There's no question the Baltimore Ravens needed pass-rushing help, even after picking up Jaylon Ferguson in the third round of the recent draft.
They lost Terrell Suggs and Za'Darius Smith, two top pass rushers from the defense that helped the Ravens win the AFC North last season, and that's why the picking of Ferguson (17.5 sacks last year in college and the Division I record-holder with 45 overall) looks good on paper. Still, they need more, and that's why the free-agent signings of pass-rushers Pernell McPhee (a former Raven) and Shane Ray look good on paper.
According to a recent USA TODAY article, the Ravens picked up these two pass rushers without having to open their checkbook too much. The article said that ESPN's Field Yates reported the signing of these two players will cost about $2.23 million against the team's 2019 salary cap.
Both players have a one-year deal, according to the report, with McPhee getting a $100,000 signing bonus plus a base salary of $930,000 while Ray receives a $200,000 signing bonus plus a $1 million base salary. Each also has done well at times in his career, but also both have run into problems in recent times.
McPhee's best season, in terms of sacks, was the 7.5 he posted in 2014 with the Ravens. He played on the 2012 Super Bowl championship team and grew into a solid pass-rusher before signing a deal with Chicago before 2015. The Bears cut him after 2017, and he came to Washington last season but did not record a sack.
McPhee ran into a lot of injury trouble with Chicago and wants to stay on the field and become a veteran leader in Baltimore during his second stint with the team.
"The main thing for me is to stay healthy - try to help us make another run,” McPhee said in an article on the team's site. “There’s a lot of young talent on this team. I’m trying to find ways to lead them, encourage them, teach them the game."
Ray was a first-round pick with Denver in 2015 and played on the Broncos' Super Bowl title team. He posted four sacks that season plus eight more in 16 games the next year and seemed to be growing into a defensive force with Denver before also battling injury issues and recording only one sack in both 2017 and 2018.
These moves give the Ravens depth at a position where they badly need it. Plus, even better, they won't cost much as both players got one-year deals where they basically try to show everyone what they've got left. If everything works out right, the Ravens might be better in pass rushing than last year as Suggs slowed down in the second half, and that seemed to be a bit of an issue for the team at times.
So, the Ravens did what every NFL team loves to do with off-season free-agent moves. They signed some players who have shown talent but at a low cost. Now, the Ravens have to hope that least one of these two shows their old form, and that Ferguson can make a mark in the pros pretty quickly. If this combination works out, it could make life much tougher for NFL quarterbacks in 2019.
(Disclosure: I receive a small fee from the Ravens in exchange for compiling player quotes for use by other journalists on game days.)
