Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti expected Terrell Suggs to stay in Baltimore after what he describes as an offer close to the one the Cardinals submitted. But the 17th-year veteran bolted early in free agency.
While Bisciotti did not specify how close the Ravens came to matching the one-year, $7MM proposal the Cardinals made, the longtime owner anticipated being able to retain Suggs with a hometown discount.
“Until the very minute Terrell took Arizona’s deal, I thought he would take less to stay here,” Bisciotti said, via ESPN.com’s Jamison Hensley (on Twitter). “I was wrong. I wished him well.”
Just before Suggs’ defection, he and the Ravens did not appear to be close on terms. The franchise’s all-time sack king played for $6.95MM in 2018, the final season of his four-year, $20MM deal. Suggs initially leaned toward re-signing with the Ravens. However, Suggs said Ozzie Newsome stepping away from his GM post, and Baltimore’s decisions on other veteran defensive stalwarts, swayed him.
Suggs played high school and college football in Arizona, helping to explain the choice to leave a division champion for the team that finished with 2018’s worst record. The Ravens also lost Za’Darius Smith, who signed a $16.5MM-AAV Packers deal, but still have Matt Judon and brought in Pernell McPhee and Shane Ray after the draft. Third-round pick Jaylon Ferguson also figures to factor into Baltimore’s pass rush, as will 2017 third-rounder Tim Williams. Bisciotti called Williams a situational pass rusher, Hensley adds (via Twitter). Williams played 120 snaps last season.
Ravens home opener is against the Cardinals so I imagine fans will do the right thing and show Terrell plenty of appreciation for the years of service he provided in Baltimore.
No doubt the fans will show their appreciation
He’s forever a Raven
I wish him the best in Arizona, but he’ll go in the Hall as a Raven.