In the past two years, he has had 199 tackles, 24.5 sacks, 14 forced fumbles and 2 interceptions. If you extrapolate that over 5 years, then Harrison’s stats would be 498 tackles, 61 sacks, 35 forced fumbles, and 5 interceptions. Of course, Harrison is 5 years older than Suggs, which explains the contract discrepancy.

Of course Suggs is worth the contract that the Ravens gave him. Let’s not forget that Suggs is only 26 years old and already has 6 years of experience. On top of that rarity, Suggs is an amazing physical specimen. He has great size, speed and strength. MANY teams would have paid him MUCH more if he was an unrestricted free agent. All in all, the Ravens signed a young player with rare experience for his age and freakish ability.

I really like the deal too. Suggs will be nearly paid for in the first two years of his contract. The last four years of the contract are cheap and very cap friendly. This was a very smart move by Ozzie… as usual.

Too often you see people compare him in recent years and they say he needs to get his sack numbers up, but it isn’t all about getting the QB on the ground sometimes it actually is better for the QB to get rid of the ball. Think about how many rushed passes Suggs and the other Ravens have forced then think about hoe many of them have ended up in hands in purple jerseys.

The fact that he can put pressure on the QB, protects really well against the run(that was actually credited I think from his coaching when he first came into the league and not just by coaches but the other players) and then at times you even have him dropping back on coverage.

Shame we couldn’t keep Thomas I could just imagine these two lining up on opposite sides, sadly like you said Thomas hasn’t been used the same way in New England mostly because they can’t.

Our D is going to be a beast this year no matter what some feared with Rex Ryan leaving we have better players on the field this year. The players that were there are a year wiser, and the new younger CBs, keeping Rolle as a situation coverage man and in a way a coach also, sometimes the best coaches are the great players when they get farther into their career as players. Proof of that has always been a LBs while Ray has been here.

You just know with Suggs you have 6 quality years because of his young age as long as there is no serious injuries. He can help carry on our tradition after Ray is gone.

This year is going to be special for our D, Reed will be allowed to float like he has in years past with the new CBs have better coverage even on top WRs. If we keep the shifting and multiple blitz scemes with this teams ability to make changes with the same men on the field, no team matches that depth…

i’d have to admit after chewing on this topic that he is worth it by NFL pay standards. those numbers compared to Freeney are impressive. Freeney gets a lot of attention for not helping in the run (as the numbers show). His 4 or 5 more sacks are not worth Suggs’s 200 more tackles since ’04!!! WOW. pay the man. makes the haynesworth deal look idiotic…like all Snyder moves.

i do believe his sense of humor and persona did delay his contract. i think if he were more outwardly serious and talked the talk he would have been locked up earlier. but i like his personality. it’s funny and he is good TV especially when on the NFL network. The Suggs Package and the Bounty. LOL.

Rexx- we should have a Beatdown day at McDaniel College during training camp. We could all meet up and ditch work for the day. i plan on going 4 or 5 times this year to harrass the receivers and try out.

We all know Oz would never pay over market value. He would rather have let Suggs hit FA, like Bart and Ray, then overpay. Oz knew that if Suggs went on the open market some team (Jets, Redskins…) would offer some ridiculous contract. So it was a very smart move to lock up a premier player who is just entering his prime.

Sometimes you have to pay to play.

agree. and the market is “down”. imagine if it was booming. imagine having that money now. he can buy foreclosures by the boatload. he can turn that into another 60 million overnight. how the hell do these guys ever get into financial porblems. you entire family can live off interest alone.

Totally agree with everyone who says Suggs is worth the money. This scenario begs the question: who is the next Raven to get a really big payday?

I havn’t checked my facts on this but based on what I have heard/others have written in the past couple weeks, some guys that are going to have to be resigned in the next couple seasons include Ngata, Grubbs, Gaither, and Clayton.

Of these four, which one is going to get the most lucrative contract? The first three I listed and especially Ngata are well on their way to becomeing absolute stars in this league. Its unlikely that the Ravens will be able to afford all of them. Which one of these players is the odd man out in the next couple years?

I could definitely see Ngata getting a huge amount of money. He, Suggs, and Reed will be the foundation that the Ravens’ defense is built on going into the second decade of the 21st century. I think Clayton is going to step up his game and get paid accordingly, and Grubbs is going to get paid like a star. That leaves Gaither – the only one of these four that was not a first round pick. I think Gaither is going to be a solid left tackle in the NFL for many years, but I just don’t see the Ravens making a rich man out of a guy they didnt even draft in the first round. That’s why Bart is gone, thats why AD is gone, Gary Baxter, Jamie Sharper, Ed Hartwell, Priest Holmes…the list goes on.

Suggs does not do one single thing totally perfect, but he does everything the right way. He is a vicious pass rusher, but not quite on Freeney, Harrison and Ware’s level. But he does indeed put pressure on the QB and many under estimate the role he plays in our defense.

What I think separates Suggs from this group is his pass coverage. He is the best all around athlete of the guys listed above and Suggs often takes on TE and defends the screen pass. Teams thought they could beat Suggs with the screen pass, and Pittsburgh did indeed do it early in the season. But he came right back against Miami and Cleveland, baited DA and Noodle Pennington into throwing the check pass to the RB, and Suggs sealed both games with a pick 6.

This deal is well worth it and we have a guy not even in his prime locked up till he is 32.

You know what is funny. Steelers fans have been saying he does not do enough to earn that contract, but they are too ignorant to look at the stats. I actually saw a few over at BTSC say they would rather have Woodley over Suggs. Just had to laugh.

God, we need to know our facts! lol

rexx- you’ll know where to find me at the camp because i’ll drive a green rusty Pinto with Marcus Smith’s number on the tags. I’ll also hang his jersey in the back window. i might even sign autographs in his name in the parking lot. think anyone would know the difference.