Time To Inject Youth Into Defense?
Apr 19, 2010, 5:37PM
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All one needs to do to realize the Ravens defense will need a facelift sometime in the near future is look at the roster.
Linebacker Ray Lewis will be 35 by season’s start, defensive end Trevor Pryce is 34 and defensive tackle Kelly Gregg is 33. Safety Ed Reed is just 31, but is currently “50/50” on whether he will retire.
The Ravens will have to decide how soon that future is.
“You could say [it’s time], but I don’t know when Ray Lewis is going to turn in his uniform,” Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome said. “Ed’s still got a lot of good years left.
“Could this be more of a defensive draft? It probably could. But if the good players are not there, the players that we think can help us, and the offensive players are better, than we will take those offensive players.”
It shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise that key figures on the defensive side are older than those on the offensive end. The Ravens have used their first-round draft choice for an offensive player each of the past three years.
But right now, there doesn’t seem much reason to panic considering the Ravens’ veterans were a major reason why Baltimore ranked third in the NFL in total defense last year.
Pryce notched a team-high 6.5 sacks this past season, the most he’s had since 2006. Gregg, who was coming off a serious knee injury, played better as the season went along and finished fourth on the team with 64 tackles.
When it comes to Reed, Ravens coaches believe he will be back for 2010 and are approaching the draft with that mentality. Lewis will be the Ravens’ defensive leader for as long as he dons purple and black.
At the same time, the Ravens know none of these players (no matter how much they may want to) can play forever.
“You always have to look ahead,” Defensive Coordinator Greg Mattison said. “There’s nothing hiding the fact that when you get to a certain age you’re going to slow down, you might not come back as fast from injuries and things like that.
“So you have to have a guy there that you can groom. You don’t ever want to be in a spot where you have to have a rookie start for you.”
With the moves the Ravens have made this offseason – adding wide receivers Anquan Boldin and Donte’ Stallworth and defensive end Cory Redding – the Ravens don’t have any glaring openings in the starting rotation.
That could mean they are in a position to think more into the future and inject youth into the defense.
“We don’t have to take a certain position,” Head Coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s not like we have a gaping hole at one position where we just don’t have a guy who can line up and play.”
