Thirteen years of playing in the NFL – which includes regular-season and playoff games, offseason practices and training camp – may have taken a physical toll on Trevor Pryce, but the defensive end is still one of the more engaging personalities to talk to in the Ravens locker room.

Asked last week if mini-camps are a necessary evil, Pryce replied, “It is evil, but it is necessary. Let’s not say necessary evil. Let’s say evil necessary. But you have to do it. Especially for me personally, when I work out in Denver, no matter how hard you work out, you don’t sweat [because] there’s no humidity. So when I come out here, I put on a lot of clothes and try to run as much as I can to get some sweating in. but you enjoy it. They don’t make me do much. If they did make me do much, then I’d say, ‘This is optional. I’m going home.’ But since they take care of me and get me a play here, six plays there, and get off, then I’m ok.”

Jokes aside, Pryce, who turns 34 on Aug. 3, looks to be in great shape and still has the agility and strength that has helped him collect 79 sacks in his career. The Ravens have drafted young pass rushers like Antwan Barnes, Paul Kruger and Prescott Burgess to book-end the talent they have in Terrell Suggs, but Pryce continues to run with the first defensive unit opposite Suggs.

“Trevor is an elite defensive player in this league,” coach John Harbaugh said. “At one time, I think he was the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL – he’s that kind of a talent guy. Plus, Trevor knows how to stay in great shape. Trevor does a lot of training here, but he does a lot of training on his own. He’s the kind of guy that runs basketball gassers with weight packs on his back. Nobody’s in better shape than Trevor. He’ll come in here for 48 hours, as he says, then he’ll get out of here. But when you see it, you see the work he’s done. We expect Trevor to be an elite defensive lineman.”

After posting a career-best 13 sacks in 2006, Pryce registered just two sacks in five games in 2007 due to a broken wrist and a torn pectoral muscle and 4½ sacks in 16 contests last season. Pryce said he wasn't disappointed with his personal performance last year.

“I didn’t have a lot of sacks, but I had the same amount of pressures,” he said. “I guess I didn’t get lucky enough. … As a pass rusher, I thought I played pretty well. I can’t control sacks. I can control pressuring the quarterback, but a lot of other things have to happen for me to get a sack.”