The Ravens qualified for the postseason for the third straight year and registered their first playoff victory in six years, but where did their individual players stack up across the NFL in such an unusual 2020 campaign?
Whether it’s discussing the Pro Bowl or handing out postseason honors, media and fans spend much time discussing where players rank at any given position, but very few watch every player on every team closely enough to develop opinions as informed as we’d like to believe.
Truthfully, how many times did you watch the Detroit Lions linebackers this season? What about the Las Vegas Raiders offensive line? And the Seattle Seahawks cornerbacks?
That’s why I respect the efforts of Pro Football Focus while admitting their grades are hardly the gospel of player assessment. The exhaustive effort to evaluate players across the league shouldn’t be dismissed when most of us watch one team or maybe one division closely on any kind of a regular basis.
We’ll look at each positional group on the Baltimore roster in the coming days, but below is a look at where Ravens outside linebackers stacked up across the NFL this past season followed by a positional outlook going into 2021:
Safeties
Tight ends
Defensive linemen
Running backs
Inside linebackers
Offensive linemen
Cornerbacks
Wide receivers
Matthew Judon
2020 defensive snap count: 565
PFF ranking: 53rd out of 109 qualified edge defenders
2021 Week 1 age: 29
Skinny: Trying to separate Judon’s talents from how he’s benefited playing in Wink Martindale’s system has been debated for a couple years now, but the two-time Pro Bowl selection has clearly been an important and versatile part of the Baltimore defense. The question is whether Judon is worth a high eight-figure contract, but his franchise-tagged 2020 campaign didn’t bring much clarity as his quarterback hit and sack totals fell from the previous year.
8
Yannick Ngakoue
2020 defensive snap count: 348
PFF ranking: 38th out of 109 qualified edge defenders
2021 Week 1 age: 26
Skinny: Many figured Ngakoue would be the missing piece to take the pass rush to the next level, but the former Terp registered only three sacks in 11 games and didn’t appear to gain much trust as a run defender, which limited his snaps in the postseason. Ngakoue was better than some critics suggest, but the Ravens appear reluctant to pay a premium price for the situational pass rusher even after trading a third-round pick for him last October.
Tyus Bowser
2020 defensive snap count: 541
PFF ranking: 43rd out of 109 qualified edge defenders
2021 Week 1 age: 26
Skinny: The 2017 second-round pick registered only two sacks, but a career-high three interceptions and a top 10 PFF coverage grade among edge defenders should make his market interesting to watch. Strong-side options with the ability to drop into coverage are valuable commodities in today’s pass-happy NFL requiring more versatility.
Pernell McPhee
2020 defensive snap count: 459
PFF ranking: 26th out of 109 qualified edge defenders
2021 Week 1 age: 32
Skinny: The veteran appeared in all but one game in his return from a torn triceps in 2019 and played his best football late in the season. McPhee was probably Baltimore’s best edge-setter and seems like a logical candidate to return on a one-year contract to maintain some stability at the position and mentor younger options.
Jihad Ward
2020 defensive snap count: 272
PFF ranking: 56th out of 109 qualified edge defenders
2021 Week 1 age: 27
Skinny: Initially the odd man out when Ngakoue was acquired during the bye week, Ward played his way back into the rotation in December with strong performances against Dallas and the New York Giants. He remains an option to return on a cheap short-term agreement.
Jaylon Ferguson
2020 defensive snap count: 302
PFF ranking: 40th out of 109 qualified edge defenders
2021 Week 1 age: 25
Skinny: The 2019 third-round pick played well against the run in his second season, but his improvement was more modest than the Ravens would have hoped with the five aforementioned names all free agents. Ferguson was a healthy scratch for four of the last six games counting the postseason.
Chauncey Rivers
2020 defensive snap count: 15
PFF ranking: n/a
2021 Week 1 age: 24
Skinny: Rivers made his NFL debut at Pittsburgh amidst the massive COVID-19 outbreak and spent the rest of the season on the practice squad. With the potential turnover at the position, the Mississippi State product should have the opportunity to make an impression and earn a roster spot over the summer.
Aaron Adeoye
2020 defensive snap count: 8
PFF ranking: n/a
2021 Week 1 age: 28
Skinny: The 6-foot-6, 250-pound specimen from Southeast Missouri State has shown potential to stick around on the practice squad for two years following a spring tryout in 2019. He also made his NFL debut in that Steelers outbreak game and will probably see his last chance to crack the 53-man roster this summer.
2021 positional outlook
The Ravens have taken a very analytics-driven approach to building their defense in recent years with a large portion of resources pumped into the secondary, but placing the 2020 tag on Judon and trading for Ngakoue over the last 12 months made it clear that general manager Eric DeCosta valued edge rushers. Still, the Ravens didn’t secure either as the tag deadline passed earlier this week. It will be fascinating to see how Baltimore attacks the outside linebacker position with very little experience under team control for 2021 and several other significant needs to address. The best bet might be to try to re-sign Bowser or another free agent of similar standing, bring McPhee back for one more season, and target an edge defender or two in the early rounds of next month’s draft. Such a strategy would push the faith in the secondary and Martindale’s ability to scheme pressure to the max, but paying elite prices for non-elite edge rushers doesn’t make much sense in an era in which quarterbacks are showing quicker and quicker releases every year.
