Ravens tweak roster with a few more signings…

James Ihedigbo is a Raven… and was picked up quickly after the Patriots let him go on waivers…

The Baltimore Ravens announced the following roster moves Monday (Labor Day 2012):

Waived the following player:

Signed the following player to the 53-man roster:

James Ihedigbo: Ihedigbo was originally signed as a rookie free agent by the New York Jets in 2007. He has played in 53 career games (12 starts), seeing action in 37 for New York and in 16 with the New England Patriots last season (when he made all 12 starts). Ihedigbo has posted 45 career tackles, including five sacks.

Ihedigbo was used by the Patriots in a lot of blitz packages. You may remember his getting pressure on Joe Flacco a few times in playoff situations, too.

Here’s Ihedigbo in his days as a Jet…

Ihedigbo brings a lot more experience and stability to the Ravens defensive backfield than Gorrer could offer, unfortunately for Danny, who had the dreaded “made the final roster, got cut the next day” experience which seems to happen more and more in the NFL. That’s gotta hurt.

Ihedigbo should provide extra depth in case of injury to another safety, as well as depth to special teams.

Then the Ravens signed Dennis Dixon (little-used veteran QB) to their practice squad, along with a few other younger players:

Dixon was originally selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Seeing action in four career games (two starts), he has completed 35 of 59 passes for 402 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Dixon has also rushed 10 times for 56 yards and one touchdown.

Dixon started against the Ravens on 11/29/09, when he completed 12 of 26 passes for 145 yards, one touchdown and one interception, also rushing for a 24-yard touchdown. The Ravens won that game, 20-17, in overtime.

Under Practice Squad rules, Dixon is amazingly still eligible to be employed there due to lack of active playing time. Actually, I’m even more amazed Dixon cleared waivers and was still available to the Ravens.

The Ravens had Dixon in for a workout earlier this offseason, but ended up signing veteran Curtis Painter instead. The team cut Painter on Friday, opening the door for Dixon to come to Baltimore.

Here are the other guys also now on the Ravens PS8….

RB Anthony Allen
S   Omar Brown
LB Josh Bynes
OL Jack Cornell
G  Antoine McClain

Meanwhile the opener against the Bengals is just a Monday Night away….

Some drama is playing in the front office between LT Bryant McKinnie and Ravens management. It could get messy.

A report from The Baltimore Sun suggests that the team is in negotiations with McKinnie in an attempt to restructure the left tackle’s contract and get him to take a pay cut. McKinnie is reportedly due $3.2 in base salary.

The Sun reports that the Ravens have requested a 50-percent paycut, and say McKinnie is willing to accept some cut, but not that much.

If things get crazy here, McKinnie could be released.

If McKinnie is indeed done, that would mean Michael Oher would presumably move to left tackle and rookie second-round pick Kelechi Osemele would start at right tackle. Even though it’s just six days before the regular-season opener against Cincinnati, the Ravens have practiced with that lineup for much of the summer considering McKinnie wasn’t always present.

McKinnie started all 16 games last year at left tackle.

Osemele has been impressive in his young career thus far, both as a guard and tackle. The 6-foot-5, 335-pounder held his own against the St. Louis Rams’ Chris Long in the fourth preseason game last Thursday.

“It feels like I’ll have a pretty substantial role as far as what my coaches have been saying,” Osemele told reporters Monday.

Stay tuned…