Ravens Sign Offensive Tackle Bryant McKinnie

Added on Aug 24, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

The Minnesota Vikings cut offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie for showing up to camp overweight. On Tuesday, the Baltimore Ravens took a chance on McKinnie by signing him to a two year deal–contingent on him passing a physical. McKinnie had played nine seasons with the Vikings.

Baltimore General Manager Ozzie Newsome explained his team’s decision to bring in McKinnie:

“He’s been a productive player at one of the hardest positions to play and he has been in sync with Matt Birk when Matt was a Viking.”

McKinnie’s deal has a number of performance clauses and could be worth up to $7.5 million with a $1 million signing bonus. The Vikings drafted McKinnie out of the University of Miami in 2002. After a contract holdout that kept him out of action for half the season he finally came to terms and almost immediately stepped into the starting lineup. During his tenure in Minnesota he established an impressive reputation as a run blocking specialist. McKinnie is not only big at 6’8″ 340 pounds but is considered very fast and agile for a man his size.

McKinnie was voted to the Pro Bowl in 2009, but was scratched from the team after skipping the practices. His performance regressed in 2010 due–among other things–to his questionable conditioning and work ethic. By the end of the year he admitted to being over weight and out of shape. He vowed to come into camp in better condition this season but that plan was undone by the NFL lockout. He was unable to stay in contact with Vikings’ training staff and was cut after coming to camp overweight.

His work ethic remains a question mark–during the off season he spent the summer in Miami and based on his Twitter activity was more concerned about a ‘rap career’ and his South Beach socializing than he was conditioning and football. If he’s going to continue his NFL career he’ll have to fall in line quickly in the notoriously tough Ravens’ locker room.

For now at least, Ray Lewis has given the deal his blessings saying that McKinnie’s acquisition will make the Ravens ‘a better team’. Despite Lewis’ assurances, whether or not McKinnie will improve the Ravens remains to be seen.