This news story about Merriman beating up Tila Tequila really isn't a surprise to me.  I bartended for many years (and unfortunately still do) in College Park and stories about Merriman's temper were always prevalent. For a brief time I lived with former UMD tailback Sammy Maldonado.  Sammy told me a story about an incident between Merriman and himself after an offseason weight lifting session.  Apparently Sammy had been teasing him in the weight room and getting under his skin about "being a bitch."  Later that night Merriman was out drinking at the CP bars and ended up getting pretty wasted.  He broke into Sammy's dorm room suite while he was sleeping, picked him up out of his bed and dropped him on his head.  Sammy was briefly paralyzed but regained all feeling and movement after a couple of hours.  Just like most incidents that occur with the football team, Friedgen kept a tight lid on the situation. Just thought I'd share a brief anecdote to give you some background while you read the news stories that are surely going to continue for the next few weeks and months.

       One of the most interesting training camp battles of the year started early this morning.  It wasn't the wide receivers, rather the battle of the young every day kicker that the Ravens are looking for after releasing their first, only, and most reliable placekicker in Matt Stover.  Both kickers were allowed the same opportunities to showcase their abilities with a couple of niches thrown in to keep them on their toes. 

      Hauschka showed the early nerves missing from 31 yards but quickly recovered hammering home kicks from 36, 41, and 46 yards.  Jerry Rossburg tested Hauschka's already illustrated range by making him attempt a 59 yarder which fell at least 4 yards short.  He also showed a decent leg for kickoffs, routinely putting the ball near the goal line, a far cry from Stover's 15 yd line range.

   Gano was thrown directly into the fire, having to attempt a rushed 36 yarder in less than 15 seconds.  Not only did he split the uprights on the rush kick, Gano did not miss an attempt the entire morning practice (31, 36, 41, and 46).  To top off the remarkable accuracy he also showed a phenomenal leg for kickoffs, routinely hammering the ball into the endzone.

  I was unable to stick around for the afternoon practice, but I've heard that the session was moved to the field turf of Bair stadium.  I would love to hear an update on how these two young kickers faired on the wet turf.  Based soley on this mornings practice I would have to conclude that Gano clearly has the early leg up (pun intended).  Every Ravens fan knows the importance of not only FG consistency but field position, that's why we covet our proven punter Sam Koch.  It appears that Gano is going to be able to consistently pin back the opposition on kickoffs, and that is why I'm picking him for my early favorite.  I really like this kid so far, just like the Lou Groza voters did last year.

The Ravens have signed second year WR Biren Ealy from the University of Houston.  Ealy played last season with the Tennessee Titans where he appeared in 4 games and racked up a whopping 1 reception for 6 yards.  He was then cut by the Titans and subsequently picked up (possibly off of waivers, unsure of that) by the New Orleans Saints.  He was arrested in May for disturbing the peace and public urination (who doesn't piss on the street in New Orleans?) and then again released by New Orleans.  This seems to be a move to encourage training camp competition amongst the wide receivers and unless he shows promising talent and quickly picks up Cam's offense I wouldn't necessarily expect him to make it past the first cut.

After a preexisting knee injury flared up following Drew Bennett's tryout with the Ravens, the wide receiver has decided to hang it up, according to Adam Schefter.  This revelation is just another setback for a position that seems to be cursed for the city of Baltimore.  This should make for a very interesting week leading into training camp.  Expect to see the front office scramble in the coming week to tryout any other free agent receivers or try to coerce Mason out of retirement.

Has anyone heard any word regarding the status of contract negotiations of our 1st and 2nd round picks (Michael Oher and Paul Kruger)?  The McNair, Mason, and Suggs stories have overshadowed the sense of urgency to get our top rookies into training camp on time, especially Oher.  It has been well chronicled by scouts in the '09 draft as well as in the bestselling book "The Blind Side" by Michael Lewis that Oher really needs a lot of attention and visual, on field experience to absorb complicated blocking schemes.

Kruger is not as much an urgent matter because Suggs should be in camp on time this year, however it would be nice to start practice in Westminster with a complete rookie class.  Let us know what everyone has heard. Thanks.

Ozzie and the front office were not exactly playing it close to the vest this offseason with their FA pick-ups. Their strategy was clear; fill needs with veteran FAs. With that said, Ozzie does not necessarily see WR as a "need." Keep in mind that the Ravens spent two draft picks on WRs last year (Smith and Harper) and picked up another undrafted FA (Ernie Wheelwright), of whom they have very lofty expectations. Smith was forced into action early with the injury to Williams and the overall ineptitude of Terrance Copper. He did not have a a catch all season and made quite a few costly mistakes however developed as a capable downfield blocker and gained valuable first year experience. He also showed a brief glimpse of stardom in the playoffs with a highlight reel catch in double coverage that was ultimately called back because of a penalty. Harper and Wheelwright spent the season on the practice squad and neither got an NFL snap at WR, but both are over 6'5" and had notable college careers. Talk to anyone that is a fan of Minnesota football and they will attest to the potential that Wheelwright posesses.  Now by my count that gives us five active roster WRs, with the return of Williams from injury and assuming the promotion of one second year player between Harper and Wheelwright. 

Now taking all of that into account, I think Ozzie and his team are going into this draft with every other GM in the league on speed dial looking to deal their first rounder.  I think we deal the 26th for a package of a 2nd rounder and a stockpile of later round picks.  I see Ozzie targeting Robiskie in the mid to early 2nd round and a more natural 3-4 DE with our original 2nd.  I think Ozzie has learned that WRs are dangerous 1st round picks and rarely live up to the value of the pick.