Ben Grubbs

Are the Ravens on the verge of adding another name into their starting left guard competition? They're at least looking into it as they will work out former Cincinnati Bengal and Cleveland Brown guard Eric Steinbach on Tuesday as first reported by CBS Sports.   Steinbach, 32, was once considered one of the better guards in football, but he missed all of last season after having back surgery. He is now working out for teams to prove that he is healthy. From 2003 to 2006, Steinbach, a second-round pick in 2003 by Cincinnati out of Iowa, started all but two regular season games for the Bengals over four seasons.  He then signed a seven-year, $49.5 million deal with the Browns before the 2007 season.

The Ravens announced on Friday they have agreed to terms on a two-year contract with veteran guard Bobbie Williams. Williams, 35, was a mainstay at right guard for the Cincinnati Bengals since 2004, starting 118 games in eight seasons in Cincinnati. Williams spent his first three seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. His final season in Cincinnati was a rough one. Williams was suspended for the first four games of the 2011 season for a violation of the league's policy on performance enhancing drugs.

Now that I have had a couple of days to defragment my brain after a hectic NFL draft weekend, I figured I would hand out superlative style-evaluations of the Ravens' eight-player draft class. These are just the opinions of one man (though it's a man who spent much of the past two months researching draft prospects). Feel free to leave your assessments or reactions to mine in the comments section below. Best value pick: Tommy Streeter. When I did my full Ravens mock draft last week , I really wanted to project this speedy Miami wideout to the Ravens in the later rounds, but many analysts had him being drafted in the fourth or fifth round.

If the Ravens have a specific plan for filling the hole left by Ben Grubbs now that the draft has ended, they aren't divulging it. Not that anybody should be surprised. As is so often the case, coach John Harbaugh spoke fondly of the potential battle for playing time along the offensive line without giving any indication of how he thinks it may shake out. "I think it goes back to this: All things are possible," he said Saturday at the team's Owings Mills headquarters.

If the Ravens want Alabama linebacker Dont'a Hightower as much as some people believe that they do, I suspect their first call when Round One starts to unfold will be to the Detroit Lions, who hold the 23rd overall pick. The significance of that spot is that it's one ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who reportedly covet Hightower. If the Ravens are convinced that Hightower is their guy and they are willing to pay the cost of moving up six spots, which would probably be a third or fourth-round pick, a deal shouldn't be too hard to work out. Lions senior personnel executive James Harris is the former director of pro personnel for the Ravens and he remains very close with Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome . Lions coach Jim Schwartz also is a former Ravens staff member and he remains friendly with a couple of people at the Castle, including Newsome.

The Ravens have said all along that they would be patient in free agency and not panic to fill any perceived holes. They've been true to their word. When left guard Ben Grubbs opted to sign with the New Orleans Saints about 48 hours into free agency, the expectation was that the Ravens would move immediately to find a replacement for the Pro Bowl performer. It wasn't necessarily immediate but the Ravens didn't wait too long to bring in Evan Mathis , regarded as the third best free agent guard behind Carl Nicks (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

The Ravens have said on several occasions that they plan to give second-year tackle Jah Reid every opportunity to win the left guard job and replace Pro Bowl performer Ben Grubbs. They have a history of giving younger players opportunities, so there is no reason to think that is lip service. But that doesn't mean that they won't also bring in a veteran to compete for the job and serve as insurance. That remains very much in the team's plans, and they have spoken to several agents of guards to discuss potential fits.

It is believed that the Ravens have hosted three free agents since the market opened last Tuesday, and now all of them have signed elsewhere. Wide receiver and return specialist Ted Ginn Jr., who visited with Ravens' officials last week in Owings Mills, has agreed to a one-year deal to return to the San Francisco 49ers. Ginn has spent the past two seasons with San Francisco after he was drafted in the first round in 2007 by the Miami Dolphins. The explosive Ginn has six career return touchdowns.

When the Ravens convinced free-agent guard Evan Mathis to extend his Thursday visit overnight, they hoped he wouldn't leave Baltimore without signing their contract offer. But on Friday afternoon, when Mathis stepped on an airplane destined for his home in Arizona, they knew there was a decent chance he wouldn't be flying back. While in Arizona, Mathis decided to re-sign with the Philadelphia Eagles, instead of joining the Ravens. Shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday, the 30-year-old publicly revealed his decision on Twitter.

Free-agent guard Evan Mathis, who visited the Ravens on Thursday and stayed overnight in the Baltimore area, will fly back to Arizona to make his decision, according to multiple reports. Mathis said the Ravens, who lost Pro Bowl guard Ben Grubbs on Thursday, offered him “a nice deal.” Mathis, viewed as the third-best guard in free agency by most pundits, started 15 games at left guard for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011, his only season with the Eagles. Mathis was a third-round draft pick of the Carolina Panthers' in 2005 and played for four teams in seven seasons, including the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals.