In a move that is sure to go over well with the Baltimore faithful, former Baltimore Ravens defensive lineman Haloti Ngata, who was traded to the Detroit Lions for fourth and ffifth-round picks earlier this offseason, said Wednesday that he has "never been a part of a defense like this," according to the Detroit Free-Press.
"You have so many athletes: [Jason Jones], [Ezekiel Ansah], [Caraun Reid], Darryl Tapp," Ngata said. "You just have so many playmakers all over the front on the D-line. I'm just excited to be a part of it."
This part of the offseason is always full of hyperbole, but come on. We're talking about a guy who spent nearly his entire career playing with legitimate all-time legends like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs. He spent the last few years playing with guys like Elvis Dumervil, Jimmy Smith and Pernell McPhee, as well as under-the-radar contributors like Brandon Williams and Daryl Smith.
Look, the Lions' defense is good. It could very well be great this year, as it was for much of 2014. Last season's unit in particular was one of the best run defenses of the last 25 years.
Even outside of the guys Ngata named, Detroit's still got valuable contributors DeAndre Levy, Darius Slay, Glover Quin, Rashean Mathis and more. There is a lot to like on the Lions' defense and every reason to expect a high level of performance once again. But that unit also lost Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley this offseason, arguably the two players that performed at the highest level on the defense last year. And the remaining group doesn't have any players on the level of Lewis, Reed or Suggs.
We'll give Ngata the benefit of the doubt here. We'll go ahead and chalk this one up to a player being excited and pumping up his new teammates in the press.
