3 Defensive tackles Ravens can sign after letting Michael Brockers walk

The Baltimore Ravens pulled their deal with Michael Brockers due to unforeseen circumstances, so which free-agent defensive tackles could they now sign?

Outside of trading for Calais Campbell, the Baltimore Ravens had remained relatively quiet throughout the first week of 2020 NFL free agency. Sure, they tagged Matthew Judon and re-signed a handful of guys but, overall, their only big addition was replacing Michael Pierce with former Ram Michael Brockers.

Initially, the Ravens and Brockers had agreed to a three-year, $30 million deal with over one-third of that money guaranteed. However, that hit a snag on Friday as the team was working to revamp the initial deal with the free-agent defensive tackle.

According to a report from NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, the Ravens were concerned about a high-ankle sprain that Brockers suffered at the end of the 2019 season and showed up on his physical. Thus, they were trying to rework the deal. But as negotiations hit a snag at that point, Baltimore elected to pull the contract off the table.

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Soon after, Brockers agreed to a deal that will bring him back to Los Angeles. In the meantime, however, the Ravens are left looking for more answers. Pierce has already agreed to join the Vikings, meaning they now need to find some depth at defensive tackle to fill a hole.

While general manager Eric DeCosta could wait until the 2020 NFL Draft to plug the hole, they could also scour the secondary early free agency market to see what they could add there. And with that in mind, here are three still-available free agents the Ravens could bring in at defensive tackle.

3. Mike Daniels

Mike Daniels played his first season of his eight-year career not in Green Bay, joining the Lions for the 2019 campaign. The veteran who was released by the Packers due to growing injury concerns showed that was a viable worry as he played in only nine games for Detroit, registering just 1.0 sack, 10 combined tackles and two quarterback hits.

Having said that, if the Ravens could get Daniels on a cheap deal in a rotation, he has 30 sacks, 70 quarterback hits and a lot of great film over his eight total seasons. Essentially, he can be a valuable veteran asset that they can put pieces around to insure themselves in case of another injury.

2. Timmy Jernigan

Baltimore is a familiar setting for Tim Jernigan as the big defensive tackle and former second-round pick spent the first three years of his career in a Ravens uniform. However, the team traded him to Philadelphia where health has been a concern. Jernigan has played in only 13 games over the past two seasons.

Even still — removing the 2018 season where he played only three games — Jernigan has 17.5 sacks, 28 tackles for loss and 44 QB hits in 68 games for his career. If the Ravens can get a clean bill of health for their former draft pick, bringing him back on a cheap contract would be worthwhile.

1. Shelby Harris

A seventh-round pick by the Raiders in 2014, Shelby Harris never cracked the rotation in Oakland. But after two seasons mulling about, he ended up in Denver in 2017 and found his niche. And after two strong campaigns, he had a breakout 2019 season as he started all 16 games and registered career-highs in sacks (6.0), combined tackles (49), passes defensed (9) and tackles for loss (8).

Harris is not a game-changing defender. However, putting him up front with Campbell and Brandon Williams would create a solid core on the defensive that’s capable of both getting pressure on the quarterback and standing up well against the run.