MVN - Most Valuable Network

Jared Gaither looks to be the real deal

The Ravens took a gamble in this years auxiliary draft, and may have struck gold. For next years 5th round draft pick the Ravens might just have found the successor to Johnathan Ogden. So far Gaither has been nothing short of spectacular, and it doesn’t look like they’ve even scratched the surface of what this kid can do. He’s a physical freak who seems at home on the football field.

Gaither was painted as being un-intelligent and un-dedicated by the scouting organizations that the majority of NFL teams use. Maybe this is one of the reasons that the Ravens don’t put their faith in them. The upside on Gaither just continues to climb.

While Gaither had his share of problems while enrolled at the University of Maryland, he insists that he’s learned from those mistakes. When asked about his academic ineligebility by a Washington Post reporter he stated; “I take full responsibility for those actions, Maryland gave me every chance that they could possibly give me.

“The work kind of got piled up on me coming in and playing as a true freshman and not being able to redshirt. It was kind of a shock. That kind of hurt my grades early on, and I think it was an uphill battle from there. I feel I learned a lesson: I always can work harder.”

That’s something he seems to be doing. So far during camp he’s been picking the brain of Ogden, watching the way he prepares himself and learning technique. A better teacher he couldn’t have.

So far he’s moved ahead of 3rd round draft pick Marshal Yanda in playing time with the first unit, and one of the reasons is the way he’s handled Terrell Suggs. During one on one matchups with Suggs Gaither has gotten the best of him every time. That shows the type of athletic ability he has packed in that 6′9″, 350 lb. frame. The word scary comes to mind.

It remains to be seen just how long it will be until Gaither is ready to be a starter, but placing him on the practice squad, where he could be scooped up by another team would be foolish after what he’s shown thus far.

It’s totally refreshing to see all of the newly acquired offensive line talent, after being neglected for so long. With Ben Grubbs, Yanda, Chris Chester, Jason Brown, Adam Terry, and now Gaither it appears that the Ravens have their offensive line set for the foreseeable future. Amen!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 7:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.