FanHouse John Harbaugh

The Baltimore Ravens are not necessarily scrambling to send Denver a trade offer for Brandon Marshall, but they are at least exploring the possibility of pursuing a deal, according to a report from the Baltimore Sun.

The Ravens are often the subject of rumors involving potentially available wide receivers, and it's not hard to see why. Their leading pass-catcher in 2008, Derrick Mason, is still struggling after offseason shoulder surgery -- and he was the only player on the team to catch more than 41 balls last year (80 for 1,037 yards). Their third most-productive WR, Demetrius Williams, missed nine games, and three of Baltimore's top seven receivers were running backs.

Heck, the team's eighth-leading "receiver" was quarterback Joe Flacco, who caught one ball for 43 yards.

So the need is there. But, based on comments made by Baltimore coach John Harburgh on Tuesday, Marshall might not be a great fit.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- It takes less than 10 steps to get from Ray Rice's stall to Cedric Peerman's in the Ravens' practice facility locker room. The distance between their spots on Baltimore's depth chart looks substantially larger.

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OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Before Ravens head coach John Harbaugh immerses himself in Baltimore's training camp, and the rigorous NFL season, he's going to take a few days out to gain some perspective.

Harbaugh will join Tom Coughlin, Bill Cowher, Jeff Fisher and Jon Gruden on the inaugural NFL-USO Coaches Tour. The event will take the five current and former coaches to the Persian Gulf, where they will spend nearly a week visiting with U.S. troops.

"The Persian Gulf trip is going to be a great experience," Harbaugh said with an excited smile on his face after Baltimore's Tuesday OTA. The trip runs June 30-July 5, "so it will be over the Fourth of July, and I think that's going to be pretty amazing," he added.

The plan was for Joe Flacco to spend his rookie season -- the first part of it, anyway -- on the sidelines. The Ravens' 2008 first-round pick came to Baltimore by way of Delaware, a Division I-AA school. And while he had the physical tools -- size, elusiveness, arguably the strongest arm in the league -- there's a huge difference between pummeling Monmouth on Saturdays and trying to slow down the Steelers on Monday night.

But training camp injuries to Kyle Boller and Troy Smith forced Flacco onto the field. In 2003, Brian Billick named then-rookie Boller the starter, and five years later, he was fighting for a roster spot (and Billick was out of a job).

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

Jonathan Ogden retired last summer, leaving the Ravens with a young but deep group of offensive linemen to protect rookie quarterback Joe Flacco. Not surprisingly, Ogden's replacement, Jared Gaither (a former supplementary draft pick) was inconsistent, but occasionally flashed glimpses of big-play potential.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

It was improbable. The Baltimore Ravens made another playoff run in 2008 based on a defense that used the art of suffocation (oh, and Ed Reed) and an offense that improved dramatically over the previous years. John Harbaugh was impressive as coach, putting a rookie quarterback out to toss the ball around and sticking with him through thick (17-29, 248 yards, 2 TDs in Week 9) and thin (11-28, 115 yards, 2 INTs in Week 15).

Now the team has to figure out what to do about a superstar in Ray Lewis, and how they should handle other important positional players (hello Mr. Stover) in order to return to (and move past) the AFC Championship game without their defensive coordinator.

This may not be indicative of a larger house-cleaning trend, but the Ravens have released three-time Pro Bowler Chris McAlister. The oft-injured cornerback's departure frees up $8 million in salary-cap space, which could be used to find his replacement. Or if Ray Lewis has any say in the matter, to pay him.

Not long ago, McAlister was considered one of the NFL's most physical corners, often matched up against opponents' best receivers. He has 26 picks and 89 passes defended in his 10-year career, although he last played a full 16-game schedule in 2006.

Since the Baltimore Ravens have been relevant, Ray Lewis has been the face of the squad. He pumps the team up, builds team morale and is what every team would want in a defensive leader.

He's also 33, with a ton of miles on his odometer. That doesn't seem to bother owner Steve Bisciotti or head coach John Harbaugh, who said they'd be willing to pay a large sum of money to keep Ray in the purple and black.

Another day, another former Buccaneers player sounds off on Jon Gruden. Following the criticisms from MIchael Clayton and Jeff Garcia, not to mention the report that fans also played a role in the Buccaneers coaching change, former defensive end Simeon Rice sounded off on Sirius NFL radio (via Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk) and tossed Gruden under the proverbial bus. And then ran him over with it. Repeatedly.

Rice started off easy: "You get what you deserve," Rice said. "That's what Jon said. He got it now. Everybody gets what they deserve."

Honestly, that was probably the nicest thing he had to say regarding his former head coach.

Troy Polamalu is arguably the best safety in the NFL, but the guy who plays next to him -- Ryan Clark -- is the hardest hitting. At least according to teammate Larry Foote. And I suspect Willis McGahee, Wes Welker and Matt Jones all might agree.