Baltimore Ravens: Terrell Suggs Expected to Return from Achilles Injury

Terrell Suggs is expected back with the Baltimore Ravens next season.

Steve Smith Sr. will return to play in 2016 after tearing his Achilles. Now, his teammate Terrell Suggs will also attempt to come back from his own Achilles injury, which he suffered in the Week One loss against Denver. The good news is Suggs is expected to return from the injury.

Suggs has been out of communication with the Ravens brass according to many outlets. Also, in an interview with the Baltimore Sun, Steve Smith Sr. said on Monday that Suggs was “a little vulnerable right now.” However, general manager/executive vice president Ozzie Newsome said the team was “looking forward to getting him back in here.” He also said that he had “numerous conversations” with Suggs. He also seems to understand why he wasn’t around much.

“I think he had his reasons why for not being here, both personal and then for some other reasons why he chose not to be in the building,” Newsome said. “The focal point is on the guys, as he would say, on the field, and not necessarily on him as a guy that’s rehabbing. He’s been rehabbing.”

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Suggs has had his second Achilles tear in the past three seasons. Although it may seem bleak for some, Newsome is very confident that he will return to the Ravens’ defense.

“In my last conversation to him, his answer to me was: I don’t want to leave the game the way I left in Denver,” Newsome said in the state-of-the-Ravens news conference Thursday. “So, I think he’s using that as motivation.”

Newsome also thinks that the familiarity with this situation will help Suggs in his rehab rather than hurt him. Suggs’ return will be based on his work ethic, which Newsome believes that Suggs has to come back from his injury.

“He’s had that injury before, so he knows what it takes to get back,” Newsome said. “I’m just looking forward to him getting back in here and being involved in the [organized team activities] and going through training camp and seeing where he is.”

During the state-of-the-Ravens news conference, team owner Steve Bisciotti has said that he has underestimated Suggs being out for the whole season. The Ravens have had their worst season since 2007, where they also went 5-11. The defense struggled for most of the season and Elvis Dumervil‘s sack numbers went from 17 in 2014, to six in 2015. The Ravens also went from 49 team sacks in 2014 to 37 in 2015.

“The one thing that I think I underestimated was when Suggs went down in Week 1,” Bisciotti said. “Now, at the end of the year, I think I didn’t come close to understanding the impact.”

Bisciotti went on to elaborate on his comments about Suggs’ injury and its impact on the team:

"It was the biggest domino effect of losing one guy. If anybody in this league said, ‘If we lost Joe Flacco in Week 1, where would we be?’ We’d say, ‘Not good.’If you had said, ‘What one guy can’t you afford to lose on defense?’ I think most of you would have said, ‘Suggs.’ I don’t know that, but if you didn’t, I think you can look back and say we could have lost anybody on that defense in Week 1 other than Suggs, and it wouldn’t have had the kind of trickle-down effect that it had on our whole defense. I just think you have to appreciate that."

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The Ravens hope to see Suggs return at full strength and have a better 2016 with their team leaders on offense (Flacco, Justin Forsett, Smith Sr.) to come back from season-ending injuries.

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