McNair Retires. What Next for Ravens?

By Dan Hitt

One of the most popular Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans and Houston Oilers players of all time retired this week. Steve McNair will be remembered most by fans as the guy who took the new version (the Titans) of the old Oilers to the Super Bowl for the first time and came within a yard or two of sending the game into OT.

He'll likely be remembered by collectors, though, as a small-college player who actually lived up to the draft-day hype to justify the early collector, and investor, speculation in his cards.

But with McNair stepping aside, who will replace the veteran at the helm for the Ravens? Who should collectors set their card-loving sights on now? The short answer may appear to be Troy Smith, since he's the young future star in waiting. After all, collectors have seen enough of Kyle Boller, right? Even the most novice fans realize he's not the future at starter, so Smith must be the guy. We need to start buying him up like crazy, right?

Hold your horses. There is plenty of speculation that the McNair retirement throws the Ravens right into the middle of the pursuit for Matt Ryan or some other top QB in the draft. Or the Ravens could give strong consideration to a veteran QB if draft day doesn't produce an answer.

Either way, we'll find that out in about a week. Until then, we strongly suggest holding off on going full steam toward Troy Smith cards until the dust settles.