Brian Baldinger Has Some Interesting Thoughts On the 2013 Ravens

Jan 20, 2013; Foxboro, MA, USA; Baltimore Ravens running back Bernard Pierce (30) celebrates in the fourth quarter against the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game at Gillette Stadium. The Ravens defeated the Patriots 28-13. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

If you missed Brian Baldinger on WNST Baltimore earlier today. You need to go listen to it. It was fascinating.

Baldinger is one of the better connected NFL analysts out there, He has a ton of connections in coaching circles, including Baltimores newest coach Juan Castillo. Castillo is widely considered to be the best in the league at developing offensive line talent and turning lineman into stars. According to Brian Baldinger, Castillo believes Kelechi Osemele is the future of the left tackle position in Baltimore. Left Tackle.

Now If Castillo believes that Osemele is that type of player, then I am inclined to believe him. KO was a 3 year LT at Iowa St. Castillo has probably forgotten more about offensive line play than I could ever hope to know. I never player OL, I never Coached OL and I barely scratched the surface of scouting OL, so I am far from an expert like Castillo is. KO already looks like a slam dunk pick by Ozzie Newsome and the Ravens front office, but if he develops into a good Left Tackle, which means he would be able to play every single offensive line position, It would make him an even better pick.

I thought that the Kelechi Osemel thoughts were interesting, but his thoughts on Bernard Pierce were about 1000 times as interesting.

Here is what Baldy had to say about Bernard Peirce.

"I Mean, I Think Bernard Pierce might be the best player on the team right now. Were gonna see this guy just flourish. Ray Rice is gonna have a long career in Baltimore because of Bernard Pierce. And so, I mean, that guy has got 1000 yards all over him and, uh, may be the starter next year."

Whoa. Say What?

Baldinger talked about the Ravens having the best RB stable in the league, He backed that up by theorizing that Pierce is, not only better than Ray Rice, but the best player on the team. Better than Ngata, Suggs, Flacco, Rice, Yanda, Torrey Smith etc.. Wowzers. I talked about Pierce being the better runner compared to Rice many times, but I always was firm in my belief of Rice being a better all around player and back. Let me remind you one more time that Baldinger has spoken about all this stuff with the Ravens new Run Game coordinator Juan Castillo. This is a pretty big bombshell, but it makes a ton of sense. Pierce is a true running back whereas Rice is more of a flex player. You can line Rice up at TE, RB, FB, WR, pretty much anywhere and he will make plays. It is possible that the Ravens could be looking at using Rice lined up in the slot more to compensate for the loss of Boldin. That would give the Ravens more opportunities to get both Rice and Pierce on the field for as many plays as possible. Getting the best players the most snaps has Jim Caldwell written all over it. It seems obvious, but Caldwell has always been a guy that got his best playmakers on the field as often as possible regardless of the position they played.

So is it possible that the 2013 opening day roster has KO at left tackle and Bernard Pierce as the top tailback? let me know what you think Ravens fans.