Last week, the Baltimore Ravens held 6-foot-8, 360-pound offensive lineman Bryant McKinnie out of their final minicamp practices for conditioning purposes. The report hardly came as a surprise considering McKinnie has battled weight issues throughout his career, including prompting his release by the Minnesota Vikings following last year's lockout.
According to a Monday report by Sarah Ellison of BaltimoreRavens.com, McKinnie appeared on WSNT-AM radio last Friday and revealed that he is less than 10 pounds over his target weight for the start of training camp. McKinnie explained that part of the reason he was held out was to guard against injury.
"They just told me when I had the meeting, just for precautionary (reasons), not to go out there and get injured during minicamp and just do the running and the lifting and stuff," McKinnie said. "So I was just in there, lifting and running for the whole two and half hours...We're just trying to work to get there without anything slipping up or going wrong."
The Ravens, who picked up his $500,000 roster bonus in March, are counting on McKinnie in 2012. But they were able to use this minicamp to get a look at the future. With McKinnie held out of last week's training camp, the Ravens moved Michael Oher from right to left tackle and inserted Jah Reid at right tackle with the first-team offense. Reid gave the team a bit of a scare when he was carted off the field with a calf injury, but the ailment is considered minor and he should be ready for training camp.
