During Pernell McPhee’s rookie season in 2011, he had six sacks to rank second on the Ravens behind Terrell Suggs.
The last two seasons haven’t seen McPhee build on that promising debut. He’s added just 3.5 sacks to his total, something that he has designs on changing this season.
“My individual goal is to hopefully lead the team in sacks,” McPhee said, via the team’s website. “That’s going to be hard to do when you have Elvis Dumervil and Courtney Upshaw and Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata on the field. It’s going to be hard, but that’s my personal expectation. I want to get at least seven or eight sacks this year.”
McPhee mentions Dumervil, Upshaw and Suggs and that group of players is likely to be the biggest stumbling block to realizing his goal. McPhee has always flashed pass rushing ability when given the opportunity, but they have come less often than he’ll need to post big numbers.
The good news for the Ravens is that their enviable depth at outside linebacker should keep quarterbacks under pressure for four quarters come the regular season regardless of which player winds up with the most sacks come Week 17.