 Often times when you think about the Ravens and their past rush situation the big three come to mind Those big three being Yannick and Gakway, Matt Judon and Tyus Bowser. Yannick and Gakway was a mid-season trade Which they gave up draft capital in order to acquire him. Matt Judon is a former fifth-round pick Who they franchise tag to give him another shot to really prove himself and Tyus Bowser is a former second round pick Who started off his career slow, but he came on strong Toward the end of it and we often think about which one of those guys are the Ravens gonna bring back if any But there's also somebody that we don't really talk about too often And one of those guys that we don't talk about too often is pernell McPhee now pernell McPhee He obviously started his career off with the Baltimore Ravens end up going to Chicago and Washington And did his thing there, but now he came back home and two seasons ago He was out for the year he got the tricep injury, but then the Ravens said no come on back Come on back. Let's give it another go and he proved to be worth it. Although they he was signed to a cheap deal. It just Just what he brings to the Ravens both on and off that field now McPhee has that dog in So if they brought him back that wouldn't be a surprise, but there's another guy Who nobody's really talking about like that and even me myself I find myself not talking about him too often too because oftentimes I just forget I forget it Happens, but my guy Josh Hoffman in his question from subscriber He recalled it to my memory and that guy is G hard ward G hard ward is the forgotten man at pass rusher for the Baltimore Ravens and with G hard ward We saw especially in the playoffs what he could do and with G hard ward He actually seems like the guy that the Ravens could most likely re-sign One because of the price tag, but two because of the style Now we heard Eric Acosta in his press conference when he talked about with pass rushes how pass rushes They're not as important as they used to be because Quarterbacks are getting the ball out quicker than ever. So now you would think Well, I would think that maybe the Ravens they will sort of change their style a little bit Change what they're looking for with that front four change what they're looking for with that pass rush And they started to do this last year and we talked about this too Especially guys like Kaleis Campbell guys like Justin Matta BK guys that you can move around But guys that can provide that interior pressure guys like a pernil McPhee guys like a G hard ward Because if you can provide that interior pressure That gives you a better chance at breaking up passes by the quarterback at get into the quarterback at flustering that quarterback because Quarterbacks can step up in a pocket when the pressure is coming from the outside But if it's coming straight forward, oh, man, that's trouble. That's trouble because quarterbacks got a run around They they start scrambling out of the pocket They start going crazy when it comes straight up the middle and that just is so disruptive But let's look at my guy Josh Hoffman and the question that he had about G hard ward and I always say timing is everything This is something that's been on my mind for a little bit and G hard ward just last night We saw his tweet. He says it's new money on the way Now what could that mean? Could it mean that he's gonna resign with the Ravens or could it mean that he's just ready for free agency? We'll see over the next couple of weeks Maybe even over the next couple of days now if we see it over the next couple of days And that would obviously mean that the Ravens made a move with G hard ward But if it takes a couple of weeks then that would mean we got the free agency and he left anyway My guy Josh Hoffman He said hello and great in the team keep it clean and all the off-season talk about who we can and can't most can't Keep at the edge positions. I hear almost nothing about G hard ward now I love this guy regular season only he had three sex and ten games that he was active And he wasn't getting a ton of snaps and got quite had three and nine games almost limp also limited snaps Yeah, I one of my guys he called a unique in God quay the best almost Sack getting past Russia in the league because he will come close so many times But he just wouldn't close a deal and it would be so fresh He's like oh you see that 91 coming around the corner, but he just couldn't finish the job. It's all good And then Jude on has six in 13 games getting by far the most snaps now sacks aren't the whole story That's true. I did not see Ward looking so bad in coverage And I think he holds the edge as well as Jude on maybe better if we fact in consistency and Definitely better than in God quay who also doesn't seem to do past coverage at least not so far Yeah, that's um, that's something else that we've been talking about too with a lot of people will compare Jude on and in God quay and Right now for the Ravens Jude on is the better fit. He's really the better fit He's the more versatile guy. Yeah, unique is the better past Russia But he's just a pure past Russia. That's it in Winx defense He loves when he can move guys around he loves when he can do multiple things with multiple people Now there are a few guys that are just I don't want to call them one-trick ponies because I don't want to sound disrespectful at all But you got a guy like Brandon Williams his job Stuff to run To eat eat blockers up So I guess he's not a one-trick pony But what he does he does it well, and that's what he's used for but most guys are on this defensive line and at the Past rush positions they can do multiple things, but anyway, let's keep on going Ward doesn't get as many tackles as Jude on well Ward is also um, he's not on the field that much He's not on the field that much and if y'all remember when we first got in Gakwe Jihad war he went to the inactive list He went to the inactive list and he was frustrated. You saw him put on Twitter free Hattie Free Hattie But anyway, let's keep it moving. I'll say Jude on shows more flash when he's on He's even diagnosed some screens in 2020 which were a beautiful thing In fact, let's say him and in Gakwe are both clearly better for sake of argument Ward costs a fraction of what these other two would if we assume they are 15 million a year and Ward is a 1-million-a-year guy like he was this year. That's less than 10% of the cap hit Ward requires compared with them So yes, that that's why I say that with Jihad Ward. I think it's most more likely that he gets re-signed rather than a Matt Jude on Rather than a unique in Gakwe, but let's keep it going. He said for getting the stats We all saw what Ward is about as far as I can tell all this guy does is be solid and make plays and apparently One other thing between Mondays and Saturdays. He did something to get himself made inactive and put underneath Ferguson on the depth chart And that's no shot at Ferguson at all but Anyway, let's keep moving except when it came to crunch time suddenly. He was active. Mmm timing is everything Because yeah playoff time. Oh had he was free He was free Regular season after they in Gakwe trade. Oh you inactive But postseason they say, oh wait a minute. Let's get this dog back on the field anyway Kind of like the Ravens did with the nail Elibi Bryant McKinney Ben Powers and the whole list of people who have been Dog housed I don't buy they made Ward inactive because Ferguson was the second-round pick But let's say I buy it now. We will see because he's an unrestricted free agent So I know um that does happen sometimes with teams they put pride in front of in front of potential and What I mean when I say that is when just because of somebody's status as a higher draft pick as a Higher price free agent. They'll have them active over somebody. That's clearly better than them Just because of again that status So he's saying that he doesn't believe that this was the case Anyway, let's continue. He said as far as I can tell this is the guy We want to keep and if we factor in the cap and how much we need to start shifting money to the offensive side We really are getting a steal. Has Ward been dogged house What do you expect they'll do about resigning him or not? Assuming he wants to come back in short. I love to hear your G hard Ward take. Thank you as always Josh Hoffman shout out to my guy, man And again, yeah with G hard Ward. I think if they want to bring him back. I Think he should come back. I Really do because I think the way that the Ravens seem to be changing air Like I said, Eric Dacosta spoke on it and again with the past rush They had a Jude on and they had a Bowser and they had an in God quay and It just they it was so much almost It was so many almost sex so much almost pressure and A lot of times quarterbacks will just be sitting back there chilling Somebody they will be sitting back. They're just just chilling just relaxing taking it easy. Okay. Yes the passing play for us Ravens, but they got a pass rush coming in. Oh Yeah, that's okay. I'll just wait it out. See how things go Hmm. Oh, okay. Oh, here comes in God quay. Oh, okay. Let me step up a little bit. Oh, it comes you don't Excuse me, dude on. Oh, here comes Bowser. All right. Let me get out the way and It would just be a lot of all and I'm not saying that If you you keeping Jihad Ward changes those almost to Guarantee sex, but the money the money is a big factor and God quay is gonna he's gonna cost a ton For a jude on he's gonna cost a ton and this is whether you franchise them or you sign them to long-term deal Unless they decided they have to take some crazy cheap deal Which I don't expect either one of them to But and Ravens certainly aren't gonna use a franchise tag on it because if they use a franchise tag on either one of those guys That's the entire cap. That's it. It's done So they can't use the franchise tag. They can't they can't afford to So again, I expect both of those guys gone. I Don't think they'll bring either one back now with Bowser. I think Bowser's up in the air Think it depends on his price tag, but with Jihad Ward right now His I can't say his value is low But his price tag is low and they can use the limited snaps against him They can use his previous price against it now You would need a little bit of a raise, but I think what Jihad Ward could bank on Would be promise Would be the promise of more playing time the promise of a bigger role because again if those three guys leave and Especially if pernil McPhee and I expecting to bring back pernil McPhee again. I really do but if those guys leave Like that that's a big some big holes on this defensive side of the ball Now you could of course go draft and I do expect them to draft some guys too at the edge positions and whatnot outside linebackers But you still want to have some in-house guys too Derek Wolf He's another one. It was said during the season that they were working on a contract extension with him He even said I think on Instagram that he would be back, but ain't been nothing yet Ain't been nothing yet. So right. He's a pending free agent too. So you got Derek Wolf pernil McPhee Tyus Bowser Matt Jude on unique in God quay and Jihad Ward all of those guys Jihad war would be the cheapest He'll be the cheapest one But he would give you good value So we'll see what happens with Jihad Ward and hopefully like he won't be at the end of this season Well when free agency hits I'm out