Ravens beef up backfield
The signing of 37-year-old Lorenzo Neal might not seem like much at first glance, but it solves two problems at once. Neal provides much-needed depth at fullback following the release of Justin Green yesterday, and possibly could free up La Ron McClain to occasionally act as a 260-pound tailback.
That might be helpful in the short-term, with injured Willis McGahee figuring to miss almost all of training camp and rookie Ray Rice looking like the Lone Ranger in the offensive backfield. For the rest of the story, here's Jamison Hensley's account from training camp in Westminster.
Lorenzo Neal
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Comments
Burgess - James Johnson and George Sherrill are major league arms.
Forgot to add that we just need to remind the manager that he can use Johnson when the situation warrants.
Posted by: Ray | August 12, 2008 4:37 PM
This is a good move for the Ravens. Neal doesn't have to be an every down player for us to be effective. He could come in on passing downs and short yard situations and really help with pass blocking and lead blocking.
Cam Cameron is familiar with him and was never afraid to use him as a pass catching thread out of the backfield. I can see this offense utilizing the check down receivers a lot, meaning McGahee, Rice, McClain, and now Neal should see the ball in the air a bit this year. The Ravens keep saying they want to stretch the field, but there is no WR on this team that is a real deep threat. Maybe if Figurs had some hands he might be.
The Ravens also picked up another TE, I don't know much about him, but I'd have to bet he is known more as a blocker. We need a big TE that can actually help block. Heap can't do it, Wilcox is undersized as a TE, and Bergen looked bad in the first pre season game.
"J" is for Joe Flacco?
Posted by: Eduardo | August 12, 2008 5:59 PM
Great move by Ravens. Now they have a 1-2 punch. If Rice matures (or McGahey stops the dance steps) the Ravens will have a 1-2-3 punch like the Skins' Portis, Betts, and Rock Cartwright.
The question remains at QB. I hope we see a great performance by Smith. He is my personal favorite. However, the Ravens really do not have a bonified franchise QB.
Posted by: Logiopath | August 13, 2008 9:18 PM