One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Ravens Sign Dumervil, Lose Lewis and Reed

All-pro defensive end Elvis Dumervil signed with the Baltimore Ravens this offseason.

Former Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis.
Lewis played 17 seasons with the Ravens and
brought two Lombardi trophies home to Baltimore
over that span.  Lewis retired after winning the Super Bowl
in February.

Safety Ed Reed was signed by the
Houston Texans after his recent
Super Bowl victory with Baltimore.

This came out this week,
created by Ed Reed
after he was shipped to
Houston.

After the Ravens won Super Bowl 47, Ray Lewis retired and Ed Reed was shipped to Houston.  The Ravens were obviously missing some tools on defense that they had last year, so they needed some more weapons on that side of the ball if they wanted to be successful.  So Baltimore went out and signed Elvis Dumervil, a defensive end who spent his career in Denver and made multiple Pro-Bowl appearances.  While Dumervil improves the Ravens defense, it is still not nearly the same as what it was last year, with Ed Reed and Ray Lewis striking fear into the running and throwing game of each and every offense.  Baltimore's run defense may be just as good this season with Dumervil replacing Ray Lewis as a running back's nightmare, but there is almost no way the Ravens can play the pass as well as they did in 2012 with Ed Reed in Texas.  I would not be suprised to see the Ravens sign a big weapon for their secondary, perhaps to replace Ed Reed.