To the shock of many people, the Arizona Cardinals waived former Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs on Friday afternoon. The move comes as a big surprise so late in the season and on a young defense that has been less than successful to this point in 2019. Suggs was second on the Cardinals in sacks, tackles for loss, and forced fumbles upon being waived.
With Suggs release from the Cardinals, it poses the question that a lot of people likely had: Should the Ravens and Suggs reunite? Suggs was one of the largest tenured Ravens coming into the 2019 off-season but decided to part with the team in free agency. He opted to sign a one-year deal with Arizona — the state in which he went to college. The move was surprising, but a veteran of Suggs’ status is allowed to make perhaps unorthodox changes late in his career due to what he feels is best for himself.
Suggs has accomplished almost everything possible with the Ravens and a return could be perfect between the two parties. He is a former defensive player of the year, seven-time Pro-Bowler and leads the Ravens franchise in sacks and forced fumbles. If Eric DeCosta can bring back the veteran, he should.
#AZCardinals pass-rusher Terrell Suggs was released, coach Kliff Kingsbury announced. An intriguing waiver pickup this week.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 13, 2019
Terrell Suggs Should Return to the Baltimore Ravens
The first thing to be noted about Suggs’ breakup with the Cardinals is that he was waived. Therefore, for the Ravens to claim him, he has to pass waivers first. Baltimore currently has the best record in football at 12-2 so they have the lowest priority of any team in the NFL. Every single team in the NFL would have to pass on him for the Ravens to even have a chance of claiming him.
It doesn’t help that Suggs is one of the league’s most elite players off the edge over the past two decades either. He’d be a good addition to any team hoping to bring their young pass rushers along.
The Fit in Baltimore Is Perfect
While it may be tough for Suggs to end up a Raven again, a reunion makes a lot of sense from both sides. The Ravens linebackers have been perhaps the least stable position group on the entire team and having another presence couldn’t hurt. Multiple members of the linebacking corps have already been waived or traded in 2019. He has also already played a season under defensive coordinator Don Martindale and would likely be able to adjust to this season’s defense fairly quickly. Baltimore currently ranks 15th in sacks (34.0), with a game in hand on most of the league.
Ravens edge defender and former-teammate of Suggs, Matthew Judon, even hinted that he wouldn’t mind a return by the veteran.
Come back home
— Matthew Judon (@man_dammn) December 13, 2019
As well as adding Suggs’ talents to the rotation, he would also be a great mentor for some of the young Ravens. Baltimore has used a combination of pass rushers throughout the season with Judon being the only player to play over 50 percent of snaps (81.7%). Tyus Bowser has already played two seasons around Suggs but introducing him to rookie Jaylon Ferguson could do wonders for his development. Ferguson was compared to Suggs coming out of college after breaking his all-time NCAA career sack record, and he could benefit a lot from being around him. The rookie played an individual season-high 73 percent of snaps against the New York Jets, totaling four combined tackles and two quarterback hits.
The Ravens’ core is fairly young and having a player like Suggs who has done almost everything imaginable from the edge is a huge asset to a potential championship run.
Always Improving
What a lot of people forget about the Ravens Super Bowl season in 2012 is that though they sent Ray Lewis out on top, he missed significant time before returning for the playoffs. Lewis missed the Ravens last 10 regular-season games and gave a big jolt to a unit that ranked 16th in total defense going into January. While the Ravens defense in 2019 is statistically far superior (sixth in total defense/fifth in scoring defense), in-season moves have been what has helped them improve so much over their 10-game winning streak. Marcus Peters was a needed addition to a secondary that was falling short of expectations, and Josh Bynes and L.J. Fort helped solidify the inside linebacker position after a very poor start to the season.
Suggs is now 37 years old and could definitely be interested in getting his second ring. His remaining cap hit of roughly $700,000 is very easy to stomach as well. The revolving door of players in the front-seven is still going and if the Ravens can make room for Suggs, they likely would.
