• Safety Ed Reed leads the way: The Hall of Famer earned a 93.0 PFF grade in his time with the Ravens, the highest grade among the team's defensive players in the PFF era.
• Linebacker Ray Lewis isn't far behind: Lewis' 92.8 PFF coverage grade between 2006 and 2010 trailed only Brian Urlacher and London Fletcher among linebackers.
• Eric Weddle, Lardarius Webb and Marlon Humphrey represent top DBs: All land among the 10 highest-graded Ravens defenders since 2006.
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
The Baltimore Ravens have built a defensive legacy since their arrival in the NFL in 1996. While PFF doesn’t have data and grades going back that far, we can go back to 2006 and look at the team's highest-graded players on both sides of the ball.
We’ll dive into the offense later this week, but today we’re starting with the Ravens' 10 highest-graded players on defense.
1. S Ed Reed
- PFF Grade: 93.0
- Snaps: 7,363
PFF graded seven of Reed’s seasons in Baltimore, and he earned an 82.0-plus PFF coverage grade in all but one. He notched at least four interceptions in each of those seasons, including 11 in 2008. A magnet for the football, Reed registered 16 interceptions, nine pass breakups and five forced fumbles between the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
2. LB Ray Lewis
- PFF Grade: 91.8
- Snaps: 6,843
The first decade of Lewis’ career came before the PFF era, but the data we do have is still incredibly impressive. Before his final season in 2012, Lewis earned PFF grades of 80.0 or better in each of the previous six seasons. He goes down as of the greatest coverage linebackers to ever play in the NFL, with his 92.8 PFF coverage grade between 2006 and 2010 trailing only Brian Urlacher and London Fletcher.
3. S Eric Weddle
- PFF Grade: 90.4
- Snaps: 3,192
Weddle played only three seasons with the Ravens but made a big impact in his time on the roster. Each of those three seasons saw him earn a PFF coverage grade of 75.0 or better, despite his advancing years. His best season in Baltimore was his first in 2016, with Weddle totaling nine combined pass breakups and interceptions and earning an 88.7 PFF coverage grade.
4. DI Michael Pierce
- PFF Grade: 90.2
- Snaps: 1,986
Pierce’s second stint in Baltimore hasn’t really got going yet, with his 2022 season lasting just 91 snaps, but he was a phenomenal run defender in the first four years of his career with the Ravens. An undrafted free agent out of Samford in 2016, he registered 104 tackles resulting in a defensive stop over that initial span.
5. EDGE Terrell Suggs
- PFF Grade: 89.7
- Snaps: 11,030
Suggs made up for his overall lack of pass-rushing dominance by being a solid all-round player, and with career longevity. He won the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award in 2011 and also earned a career-high PFF grade. He posted an 87.6 mark that year, registering 64 pressures from 599 pass-rushing snaps and setting a career high with 52 tackles resulting in a defensive stop.
6. CB Lardarius Webb
- PFF Grade: 89.7
- Snaps: 6,551
Webb was an impressive player in coverage in Baltimore, totaling 18 interceptions and 50 pass breakups including the playoffs between 2009 and 2017. He’s also one of the best run-defending defensive backs in the PFF era. His 93.0 PFF run-defense grade between 2009 and 2017 was the sixth-best mark among the 69 defensive backs to play 2,000 or more snaps against the run in that span.
7. CB Marlon Humphrey
- PFF Grade: 86.0
- Snaps: 5,327
Humphrey has been in the NFL since 2017 and has just one season of grading out below 75.0 in coverage, and that was a season disrupted by injury. The Ravens have asked a lot of him in his time in Baltimore, including covering the slot when needed, and he has been able to do it all for the team.
8. EDGE Adalius Thomas
- PFF Grade: 84.4
- Snaps: 1,020
The PFF era includes grades and data from just one of Thomas’ seasons in Baltimore, but it was an impressive one all the same. As an edge defender in 2006, Thomas would line up all over the field for the Ravens, including seeing 134 snaps in the slot. Targeted 48 times in coverage that season, Thomas gave up just 254 yards on 34 receptions, none of which resulted in a touchdown.
9. EDGE Elvis Dumervil
- PFF Grade: 84.0
- Snaps: 2,315
Dumervil joined the Ravens in 2013 and became one of the best pass rushers in team history over the next four seasons. His PFF pass-rushing grade never dipped below 72.0 in his time with the Ravens, and he totaled 215 total pressures on 1,482 pass-rushing snaps.
10. DI Kelly Gregg
- PFF Grade: 83.3
- Snaps: 2,314
Despite being undersized for a nose tackle, Gregg was a force against the run for the Ravens. The highest-graded season of his career was back in PFF's first year of grading in 2006, with Gregg’s 90.2 PFF run-defense grade ranking fifth among players on the defensive interior and him also tying for fifth at the position with 39 tackles resulting in a defensive stop that season.
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