As most expected, Michael Oher cashed in this off-season and headed back to his home state of Tennessee to the tune of a four year, $20M deal.
After not instantly filling the vacant spot with a quality free agent or an early draft pick, the Ravens will look to go in-house to replace Oher. The leading candidate going into camp looks to be 2nd year OL Rick Wagner, but he will face very tough competition from a trio of promising UDFA’s in James Hurst, Parker Graham and Brett Van Sloten.
Here’s a look at the four contenders in what looks sure to be a very intriguing position battle all summer:
The Favorite: Rick Wagner
After improving week after week as a rookie in 2013, the starting Right Tackle job looks to be his to lose going into training camp. The Wisconsin product played in all 16 games ( 2 starts) in 2013, recording 131 snaps and while he was a -2.1 in pass protection, he was a +2.5 in run blocking and had an overall positive grade on the season ( Pro Football Focus Ratings), while also grading out positively in every game after the Week 1 disaster in Denver.
Wagner, 24, has good size (6-6, 310) and technique, and is tough and scrappy with a non-stop motor. Sounds like the perfect fit next to Marshall Yanda……
The Steal: James Hurst
You can’t help but to be excited about this former Tar Heel. If it weren’t for a fractured fibula in the last game of his collegiate career, a 39-17 win over Cincinnati in the 2013 Belk Bowl that cost the 22-year-old the Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine, he could have been a 2nd/3rd round pick in this year’s draft. The Ravens front office did an outstanding job nabbing this guy as a UDFA, and the whole league will see what they missed out on this summer.
Hurst brings an impressive resume into training camp after a decorated collegiate career at UNC, where he started all four years at LT and now holds the school record with 49 starts on the blindside while earning 2nd Team All-ACC honors in 2011 and 1st Team All-ACC honors in 2012 and 2013.
The 6-6, 305 pound Hurst is a good athlete for his size and shows impressive technique against speed and bull rushers (See: Jadeveon Clowney, James Gayle) while standing out in the run blocking department as well. He also displays great awareness and a high IQ on the field, and that along with his skill set could make him a key piece of the Ravens O-Line in the near future.
The Swiss Army Knife: Parker Graham
The first thing that jumps out when watching Graham, 23, is his versatility. After breaking into the starting line-up for five games at RT as a Sophomore, Graham went on to earn a Big 12 honorable mention after starting two games at RT and eleven games at LT in 2012 and then followed that with an incredible Senior year in 2013 in which he started five games at LT and eight games at RG — and did not allow a single sack all season.
After his stellar 2013 campaign, Graham earned 1st Team All Big 12 honors and was an All-Academic Big 12 selection for the third consecutive year. Not Bad for a guy that was a two-star recruit and the 214th ranked OT in his 2009 recruiting class!
At 6-7 and 308 pounds, Graham is athletic and agile and has a solid overall skill set, but he does need to work on his footwork on the edge and gain explosiveness at the NFL level. Another option given his versatility is to move him inside to guard. All in all, he’s a UDFA that could turn heads in camp.
Graham would have most likely been a late-round pick if it wasn’t for the depth of the 2013 draft class, and this could be another nice steal for the Ravens to nab him as a UDFA if Graham develops and earns his spot on the field in the future.
Dark Horse Candidate: Brett Van Sloten
A former two-star recruit, Van Sloten, 23, was an All-Academic Big Ten selection in all four of his collegiate seasons at Iowa while starting at RT in 2012 and 2013, racking up 25 starts en route to being named to the 2nd Team All-Big Ten by the coaches and a Big 12 Honorable Mention by the media in 2013.
Van Sloten was also the Hawkeye’s Offensive team captain during his impressive Senior season.
The University of Iowa product has some athletic ability and displayed impressive run blocking skills in college, but he is still raw and needs to work on his technique and needs to become more consistent in pass protection, mainly against speed rushers.
Van Sloten also has the size (6-5-301) to play at Tackle or Guard, so it will be interesting to see where he gets the majority of his reps in camp. Even though he will be 24 in November, Van Sloten has some upside and could throw his name into the mix for the last OL spot on the roster with a strong showing this summer.
Don’t write him off just yet…….
