At age 25 suggs has proven to be a very good player in this league. But please don't even consider putting him Dwight freeney's class. You saw that without Trevor pryce and Mr Thomas Rushing the passer that Mr Suggs was just a av erage ball player. He can not dominate a game like the great defensive players in this league. We went from 62 sacks to 31 lasat year. There were plenty of games where he and Bart Scott completly disappeared. I am not saying that we shouldn't sign him but not at what the best defensive players in this league get, He won't sign a contract that was given to Ad last year, you can't give him all that money the dwight freeney received because the ravens have way to many other needs.

The Ravens should try to free-up enough cap room to go after free agent Asante Samuels. They need help in the defensive back field and he would be the ticket.

They cant restructure Lewis without giving him an outright extension. There is no place to spread the "simple" restructure savings. In Heaps case, it was easier since he was signed until 2011. If you are asking whether they will extend Lewis, I hope they do! He is one of the best field generals in the game right now and probably has another 3 or 4 solid years left.

Good afternoon all,

You know, now that I think about it, I am tired of the franchise tag around here. Didn't we go through this enough with Chris McAlister. Let's just get a deal over with. Suggs had an off year. It's not as if a player has never had an off year before.

Suggs needs to stay cause he is youth on a D where its key players are aging. Okay he only had five sacks but NEWSFLASH no one else had more than three!! He still put pressure on QBs even if he didn't sack them either so yeah the Ravens need to keep him cause he would just be another hole to fill. They need to start cutting some of the veteran players like Flynn and McNair as the O-line needs to be built for the future and I think most fans realize that McNair just isn't gonna be able to play anymore, at least play well and not get hurt.

Freeny only had like 5 sacks the year before he got paid. He and Freeny are both great pass rushers, Dwight a little better, but Suggs was better vs the run as Freeny is always spinning out of his rush lanes. The Ravens also asked Suggs to do a lot more than just rush the QB which is all the Colts ask Freeny to do. I think the Ravens should play him as a rusher on almost every snap. If he focused only on his pass rush skills, and put on a little more weight, he has the skills to dominate like Freeny.

The buis side will be taken care of in time. They are both going to do all they can to max out the money, but the franchise tag will ultimatly be what keeps him here at less than he would get on the open market.

The deal AD got is what he will likely end up taking over the prospect of being tagged 2 or 3 times in a row at LB. The best money for the player is always from free agency, but the fact that the Ravens can prevent it will cause a long stand off and a lot of negotiations. He likley would get Freeny type money from someone on the open market. Like Clemons set the new market value for corners last year all of a sudden making Rolle a good value and a restructure for C-Mack a little more difficult.
We are never going to know what is actually on the table though on any negotiation until a deal is done. Then only what was accepted not what was discussed.

Sign him now when he is coming off a bad year (ie. cheap)! There's no downside to this guy. He's a winner and "good person" as Modell would say.

Does the beat writer for the Ravens not know how restructuring contracts works? You need to have multiple years in which to prorate the base salary; Ray Ray is in the final year of his deal.

So he had 5 sacks. Pryce's injury helped the low number. JJ aint AD as far as the rush goes. They couldnt rush with top CBs not playing or playing hurt. It all added up (or down) to 5 sacks for Suggs.
Freeney dough?
There's probably a number of contracts being considered for reconstruction, contracts with players names that the team will have to assess as being on the team over the next year or two or not. The road is being paved for new starting DBs and their contracts, and the Suggs contract is the biggest factor I guess.
Letting Ray go would be a big move, but losing Suggs after a franchised year, too - that would not be 'the prudent thing going forward', dropping both.
I am tempted to say that if the rush is the main identity of this D and not the MLB, put the money where the rush comes from. It starts with Suggs, who's sack average defines him to me. Its preeetty darn high...

hewhocannotbenamed,

although the pass rush is a huge part of the ravens D so is stopping the running and have a good mlbs has a huge part in that.

I understand we are and need to stay good at stopping the run. We pride ourselves on the backers. But with those corners not being as good as they used to be (injured, slowed down, etc) the rush helps them out even more. Hey, I love a 2.8 ypc average, too ! Pryce was a blessing.

With Ray entering the twilight of his carrer, it is time for the Ravens to start looking for another leader in the front seven. Although Suggs is a huge talent and young, he is very undisciplined and not capable of being a strong leader. The Rvens have too many holes to think about a Super Bowl ring at this time. Save the money and give it to your next leader to replace Ray, if that is possible

By his own omission in the sunpapers today he was quoted as having just a average year.Well i will give him credit for admitting that and i will also give him some leeway and i say some leeway because of the amount of injuries that might have had some affect on his play. But let me make something perfectly clear and that is you don't give somebody Dwight frenney money unless they deserve it. So i am glad the ravens are giving him another year to prove if this year was a fluke or if he really needs a suppoting cast around him to be any good. Without Ad and Trevor he just was a very very average player.

Whoever said sign Asante Samuel, I have this to say: Quit being Dan Synder!

The Ravens should draft one instead.

Suggs is a solid pass rusher and is developing into a good guy on and off the field. That makes him someone the Ravens should committ to, but with a new coaching staff coming in and rex ryan year to year maybe he's just as happy with a one-year franchise tag.

Raven's need help all over the place so signing one person to a long term deal ain't going to make that much of a difference.

This is sad.

The Ravens' front office is simply delusional.

The front office seems to be under the mistaken impression that this team has the talent needed to compete except for needing a quarterback, corner, and possibly another tackle.

It pains me to have to say it but the Ravens aren't even remotely close to being "just a player or two away".

They might be a player or two away from being a 9-7 team that squeaks into the playoffs to be crushed in the first round, that I can believe.

Terrel Suggs is a great part of this team, he is not however one of the leagues premier pass rushers.

Suggs simply isn't that good, his skills do not seem to merit the paycheck that would come from the franchise tag.

If they put the tag on him they are stating that the Ravens as an organization think he's worth "Top 5 Money". Going forward after tagging him all negotiations will be within the framework that Suggs is in the same category as Freeny or anyone else in the game.

It's not a bad move if the team and Suggs are very close to a deal and wait till after the season to finish it. However if the two sides are far appart, Suggs thinking he's worth all Freeny got and more while the Ravens think he's in that second tier group, then using the Franchise Tag gives Suggs all the power and leverage going forward.

I do not want to see Suggs go, i think he's a great Raven and i love his passion, but it would be absolute suicide for this team to over pay for him.

Based on last year's production Lewis, Ogden, McNair, Rolle, Heap, and possibly McCalister aren't worth their cap hit, not even close.

Let's not add Suggs to that list, especially since he's a lot younger than most of those guys.