I'm starting to think that Osemele is more valuable to the Ravens' overall offensive line picture than Michael Oher...

Yes I know, that's sacriligeous talk to a lot of you... but look at the reality...

Head Coach John Harbaugh and Run Game Coordinator Juan Castillo approached second-year lineman Kelechi Osemele this past week at OTA's...

“They told me personally that my goal this season should be Pro Bowl or bust,” Osemele said. “It’s the expectation that they have for me.”

The Ravens had a Pro Bowl left guard in Ben Grubbs, but he departed via free agency to New Orleans before last season. Now Osemele has a chance to be the long-term solution.

Osemele started every game during his rookie year. He spent the entire regular season at tackle, and moved to left guard for the playoffs.

That’s when he found his niche.

A couple weeks after the Super Bowl, Osemele got a call from Castillo, who was marveling at the playoffs tape he was reviewing. Osemele dominated.

“It came to me quite easily,” Osemele said. “I’ll only get better from here, so I really feel good about this being a breakout year.”

Last year’s second-round pick played left tackle throughout college at Iowa State. He moved to right tackle in the NFL, which worked well considering his sheer power.

But Osemele was happiest when Bryant McKinnie was inserted at left tackle, bumping Michael Oher to right tackle and moving him inside. Osemele is glad McKinnie was re-signed.

Playing guard gives Osemele an advantage because of his combination of explosiveness, strength and long arms. He generally can get his hands on opponents faster than a usual guard.

“It’s a natural fit for me,” Osemele said.

“From an experience standpoint, I definitely think I can take my game to another level. As I get more games, I’ll just continue to get better.”

Osemele has been a constant presence at the Under Armour Performance Center. He was one of the first players back in the building, running and lifting. He said Strength & Conditioning Coach Bob Rogucki has followed him around the weight room.

The 6-foot-5, 333-pounder said he feels a lot stronger, faster, quicker, more flexible and durable already this offseason. He’s come a long way from a year ago when he was a rookie trying to adjust to the NFL.

“The coaches have been on my [butt],” Osemele said with a laugh. “They just expect a lot from me and they’re not going to accept anything but my best. They’re definitely pushing me, which is what I like.”

Of the four new UDFA rookies just signed by the Ravens, I like Gary Walker's chances the best--- he's the safety from Idaho.

That's Gary Walker (6-0, 200) at Idaho stretching to break up a deep pass. Word on the street is Walker "plays like a Raven"...and he could surprise as added depth at safety and special teams.

Baltimore signed wide receiver Rashaad Carter (Tusculum), cornerback Mo Lee (Utah), outside linebacker Meshak Williams (Kansas State) and safety Gary Walker (Idaho).

The Ravens had open roster spots after they cut four rookie free agents and a first-year player last week following rookie minicamp.

Carter, Tusculum’s all-time leader in receiving yards, led the Pioneers with 1,056 receiving yards in his senior year in 2011. The Division II prospect hauled in 70 passes and averaged 96 receiving yards per game. He finished with 2,928 career receiving yards. Carter was out of football last year.

Lee is a big-bodied cornerback (6-foot-1, 191 pounds) who made 35 tackles, one interception, deflected seven passes and returned a fumble 47 yards for a touchdown during his senior year. He was originally recruited as a wide receiver.

Williams showed big-time production at Kansas State, and will now join teammate and second-round pick Arthur Brown in the Ravens’ front seven. Williams was second in the Big 12 with 8 ½ sacks and forced three fumbles last year. The 6-foot-2, 247 pounder played defensive end in college, so he will make somewhat of a position change.

Walker is a 6-foot, 200-pound safety from Idaho who finished with 295 career tackles. He led the Vandals in tackles last year (99) and had six pass breakups and one interception, which he returned 94 yards against LSU.

The Ravens also released undrafted rookie wide receiver Tori Gurley (South Carolina).

I see a little bit of Ed Reed and a lot of Bernard Pollard in this guy Gary Walker. I like the way he attacks the ball and handles his coverages. You can tell just by watching Idaho tape that he is a smart guy and takes pride in his film study.

We'll see if any of that observation of his play at Idaho translates to what the Ravens are looking for at safety. He'll be battling Omar Brown for that backup safety spot on the roster.

The Ravens just acquired a journeyman center, A.Q. Shipley, from the Indianapolis Colts for a 4th-round conditional pick in the 2014 draft.

That's a pretty expensive price for a guy who's spent the first 4 years of his NFL career bouncing around practice squads for the Steelers, the Eagles and the Colts--- but Shipley did have a very nice 5-game stint for the Colts last season as a starter.

In fact, a lot of Colts fans are upset about losing Shipley. They thought maybe they had their next "Jeff Saturday" finally in place.

Shipley (#62), 6-1, 309, age 26, Penn State, drafted in 2009 in the 7th round by the Steelers...picked up by the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad 2010-2011...acquired as free agent by the Colts in 2012.

The Ravens get the depth they want at center now that Matt Birk has retired. Gino Gradkowski (the 2nd year man from Delaware) still has a chance to win the starting job. But now Shipley's entrance with a recent add-on of starting experience to his resume will make things interesting...

Shipley (6-foot-1, 309 pounds) was originally a seventh-round draft pick out of Penn State by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009, spent some time on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad, and then came to the Colts in 2012. He appeared in 14 games for Indianapolis last season, starting five of them.

For Baltimore, it's a wise investment in an up-and-coming center with some NFL experience. The Ravens' starting center for four years, Matt Birk, retired after winning Super Bowl XLVII in February, leaving the team with only their fourth-round pick from 2011, Gino Gradkowski, and their sixth-round pick from April, Ryan Jensen, on their roster at the position.

The Colts could afford to make this trade because of an abundance of guys listed as a center on their roster: starter Samson Satele, veteran Mike McGlynn, fourth-round draft pick rookie Khaled Holmes, and rookie Rick Schmeig, who was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Purdue on May 9.

Satele had a hard time staying healthy in his first year with the Colts since being acquired from the Oakland Raiders to replace Jeff Saturday. The big guy out of Hawaii injured his knee early in the season and his ankle late in the season, but he's otherwise been durable over his seven years in the league.

The Colts also likely got more value from the Ravens for Shipley than they would have gotten for Satele. Baltimore's run game coordinator, Juan Castillo, was the offensive line coach in Philadelphia while Shipley was there with the Eagles, making him something of a known commodity to the Ravens.

Shipley's younger than Satele and, in theory anyway, has more tread left on the tires. Baltimore may not have been willing to pay so much for Satele.

So the Colts trade from a position of wealth, keep the experienced Satele to start and to mentor the new guys, and now have a fourth-round pick in 2014 again, where plenty of valuable talent can still be found.

Here's how Eric Ivie of yahoosports.com grades this trade:

"The Ravens trade for a position of need, get a young up-and-coming guy who they're somewhat familiar with, and get him at a good price."

"And Shipley, of course, now gets his crack at becoming a starter in the NFL."

"A good trade all the way around."

Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com gives a slight advantage to the Colts in the trade:

"The Colts don’t need three centers, so dealing Shipley for a conditional pick -- we don’t know what it can be -- is completely reasonable. Being better than Satele last year wasn’t some giant achievement. I don’t mean that to demean Shipley -- I respect the work he did."

"But if the Colts don’t view him as a long-term piece of the franchise, it’s smart to get something for a guy who may not have made it out of training camp."

I see Kuharsky's point in that the Colts just drafted a rookie center in the 4th round--- Khaled Holmes of USC--- and usually you would expect a center taken that high to be your primary backup and next starter in line after your big-money veteran (Samson Satele) is finished. Shipley, despite his yeoman-like effort last season, was "expendable".

Ironically, Shipley was better in his five starts last season than Samson Satele was.

Satele got a three-year, $10.8 million deal from the Colts last year with $4 million guaranteed and a $3.2 million signing bonus. He’s due a $2.7 million base salary this year.

Sometimes life isn't fair... but at least Shipley now gets a fair shot to compete in Baltimore.

Rookie minicamp is underway for the Ravens this week.  It's a subtle reminder that the NFL season is really not that far away.

Already the Ravens have cut five hopeful rookie free agents.

Perhaps the most well known of the first group of casualties is Murphy Holloway, the former college basketball star...

Holloway is a 23-year-old, 6-7, 240-pound forward from Ole Miss. He was trying to transition to a tight end position in the NFL. Not to say that it still can't happen...but it won't happen in Baltimore.

Holloway signed with Baltimore as an undrafted free agent and just last week seemed to be very confident about his chances of sticking with the team. The former Ole Miss forward had not played football in seven years, but said he felt like Baltimore had the best plan to convert him into a tight end.

“It’s a tough adjustment,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh told the Baltimore Sun. “The thing about Murphy is he’s got some skills. He can catch, he can run. He’s got nice ball skills. He showed that. He has no problem snatching the ball. The rest of it — just everything from his stance to understanding the plays and all that, the way you move in football — is a little different than in basketball.”

The Rebels’ alltime leading rebounder and a career 1,000 point scorer, Holloway does have the opportunity to work out for NBA teams, but his chances of being selected in the NBA Draft are slim.* That was part of the reason for Holloway to try the NFL (with two young children, he is hoping to avoid Europe’s pro basketball leagues). That may turn out to be his most likely, or at least lucrative, option.

[* DraftExpress.com, probably the best site out there for NBA Draft perspective, does not have Holloway among its top 100 prospects for this year’s two-round draft.]

Among the other players the Ravens cut  were former Ole Miss QB Nathan Stanley. Stanley had transferred to Southeast Louisiana from Ole Miss.

The Ravens also cut defensive tackle Swanson Miller, who the team first signed in early February. Miller had previously been with the New Orleans Saints, but has yet to see any game action.

Also waived were running back Ray Holley (Louisiana Tech) and cornerback Jose Cheeseborough (Florida International).

It's always tough to be cut, let alone to have to report the cuts. Holloway later tweeted about the crossroads in his life Monday morning, saying he had some "life changing decisions" to make in the coming days. He's decided he'll go back to trying basketball...though right now that looks like it will mean relocating his family to Europe.

Defensive genius Steve Spagnuolo was kinda left hanging in NFL limbo this past offseason, somewhat as a leftover from the disaster in New Orleans in 2012.

But it makes sense that his former colleague John Harbaugh has reached out to Spags. They worked very well together when both were members of the Philadelphia Eagles staff almost a decade ago.

Spagnuolo was fired in January by Saints coach Sean Payton following one season in New Orleans in which the Saints' defense allowed a single-season NFL record 7,042 yards. However, his record as a defensive coach before 2012, when the Saints were floundering in the wake of their bounty scandal, was far better.

The Associated Press broke the story at noon on Kentucky Derby Day:

"The Ravens hired the former St. Louis Rams head coach and defensive coordinator of the Saints and Giants on Friday as a senior defensive assistant. Spagnuolo will have an opportunity at redemption following an unsettled 2012 season in which he oversaw a historically bad defense with scandal-plagued New Orleans."

I prefer to remember that Spagnuolo had top 10 defenses with the Giants in the 2007 and 2008 seasons. His 2007 defense led the NFL with 53 sacks and the 2008 unit was sixth in the league with 42.

In the Giants' 2008 Super Bowl triumph over New England, their defense sacked Tom Brady five times and held the Patriots, who had led the NFL with an average of 36.8 points per game, to only 14 points.

"Steve had a number of opportunities in the league right now, and we're excited he picked the Ravens,'' Harbaugh said. "He comes to a staff that we believe is very strong, and he makes us even better. His wealth of NFL coaching experience speaks for itself, and he'll help us across the board.

"We think he can help with every position on the defense, and we'll take full advantage of his knowledge and excellent teaching abilities.''

Before joining the Giants, Spagnuolo was a defensive assistant in Philadelphia from 1999-2006. He coached several Pro Bowl players including Brian Dawkins and Lito Sheppard, and helped Philadelphia field a 10th-ranked defense in the 2004 season, when the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl before falling to New England.

Sean Payton, who never actually coached with Spagnuolo, decided to change New Orleans' defensive scheme from the 4-3 front that Spagnuolo ran to a 3-4. Payton also was apologetic in letting Spagnuolo go after a most unusual season.

"In fairness to him, I think it was a unique, not only difficult but somewhat unfair situation to Steve,'' Payton said during the NFL meetings in March. "He's hired, and then all of a sudden the guy he was going to work with - he doesn't have a chance to. He coaches the defense for a season and then here it is, we're making a change. And I told him that. ... I felt bad and I felt like there were a handful of these things that were messed up.''

If you're wondering how current Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees is taking this news, it is probably with a sense of relief. Dean is a team guy, and knows with all the young new faces coming into camp that need teaching on defense, his coaching staff will need all the help it can get. Personally, I think Spags' presence on the sidelines will make Dean Pees even better as a DC.