May 21, 2013

Ravens Reportedly Looking at Eric Steinbach

July 24, 2012 by 20 Comments

Veteran offensive lineman Eric Steinbach is finally gaining some interest since being released by the Browns several months ago. The Baltimore Ravens, per Aaron Wilson at the Carroll County Times, will bring the 32-year-old guard in on Tuesday with hopes of adding depth to protect quarterback Joe Flacco.

Steinbach signed a seven-year, $49.5 million contract with the Browns in 2007, serving as a stalwart on the offensive line next to All-Pro Joe Thomas. He would sustain a back injury in 2011, forcing him to miss the entire season. Having not heard much in the way of contract offers since being released, Steinbach took to YouTube to post a video of him participating in various lineman-like activities, including the ever-popular tire flip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGHbWso8ZE4

In need of help on the offensive line in lieu of Steinbach’s injury and the head-spinning under-performance of John St. Clair and Floyd Womack, the Browns added offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz and guard Ryan Miller with second-round and fifth-round selections, respectively.

[Related: For Browns, Youth Might be Painful at Times this Season]

(h/t PFT)

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  • Harv 21

    It’s like he’s doing the full tour of our division.

    If he’s not getting starters money not sure why we haven’t tried to re-sign him for depth

  • Kunal

    I agree with you there. I don’t see why we don’t re-sign him, it’s not like he’s going to make anywhere near what we were paying him before. Plus it would be nice to have a veteran like him for our young O-linemen to learn from

  • maxfnmloans

    maybe it’s my paranoia kicking in, but I think there was/is a disconnect between this regime and Steinbach. I don’t think the honchos think a guard is worth the kind of money Steinbach got from Savage, and they may have felt he should give them a discount (either last year in a restructure or now in FA) due to the fact they felt he was “overpaid” previously

    just a theory. who knows, really?

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    Another not good enough for the Cleveland Browns but good enough for the Ravens? I’ll still like Steinbach hope it works out I’ll look forward to seeing him verse his last team leading Ray Rice.

  • floydrubino

    I can’t believe that the browns won’t resign him. Without Joe Thomas we have the worst line in the league and here is a guy sitting here that if he is healthy and plays can perform at an all pro level. If he plays at least 12 games for another team this year then this was a mistake to not resign him.

  • mgbode

    first of all, we do have Joe Thomas. second, we are far from the worst OL in the NFL. in fact, if Schwartz works out (TBD), then I think we will have a top10 OL by 2013 (definitely will be some bumps in the road as he figures things out).

    watch what having Trent Richardson does for the perception of run-blocking compared to the littany of 4th string RBs we trotted out there last year.

  • mgbode

    I assume he wants the chance to compete for a starting spot and we have intimated we are locked in at the OG slots. that and are we sure that he has fully recovered from his back injury?

  • Robert Paulsen

    The Browns are always ruthless in all the wrong scenarios, Steinbach was a stand up guy, wanted to see him back in Orange and Brown.

  • Harv 21

    it’s a week from camp and he’s unsigned, so he’s a beggar for a roster spot. He doesn’t have leverage to negotiate a contract that pays him as a potential starter. Teams have already signed those guys. But I agree, Browns know something more about his back, or about his current attitude.

  • floydrubino

    Other than Joe Thomas who do we have that is a proven commodity. Trent Richardson will only be as good as his line allows him to be. We will never know how good these skill players are until we get a dominant line first and then move on. I’m glad that we have T-Rich and Weeden now because they are an upgrade but we I certainly hope next year we do in the draft what the steelers did this year and draft a couple o-linemen early or address it in free agency. Maybe Ryan Miller or Schwartz will work out but regardless we still need depth anyways so I hope they address it and actually give Weeden and T-Rich a chance to play well.

  • mgbode

    we have used 2 1st rounders (Joe Thomas, Alex Mack) and a 2nd rounder (Schwartz) on the OL. And, using later round picks on OGs. That is how you build a good OL in the NFL.

    if Lauvao and/or Pinkston do not improve (Pinkston building off of last year), then, yes, I suspect another 2nd-4th round pick will be spent there.

    the Steelers have just as many questions with their OL: a rookie LT (Adams – 2nd), Colon (transitioning from RT-LG), Pouncey (coming off injury but very good), Decastro (rookie – 1st), Gilbert (nothing special)

  • floydrubino

    So your saying that we have a good line depending on Pinkston and Lauvao. That is the funniest thing I have ever heard in my life. Mack is decent but was picked way too early so disregard him. Pouncey is the best center in the game arguably and Colon is very dependable. They also have Max Starks and Gilbert is better than Pinkston and Lauvao. I hate the steelers so I’m done going over how they are better than us when they have had one of the worst lines in the league for protecting Rothelisberger. So a line who stunk is still better than ours except we have Thomas who is the best linemen in the nfl. I think it’s hilarious that your argument for having a good line is Pinkston and Lauvao. What a joke. I’m done conversing with someone who is that unaware of the situation we are in with our line. In order for our line to be good Pinkston needs to be our 5th best linemen and Lauvao shouldn’t even be starting. Mack is average at best comparably speaking to the other centers in the league. The steelers had a better or same caliber line as us before they invested the 2 picks on Decastro and Adams.

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    “watch what having Trent Richardson does for the perception of run-blocking compared to the littany of 4th string RBs we trotted out there last year,” exactly the kind of thing I’ve been saying since the draft the Browns took Joe Thomas over Adrian Peterson. Ironic huh?

    I know this won’t sit well with floyd but you give me an adequate line with a great back and your in buisness you give me a great line with a journeyman back and you go nowhere. I also think the Browns OL is far from bad, even mediocre I think it has an opportunity to be amongst the league’s top 10. Definitely a strongsuit of the current team.

    That being said I’m still a little upset they didn’t draft the OT from Iowa or even DeCastro before they chose Weeden but I gotta let that go. Hopefully Schwantz I mean Schwartz does well.

  • woofersus

    I don’t really think he’s a beggar for a roster spot yet. There are always a few key Oline injuries in the first couple of weeks of training camp, and his agent may have told him to just wait until somebody else is desperate and spend the summer getting healthy and strong.

    I think he can still play at a high level and would love to see him back, but he clearly is holding out for starter money or he’d have signed someplace by now. Maybe if he can’t land a gig after a week or so of training camp his price will drop.

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    Whoa whoa whoa Time out…Mack should be disregarded because he was selected to early? You gotta take a hit with that argument sorry. He was selected early that much is true but the guy has made the Pro Bowl too AND he’s played well. I will give you that if I had to choose a team to build an OL I would say Pittsburgh is far and away superior to Cleveland but you can’t diminish the current Browns OL so matter of factly.

  • mgbode

    what? my argument for having a good OL is that we have invested heavily in OTs and OC and later picks (3rd and 5th) at OG. that is the smarter way to build an OL IMO.

    Pinkston showed promise last year (and was a rookie), so I have hope for him. Lauvao showed less promise (and was a 2nd year guy), so unless he improves greatly, he will likely be our weak link. But, I’d rather that weak link be at RG than anywhere else on the OL (and if Ryan Miller beats him out, then all the better).

    as for Colon, he is switching positions. never know what you will get there. Starks is terrible. Gilbert is better than Lauvao/Pinkston, but he has to play RT, not OG. Is he better than Schwartz? I don’t know, but I hope we didn’t invest a high 2nd round pick in a guy like Gilbert.

    and, Pitt’s OL was definitely worse than us before the draft. they had Gilbert and Colon and Starks trying to band-aid LT. Geesh.

  • Scooter

    I certainly hope Alex Mack can return to the pro bowl. If that happens, he and Thomas are almost enough to help ANY running back have a decent year. We will soon find out if Trent Richardson instills fear in anyone. I agree with floyd…if Steinbach is sitting there desperate to be signed, why wouldn’t we pick him back up?

  • floydrubino

    Well done that your team planning is centered around getting a Barry Sanders type back to make your mediocre o-line look good. It’s smart to have that mediocre line protecting your qb too. So in order for our team to do well if we can just find the next Joe Montana and Barry Sanders to help our line look good we can maybe make the playoffs. Washington won 3 superbowls with 3 different running backs that their line made look incredible. The cowboys line made emmitt smith the leading rusher of all time while winning superbowls. So the adrian peterson and barry sanders led teams with a great back and mediocre lines really panned out for their teams success. They can’t even make the playoffs. Give me emmitt smith who is only a decent running back with a great line and I can win superbowls. Give me Barry Sanders with a mediocre line and they can’t make the playoffs. I want cleveland to win superbowls and be dominant not just barely make the playoffs if they can even do that. Name one o-linemen other than Joe Thomas that a team would actively go after. Let’s see the teams that are really good. Oh look they all have great o-lines. What a coincidence.

  • floydrubino

    Mack should of never been picked this early. It was a joke of a pick to pick a decent center in the 1st round. Pouncey who pittsburgh picked was a unique player and worth this high of a pick. Mack is nowhere near as good as manigold or Pouncey who were picked in the 1st round. So as far as I’m concerned it was a stupid pick.

  • floydrubino

    I don’t care where people are picked they have to get production out of spots. We have to get the line figured out before we have success on this team. Our line stinks and if Joe Thomas were to get hurt our season would be over instantly. We have no depth at all.