Ravens First Roster Cuts

With all NFL teams having to get their rosters down to 75 players on Tuesday, the Baltimore Ravens made their moves early by releasing twelve players, placing one on injured reserve, and signing one player.

The twelve players that were released are WR Tommy Streeter, LB Bryan Hall, OLB Meshak Williams, CB Moe Lee, TE Visanthe Shiancoe, DE Will Pericak, RB Damien Berry, OL Jack Cornell, WR Rashaad Carter, G Ramon Harewood, OT David Mims, and WR Gerrard Sheppard.

Notable out of these cuts are Streeter, Hall, Lee, Shiancoe, and Harewood.

Streeter was a 6th round pick out of the Unvicersity of Miami last year who spent the season on injured reserve with a foot injury.  In training camp he was never a serious contender for one of the wide receiver spots.

Hall is a former defensive tackle who lost 45 pounds this offseason to try and make the conversion to middle linebacker.

Lee was battling current 7th round pick Marc Anthony for the 5th cornerback spot.  He impressed in OTAs but wasn’t able to continue that play.

Courtesy of ICON SMI

Shiancoe is the biggest surprise as he was signed right after the Ravens lost Dennis Pitta for the season. However, Shiancoe struggled to catch the ball and to block in his limited time with the Ravens.  His release means that the third tight end spot is down to veteran Billy Bajema and undrafted free agent Matt Furstenburg.

Harewood started five games for the Ravens at guard last season.  In the 2010 NFL Draft, the Ravens took him in the 6th round with the 194th overall pick.  Coming from Barbados, Harewood didn’t have much football experience and was considered to be a developmental project.  Throughout his time with the Ravens, Harewood dealt with various knee injuries.

The one player placed on injured reserve was OLB Adrian Hamilton.  Hamilton was an undrafted free agent last season who signed with the Cowboys for training camp but made the Ravens practice squad.  He played in two games for the Ravens last season and recorded one tackle while playing on special teams.  This preseason he impressed with his pass rushing ability but injured his wrist in one of the games.  He is having surgery on his wrist and it is unknown how long he would have been out for.  By placing him on injured reserve, Hamilton will be with the Ravens again next season.

Despite all the cuts, the Ravens actually made a signing as they signed QB Dayne Crist.  Crist was with the Ravens earlier this season but was cut as the Ravens went with three qarterbackers in training camp.  Crist comes back now as the Ravens need one more quarterback for the final preseason game as backup Tyrod Taylor left last week’s game with a concussion.  Crist will join Caleb Hanie as the Ravens’ two quarterbacks for the final preseason game.

With all these moves, the Ravens’ roster is still at 77 players so the Ravens will need to make two more moves before the 4 pm Eastern deadline on Tuesday.