Within minutes of the beginning of free agency on Tuesday, the Baltimore Ravens shipped defensive tackle Haloti Ngata to the Detroit Lions for a couple of draft picks. Although they have Brandon Williams and Timmy Jernigan to fill the void, it's possible they chase another Pro Bowl veteran?
Defensive tackle Vince Wilfork had his player option declined by the New England Patriots last week and the team avoided an $8.1 million hit to the salary cap. The veteran is still very much capable of playing after logging nearly 75% of the Patriots' defensive snaps just one season after rupturing his Achilles tendon.
Wilfork could be a perfect fit for the Ravens' interior defense.
"Granted, at 33 Wilfork isn't likely to land a big, long-term contract, but he isn't ready to call it quits, either. 'Can I still play football?' he wrote in a statement he released via Twitter. 'Hell yea!'" Bo Smolka of CSN Baltimore wrote last week. "It will be known soon enough whether that is back in New England, on a lesser contract, or whether Wilfork ends his career in another uniform. The same can also be said for [Haloti] Ngata and Baltimore."
While Ngata will still earn his $16 million in 2015 with the Lions, Wilfork will likely command much less than the $8.9 he was scheduled to earn.
The Ravens could take a look at Wilfork if the price is right after failing to reach an agreement on a contract extension with Ngata. Even at 33 years old, Wilfork would be able to contribute efficiently because Ravens' defensive coordinator Dean Pees likes to rotation his line, as seen below with the team's snap-count analysis from the 2014 season.
NT Brandon Williams 524 snaps (50.6 percent); DT Haloti Ngata 504 snaps (48.7 percent); DE Chris Canty 327 snaps (31.6 percent); DT Timmy Jernigan 290 snaps (28 percent); DE DeAngelo Tyson 264 snaps (25.5 percent); DE Lawrence Guy 200 snaps (19.3 percent); DT Christo Bilukidi 45 snaps (4.3 percent); DT Casey Walker 9 snaps (1 percent); and NT Terrence Cody 8 snaps (1 percent).
Following the Ngata trade, Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports suggested the Lions could still pursue Wilfork, but it could be more likely the Ravens do.
However, the Houston Texans are "making an effort to sign" Wilfork, according to Tania Ganguli of ESPN, which is interesting because Texans' defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel held the same position in New England when Wilfork was drafted by the Patriots.
