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Paul Kruger had his best year as a professional football player in the Ravens 2012 Super Bowl season. Kruger finished the season with 13 and a half sacks (including four in the playoffs) and showed that he can be a premier pass rusher in the NFL.
Or can he? before Terrell Suggs returned tot the line up against the Houston Texans Kruger had only 1 and a half sacks on the season. Since Suggs return he has done most of his damage. It could be that the defenses wre primarily focused on stopping Suggs with double teams and such so Kruger was left with more one on one match ups.
Most Ravens fans knew that at seasons end Paul would most likely not be a Raven in 2013 but some have held out and hoped the Ravens would find a way to retain him. Sorry but it just doesn't look like that is going to be the case.
"I didn't believe this couple of weeks ago, but do now: LB/DE Paul Kruger looks like he's going to blow past $9m per, could get over $10m per [year]," tweeted Yahoo.com’s Jason Cole.
Kruger could demand more per year than the Ravens have available cap space to sign all their players. Currently the Ravens are looking at about 11 million dollars that they may have to spend. They still need to try and re-sign Dannell Ellerbe, Ed Reed and a left tackle or right tackle depending how you look at it. There is just no way they will be able to keep number 99, unfortunately.
When you really look at it, why is Krugers' value so high? Is it simply because of the national stage he played on in the playoffs and Super Bowl. There was a time only a season or two ago when he was almost considered a bust. Does one good year really warrant that much money? Well, apparently, in today's NFL it does.
What do you think Kruger is really worth?