Ravens, Oher agree to contract
July 30th, 2009 | by Kevin Hanson |The Ravens and Michael Oher, their first-round pick out of Mississippi, have agreed on a five-year contract worth $13.8 million. Of that money, $7.8 million is guaranteed, according to Jamison Hensley of the Baltimore Sun.
“I’m the type of guy who doesn’t want to let his team down,” said Oher. “I told my guy [agent] to just hurry up and get me in camp. I think I’m ready to go, and feel I’m well conditioned. I think I’m very emotional, hard nosed and have a passion for the game. Playing football and winning is very important to me.”
“We sat here a year ago, drafted a quarterback, and hoped that we didn’t have to deal with that for a while,” said general manager Ozzie Newsome. “We’re hoping the same thing now with Michael. We have a talented, young offensive line and with John Matsko and Andy Moeller, we don’t think any team in the league has a better pair of offensive line coaches.”
“For him to get a contract done without the proper slotting says a lot about Michael Oher, and his willingness to be here,” said Newsome.
As Hensley points out, the Ravens line is not only good – but young. With the exception of Matt Birk (33 years old), who was signed in the off-season from Minnesota to replace Jason Brown at center, all of their starters are 25 years old or younger — Jared Gaither (23), Ben Grubbs (25), Marshall Yanda (24) and Oher (23).
Tags: Michael Oher
