Jared Gaither Still Out Of Action

The massive piece of human that is known as Jared Gaither, top-class offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens, has been AWOL during the last few days of training camp. He is suffering from back spasms and has seen specialists. Without any definitive news except the fact that he hasn’t been practicing, it might be getting about time to be worried.

After losing Domonique Foxworth and Walt Harris for the season, not to mention the injuries to Lardarius Webb, Ed Reed and Sergio Kindle, you might not want to read on about Gaither if you want to have anything to look forward to this football season.

Read on for information about Gaither’s injury and what it means for the team

Every day, it seems more and more evident that Michael Oher will be playing left tackle this season. First, it was the “trade demand” saga around the time of the Draft, then the talks about the new contract terms, and now this. The injuries have been persistent throughout the offseason, and after being one of the Ravens’ healthiest players thus far during his short tenure in Charm City, he’s been anything but since the season ended.

Gaither’s lost a huge amount of weight for a linemen, having seen the number on the scales drop from 340 to 310, and now faces the real threat of Oniel Cousins starting over him at the right tackle position. From what the team has heard from medical professionals, the injury is simply one that has to do with back spasms, nothing “serious” that would be career-altering.

The approach the team is taking is a bit puzzling to me. Why keep him out of action for so long, let him lose so much weight, and then shake it off as nothing serious? Having one of the key cogs of your offense miss so much time for something that the management is saying isn’t a big problem just seems stupid and a waste of both Gaither’s and the Ravens’ time.

Now, I won’t try to rant today, but either Gaither needs to suck it up and play through the injury as much as he can to at least get in passable shape, or the Ravens and the fans need to prepare for a shaky offensive line. Training camp just gets better and better…