The time may be soon approaching when the Ravens have to consider giving Haloti Ngata a raise. Ngata just finished his second year in the league, and is entering the third year of a five-year, $11.9 million contract he signed back in ‘06.
At this point, it would be premature to consider tearing up Ngata’s existing contract in order to give him a greener extension. But after the ‘08 season, when Ngata will have just two years left on his rookie deal, the front office will need to make a move.
It is clear that the former Oregon defensive standout is among the rising stars in the NFL. Well before the ‘06 draft took place, Ngata was considered to be a consensus top five pick, but inconsistent workouts and garnering an unwarranted tag of being lazy propelled his stock to drop. As a result, the massive DT lost millions of dollars after finally landing in Baltimore’s lap with the 12th selection.
The team knows that they got a steal in Ngata. When he is on top of his game, no offensive lineman can contain him. At 6-foot-4 and 330-pounds, Ngata is not only a large body, but he has incredible strength and quickness for a man his size. Unlike most players at his position, Ngata is lean and athletic and he can move fluidly from sideline-to-sideline.
Finding physical marvels like Ngata is nearly impossible and once a team has a player like that, it has to lock him up for the long haul.
This trend of teams keeping their blue-chip defensive tackles has gone on for the past few years. Players like Richard Seymour, John Henderson, Marcus Stroud, Casey Hampton and Jamal Williams have received lucrative paydays to stay with their respective teams.
The next man up will be Albert Haynesworth of the Tennessee Titans. Haynesworth is slated to become an unrestricted free agent in March, although there is virtually no chance that he will hit the open market. The Titans will tag Haynesworth if they are unable to reach an accord before the free agency period begins.
One way or another, the financial structure of Haynesworth’s impending deal will serve as the blueprint for Ngata. Depending on how Ngata performs in ‘08, the front office will either pay Ngata close to the amount of money that Haynesworth will receive, or they will pay him an amount commensurate with the figures other upper echelon tackles are now earning. After all, Haynesworth is a cut above the rest of the competition, so he deserves to be the contractual standard by which the other players at his position are measured.
Ngata has the chance to be as much of an impact player as Haynesworth was last season. As the season progressed, he was becoming more and more of a force. He was nearly unblockable while taking on some of the top-notch guards in the league.
With two years of experience under his belt, Ngata may turn in his best and most consistent performance to date in ‘08. And if he does, the organization will need to call his agent and start negotiating to help him recoup the lost dollars that slipped through his fingers when he dropped down the draft charts…
Many observers of the Ravens believe that Steve McNair’s days in Baltimore are numbered. The quarterback who helped the purple and black achieve a 13-3 mark in ‘06 appeared as a shadow of himself in ‘07.
Yet, count me among the handful of people who still believe in McNair.
McNair suffered a devastating groin injury in the very first game of the season, against the Cincinnati Bengals. Since that aggravation occurred, he was never the same.
Looking back at the tape from that game, it is clear that McNair’s accuracy was off following the hit that caused the injury. He could not step into his throws as he did before, his footwork seemed choppy and he would often throw the ball flat footed.
McNair never took the proper time to rest so that he could fully recover. If that injury is not treated properly, it can linger or be re-aggravated. Ultimately, the Ravens shut down McNair with a somewhat convenient labrum injury, but at that point he was on the verge of being benched anyway.
Now, the question is, how much of what we saw of McNair last season was real or merely an illusion?
This is definitely an issue that the Ravens have to figure out in the next couple of months, if they have not already made that determination. McNair is among a handful of players whose contracts will need to be touched up or dissolved entirely.
If the organization truly believes that McNair can bounce back, then they should keep him at a reduced cost. Given the sizeable cap hit that the team would have to absorb if it released McNair, keeping the veteran QB would be a more prudent economical move than letting him go…
And now, my quick hitting points about Super Bowl XLII:
1) Note to Bill Belichick: Ditch the red sweatshirt.
2) Another note to Belichick: The next time you have the chance to attempt a 48-yard field goal as opposed to going for a fourth-and-really long conversion, settle for the kick. It was simply way too early in the ballgame to go for it on fourth down.
3) Is Justin Tuck a man among boys or what? Tuck was a terror on the inside all night long. He ate Patriots Pro Bowler Logan Mankins for lunch. In fact, things got so out of control for Mankins that he needed help from center Dan Koppen to keep Tuck at bay. Once the double team occurred, the edges opened up for Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan, and those two were able to win their one-on-one matchups.
4) We all underestimated how much the San Diego Chargers exposed New England in the AFC Championship. A healthy Chargers team would have beaten the Patriots running away in Foxboro. New York was able to finish the job.
