After veteran offensive tackle Eugene Monroe failed to show up for the Baltimore Ravens off-season activities this week, the team made it clear that he would either be traded or released.
That latter possibility has reportedly happened with ESPN’s Adam Schefter indicating that Baltimore has released the seven-year veteran.
After trade talks with Giants fell through, Ravens released OT Eugene Monroe, per sources. Now free agent. NYG, SD, SEA could have interest.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 15, 2016
This all seemed to come completely out of left field. Entrenched in as Joe Flacco’s blindside protector, the decision to move on from Monroe this late in the summer suggests that something pretty damning happened behind the scenes.
Monroe has been pretty vocal about the NFL changing its stance on medical marijuana, but it’s hard to believe that played a role in his release.
A former top-10 pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars back in 2009, Monroe has been among the most consistently good offensive tackles in the NFL. Losing him is going to hurt the Ravens big time.
As Schefter mentions, there’s already some interest in his services. In this, the expectation here has to be that Monroe will find another job here soon.
The 29-year-old Monroe has started 90 games thus far in his career. He had two years remaining on the five-year extension he signed with Baltimore back in 2014.