Russell Street Report Street Talk DeCosta Talks Center and Right Tackle Positions

On Tuesday night at Mother’s Federal Hill Grille, Ravens assistant general manager Eric DeCosta addressed the team’s draft and hosted questions from the public and media in a Q&A session put on by PressBoxOnline.com.

As always, Eric enlightened the crowd with some behind the scenes knowledge, providing his thoughts and opinions on player personnel and giving first hand accounts of the 2014 Ravens draft.

One such account was addressing the issue of the offensive line, and more specifically the right tackle position. Who will man RT in 2014?

“I don’t know the answer to that right now,” DeCosta stated. “Ricky Wagner is a guy we like a lot. He really showed us a lot last season in the preseason. Again Wagner is a guy who is better than I thought he was going to be quite honestly. If I would have known what he was going to be last year, I would have drafted him higher than the fifth round. He’s a viable option. It just remains to be seen what he’s going to do.”

It isn’t any secret the offensive line struggled last season in both run blocking and pass blocking. The organization seems high on Wagner and the young tackle will get his shot this summer to secure the starting job.

Another option the Ravens have in filling the roster space left by Michael Oher is moving Kelechi Osemele to the right tackle position if Wagner stutters.

“Kelechi Osemele is a guy that as a rookie, he started a bunch of games for us,” DeCosta recalled. “He can play that spot. He was a left tackle at Iowa State, he can compete. I think he can do it.”

One issue with the moving of Osemele to the right tackle position is the Ravens will need to find a good interior guy to replace K.O. at left guard.

“We have some good guys that can play the interior,” said DeCosta. “One guy that I’m excited about is Ryan Jensen out of Colorado State-Pueblo who we drafted last year in the sixth round. He’s a really good player. A good young player, tough very smart athletic player who has a chance to play for us too.”

Another key point that DeCosta touched on was the play of Gino Gradkowski and whether the signing of Jeremy Zuttah and perhaps the drafting of John Urschel meant the end of Gradkowski’s days in Baltimore.

“Not at all!” he exclaimed. “I think Urschel is a guy that can play. We see Gino as a viable guy for us.

“He didn’t play great last year but he still started 16 games. He’s going to build on that experience. I think a really good offseason is going to help him tremendously this year. He’s going to get bigger and stronger now that he knows what it entails and what he has to do.”

Gradkowski’s play last season certainly left a lot to be desired – even Gradkowski himself would tell you that. After replacing Matt Birk, who retired after the Super Bowl winning season, it’s clear the Ravens haven’t given up on Gino.

“I still think the future is pretty bright for Gino,” DeCosta said about the former Delaware Blue Hen. “He is wired the right way. He’s a smart guy, tough guy and football in his blood.”

One player that DeCosta drew on as an example to the kind of player Gradkowski is was former Raven and Redskin Casey Rabach.

“I go back to guys that we’ve had over the years,” DeCosta went on. “A guy like Rabach who had trouble in his early career. He played for us in his last year and did really well and went on to start five or six years for the Redskins.

“Gino can be a starter. He just has some flaws right now that he’s got to work on. He’s going to get bigger and stronger, he’s going to compete to start this year and we have really good depth at the position. It’s great to have a bunch of guys who can play that position. Centers are a hard position to find. We have five guys that can snap. That’s huge!”

The evening was certainly informative with DeCosta as he provided some key insight into some of the decisions made over this offseason.

Now go take a vacation Eric, you’ve earned it!

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