Shane Ray has a chance to overachieve for the Baltimore Ravens
Shane Ray has a chance to overachieve this season
Shane Ray has some good experience in the NFL. He had four sacks as a rookie in 2015. He doubled his sack total in 2016. Since then his career has dropped off. The thing about it is that he had an excuse. Injuries came for him and they got him hard. He’s only started 15 games in the past three seasons and 2016 was the only year he was involved in all 16 games. The key for Ray is staying healthy. He wouldn’t be the first player to get a series of injuries and then comeback to jump-start his career.
Ray had 12 sacks in two years. That’s the same amount of sacks that Matt Judon had in his first two seasons. Ray was on that kind of a trajectory. The Ravens signed Ray to a small contract and there was almost no risk.
The Ravens took a flier on Ray. They didn’t make this move because they thought he was going to be a star; they’re just hoping that he will outperform his contract. That’s why Ray is such an interesting player going into the 2019 season. The Ravens may have gotten a good player for almost nothing just because of his circumstances.
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Willie Snead had a wasted 2017 season and the Saints replaced him and let him sign with Baltimore. This could be a similar kind of move. Snead wasn’t done and Ray may be the next to prove that wearing the purple and black.
The expectations have been set so low for Ray that he doesn’t have to do much to exceed them. If he can just give the Ravens five sacks and be a successful part of the outside linebacker rotation, the Ravens will have won the bet they made on him.
Ray is in a perfect situation. He is in a mostly unproven group of pass rushers and playing time is going to have to be earned. Ray has already done it in the NFL at a fairly high level. He knows the point he has to get back to.
He has a chip on his shoulder, something that has always tied in well with playing like a Raven. The pecking order at outside linebacker hasn’t been set yet. It’s Matt Judon and everybody else. Ray has a chance to emerge as one of the most pleasant surprises in Baltimore.
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If he had a big season in Baltimore, it wouldn’t be a shocker. He came into this league as a very promising outside linebacker. He may be able to get back to showing that promise.