Ravens Top 10 Draft Picks Of the Last 10 Years: #3 Terrell Suggs
Feb 3, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs (55) against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
With The Draft upcoming, i thought it would be appropriot to take a look at some of the shining accomplishment and most glaring faults in terms of draft picks.
Now That I Have Recapped the Ravens 10 worst draft picks, lets get to the good stuff, Here are the Ravens 10 best draft picks of the past 10 years. Like with the worst picks, I have a few parameters here.
- Players who signed a second contract with the team were given priority over those who did not.
- Non Starters were not included. There are way to many good picks for me to include players who don’t start, at least occasionally.
- Players on the Superbowl squad were given the edge over players who were not.
- Proven commodities are worth more than potential success.
Those arent shackling restraints, but because the Ravens draft so well, this was actually a bit of a challenge. There are probably a lot of player that should have made this list but didn’t, just because there wasn’t enough room on the list to include everyone.
We finally have arrived at former defensive player of the league Terrell Suggs.
The Ravens snagged Suggs at 10th overall in the 2003 NFL draft. It turned out that They probably should never have had a shot at him because he probably should have been to top pick in that draft. He certainly has turned into the best pro.
Suggs made his mark on the NFL immediately by doing what he did in college, get to the quarterback. Suggs took home defensive rookie of the year honors becoming just the second Raven to win the award(Peter Boulware being the other). As the years went on Suggs just got better and better. He developed a full lexicon of pass rushing moves and gained a better feel for the game. He began to drop into coverage and played well. He started to become a force in the run game as well. Now, When healthy Suggs is the most complete outside linebacker in the league. There are no flaws in his game. He is an elite pass rusher, one of the best run defenders in the league and among the top 3-4 OLBs when asked to cover the pass or man up against tight ends.
Suggs abilities all came together in an incredible 2011 campaign which ended in him being the runaway winner of the defensive player of the year award. He became the 3rd winner of the award in the Ravens short history(Ray lewis x2 and Ed Reed).
Suggs showed his toughness this year by playing through a torn achilles and a torn biceps. He missed about half of the season, but the fact that he played at all was incredible.
So how good is Suggs? Well, in 2008 when Suggs, Ray Lewis and Bart Scott were all free agents, Suggs was chosen over Ray Lewis as the player the franchise most wanted to keep. That says something.
When Healthy, Suggs is the best OLB in the NFL, and the third best pick in the past 10 years for the Ravens.