Bryant McKinnie sat out the Ravens’ minicamp this week to work on his conditioning, which has been a problem for him throughout his career, especially over the last year or so with Minnesota and now Baltimore. The Vikings cut him for his conditioning after the lockout last year and then he signed with Baltimore, where he played solid on the left side. The Ravens decided to keep him this offseason and already paid him a 500 thousand dollar roster bonus back in March. However, according to the Baltimore Sun, the 32 year old McKinnie’s job with the Ravens is not safe.
The Ravens don’t have a lot of depth at tackle behind McKinnie. Their 2nd string left tackle is the inexperienced Ramon Harewood, a 2010 6th round pick who has missed the entirety of his first two NFL seasons on IR. Right tackle Michael Oher has experience on the left side, but has played much better on the right side in his career and their 2nd string right tackle, Addison Lawrence, is just as inexperienced as Harewood.
Jah Reid, their 3rd round pick in 2011, is a natural tackle, but has seen most of his action at guard this offseason and he’d be better on the right side than the left. 2nd round pick rookie Kelechi Osemele has some experience at tackle from his days at Iowa State, but was never a natural fit there. Guard Marshal Yanda has some experience at right tackle, but a lineup where Yanda plays right tackle and Oher plays left would feature their two best offensive linemen playing out of position.
Given their lack of depth at the position and McKinnie’s reasonable 3.2 million dollar base salary, I would be highly surprised if the Ravens cut McKinnie, but he’ll need to get his conditioning right. The Vikings didn’t have a replacement for him and they still cut him last offseason. McKinnie will be a free agent heading into his age 34 season next offseason so left tackle will be a major position of need for them in the 2013 NFL Draft. Heading into a crucial contract year, Joe Flacco has to be concerned about his protection up front.
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