Ray Rice was drafted to back up Willis McGahee.  Rice was outstanding at Rutgers since the day he arrived there.  Rice played in 37 games (all starts) at Rutgers and he carried the ball 910 times for 4,926 yards (5.4 ypc) with 49 TD runs.  Rice also caught 37 passes for 334 yards (9.0 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Rice is small at 5′8″, 205 pounds and he’s not overly fast as he runs a 4.55 40.  But, Rice is a downhill runner who runs with good pad level and he should be a solid backup for the Ravens and he might work his way into the starting lineup at some point.

The Ravens traded up to nab QB Joe Flacco who they had rated as the #2 QB in this draft.  Flacco has nice size at 6′6″, 232 pounds but he doesn’t have much agility and he runs a 4.95 40.  Flacco has a very strong arm but he played against very weak competition at Delaware and he didn’t have to pay for mistakes he made at that level.  Flacco played in 29 games (26 starts) at Pittsburgh & Delaware and he completed 596 of 942 passes (63.3%) for 7,057 yards with 41 TD passes and 15 interceptions.  Flacco will battle Kyle Boller and Troy Smith for the starting job in Training Camp and the pre-season.  This could be a little bit of a reach where the Ravens took him.

The Ravens have acquired cornerback Fabian Washington from the Oakland Raiders for a 4th round pick in this year’s NFL Draft.  Washington played in 15 games (3 starts) for the Raiders last season and he made 40 tackles, defensed 8 passes and he intercepted 1 pass.  Washington has now played in 45 games (28 starts) in his NFL career and he has made 123 tackles, defensed 24 passes and he intercepted 5 passes.  Washington will likely start the season as the Ravens’ nickel back but he could start if they have injuries.  This was a good trade for the Ravens.

The Ravens have lost tight end Quinn Sypniewski for the 2008 season due to a torn ACL.  Sypniewski played in 15 games for the Ravens last season and he caught 34 passes for 246 yards (7.2 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He has now played in 31 games in his two year career and he has caught 36 passes for 261 yards (7.2 avg) with 1 TD grab.  The Ravens might draft a TE to back up Todd Heap in this weekend’s NFL Draft.

35-year old Steve McNair has decided to hang up the cleats.  He played in 6 games for the Ravens last season and he completed 133 of 205 passes (64.9%) for 1,113 yards with 2 TD passes and 4 interceptions (73.9 QB Rating).  McNair also carried the ball 10 times for 32 yards (3.2 ypc).  McNair finishes his NFL career having played in 164 games.  In those games, McNair completed 2,733 of 4,544 passes (60.1%) for 31,304 yards with 174 TD passes and 119 interceptions (82.8 QB Rating).  McNair also carried the ball 669 times for 3,590 yards (5.4 ypc) with 37 TD runs.  McNair will probably make it to the Hall of Fame but his play was slipping big time and he made the right choice to call it a career.