Baltimore Ravens should bring back Elvis Dumervil
By Ben Palmer
The Baltimore Ravens released linebacker Elvis Dumervil in early March, but the team should strongly consider bringing him back as he would still be an asset to the team.
In early March, the Baltimore Ravens released outer linebacker Elvis Dumervil in an effort to free up some cap space. The move ultimately did free up around $6M in cap space for the team.
The thing is though, releasing Dumervil was a mistake. The Ravens were already in need of a linebacker once Zach Orr surprisingly retired, and letting Dumervil go put them in the hole even more.
When the Baltimore Ravens released Dumervil, general manager Ozzie Newsome had nothing but incredibly positive things to say about him:
“Elvis Dumervil has been a leader for us on and off the field. He has made a positive impression on our franchise, and we have been fortunate to have him as a Raven. We respect his professionalism and the way he plays the game, in addition to his extensive charitable efforts that have greatly impacted our Baltimore community and his parents’ native country of Haiti.”
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Newsome also later said, “We have not closed the door on the possibility of him returning in the future.” which just adds fuel to the idea that the Ravens may consider, or are already considering, bringing Dumervil back.
We’ve talked here extensively about who the Ravens might be drafting, and there’s little doubt in my mind that they’ll be attempting to draft an outer linebacker to upgrade their pass rush, both because they’re low on viable linebackers and because Terrell Suggs’ career is slowly coming to a close and they need someone to replace him.
But they have a lot of other needs to address as well, including wide receiver, offensive line, and even possibly running back. Elvis Dumervil, while not the Pro Bowler that he used to be, is still a very serviceable linebacker who knows the defense well and is a positive presence in the locker room.
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There are a lot of good linebackers in the draft, as we’ve written about, but there’s no guarantee they’ll turn out to be anything special at all. The Ravens need to re-sign Dumervil, likely to a lesser deal than before to still save money, because they won’t make it to the Super Bowl, or maybe even the playoffs, with the pass rush they currently have.