The Baltimore Ravens have placed the franchise tag on OLB Terrell Suggs, it was announced today by team executive vice president and general manager Ozzie Newsome.
The move means Suggs has been offered a one-year deal worth more than $8 million, the average salary of the five highest paid linebackers in the NFL last season. The designation allows the Ravens to continue negotiations with Terrell. If another team signs an offer sheet with Suggs, Baltimore can match that, or receive two first-round draft picks as compensation.
“We will continue to negotiate with ‘Sizzle’ with the intention of signing him to a long-term contract,†Newsome said. “He is one of our best players, and our success with re-signing our best players is very good. We’ve done this with players like Jonathan Ogden, Ray Lewis, Todd Heap, Ed Reed and Chris McAlister – and that was after we franchised Chris.â€
Suggs has played five seasons for the Ravens after being selected in the first round (10th choice) in the 2003 draft. He is already third, with 45, on Baltimore’s all-time sack list, behind Peter Boulware (70) and Michael McCrary (51), two players in the team’s Smyth Jewelers Ring of Honor. Since the start of the 2003 season, Suggs is sixth in the NFL in sacks, trailing Jason Taylor (59), Aaron Schobel (52), Dwight Freeney (47), Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (47) and Michael Strahan (46).
Photo by Sabina Moran
