It was disappointing to learn that the Baltimore Ravens had waived two of their seventh round pick from the 2008 draft. Both Allen Patrick (RB-Oklahoma) and Justin Harper (WR-Va. Tech) were cuts as the Ravens got down to the 53 man roster limit. Both players showed flashes of the skills that made them stars at their respective schools, but not enough to earn them regular paychecks in the NFL. The Ravens currently have only 52 players on their active roster, with Derrick Martin and Fabian Washington suspended for the first game not counting against the total.
Therefore, the Ravens will peruse the rest of the league's cuts to add one more player to their roster in time for their season opening game a week from Sunday at home against the Cincinnati Bengals. One player they won't be seeing from the Bengals is veteran RB Rudi Johnson, who was released by the team. Veteran tackle Willie Anderson was also released by Cincinnati and might be worth a gander by the Ravens.
Unfortunately, another casulaty of the numbers game was special teams ace Gary Stills, who became expendable after the off season signing of Brendon Ayanbadejo, who was more versatile as a reserve linebacker than Stills. However, Stills will not be unemployed for long as the rest of the league will rush to sign him shortly. Also released was QB Casey Bramlet, who was just signed this week, which means that for now, the Ravens will sit tight with Flacco, Smith and Boller - for now. The Ravens will form an eight man practice squad shortly and may resign some of their cuts to fill the squad.
The rest of the league's cuts should provide a feeding frenzy to fill the few remaining roster spots around the NFL as teams rush to fill their holes before the season starts next Thursday night.
Note: The Ravens did indeed sign Justin Harper back to their Practice Squad, along w/ Casey Bramlet, WR Ernie Wheelwright and o-lineman Joe Reitz. This still leaves four more spots on the Practice Squad, which I expect the Ravens to fill Monday. This will finalize their entire team and get them on their final way to prepare for the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday. Unfortunately, Allen Patrick was not resigned. We wish him luck hooking onto another team.