · 07-26-2012, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by The Excellector

When is Jah Reid expected back?

He could be out for weeks supposedly.

**The Excellector** · 07-26-2012, 07:30 PM

Once upon a time, Aaron Wilson reported that Jared Gaither reported to the team's mandatory mini-camp in really bad shape. This past June, Aaron Wilson made a similar report about Bryant McKinnie.

Training camp of that same year, Gaither showed up to training camp nearly thirty pounds underweight, before suffering an injury.

Training camp of this year, one report says that McKinnie failed the conditioning test. Another report says that McKinnie hasn't arrived and, through a representative, told Harbaugh that he was dealing with a personal issue.

The Ravens have not had the best of luck with that position.

**ballhawk** · 07-26-2012, 07:32 PM

Well....at this time last year mckinnie was reportedly 400lbs and nowhere near ready to get on the practice field. The ravens knew what they were getting when they signed him....they need to let this thing play out. Last thing they need to do is give him the gaither treatment and next thing you know we go into the season with oher at LT. The ravens made their own bed with this situation, now they need to lie in it. But dont go running the only decent LT on your roster off.

**Ravenswintitle** · 07-26-2012, 07:33 PM

McKinnie was available last year for this very reason and frankly, it worked out pretty well. I wouldn't over react just yet, but this is not what any of us want to hear. He's probably in a strip club makin' it rain. He'll be back

**Irish Raven** · 07-26-2012, 07:37 PM

I'm pulling for Harewood but one more bad injury and he'll be cut and gone for good
Leg injury doesn't sound so bad though. Not much detail of course, just my first impression

Two seasons gone now on IR

We have so many interior offensive linemen but not so deep at offensive tackle

**Section 502 Raven** · 07-26-2012, 07:37 PM

Oher at LT = Flacco on his ass.

**Raveninwoodlawn** · 07-26-2012, 07:40 PM

Like myself and many others (like Wicked) have said, OT...and LT in particular HAS to be priority numero uno next offseason.

They have to address it...trade, draft, UFA somehow...something. They've been dealing with flakes or players that just aren't good enough for over 4 years now.