Well, free agency hasn’t exactly started out with a bang for the Ravens.

The media’s focus has (rightfully) been the losses and not the gains. But in the midst of losing some of our favorite players–Boldin, Ellerbe, Pollard, Kruger–the Ravens DO have a shiny new toy for the defensive line.

Who is Chris Canty?

Chris Canty spent the last three seasons playing for the NYG after spending his first four years in the league with Dallas. Compared to what NY paid Canty three years ago (6-year contract for $42M with $17.25M guaranteed), the Ravens got him for a relative bargain.

And, like any good free agent signed by the Ravens, Canty has a nasty streak–in the first quarter of the week 13 NYG vs. WSH game Canty put a high, borderline late, hit on RG3. Wouldn’t mind seeing that against Roethlisberger. Canty shows good hustle in most games–we saw him get down field to chase plays several times. From what little we can gather from film, it seems like he will fit the Ravens “attitude”.

On to the Measurables…

Canty is a big dude. He’s officially listed at 6’7”, 317lbs, meaning he’s as tall as Jah Reid and as heavy as Marshall Yanda. He’s got very long arms and uses his hands well (for the most part). He’s also got surprising speed for a man of his size (see the gif below) and plenty of power. He’s very good at taking on double teams and has a good motor–he will fight through the double team for run stops and QB disruptions.

Here, Canty is playing DE in Giants’ 3-man front. Watch him turn the corner on the GB tackle and take Rodgers down by his shoestrings as he tries to scramble.

EDIT: GIF removed per NFL

Better yet, Canty is a versatile lineman who can play multiple positions. While most of his snaps with the Giants came at RDT (right defensive tackle) in the 4-3, he can also play LDT (left defensive tackle) and DE.

All in all, Canty is a good fit for the Ravens. He plays mostly as a penetrating DT in the 4-3 (see below), but he also seems to be able to 2-gap in a 3-4 since he mostly begins his rushes by bulling. This is important since the Ravens play a 4-3/3-4 hybrid, rarely sticking to one or the other for long.

Here, you see Canty (#99) lined up at RDT, his typical position. He penetrates the B gap and makes the guard look silly en route to sacking Matt Ryan.

EDIT: GIF removed per NFL

Dan looked at all 300 of Canty’s snaps…seriously.

And one thing stuck out on tape? Canty NEVER gets pushed back (see below). For this reason alone we believe he will be a solid run defender and an improvement over other DTs (like Cody) who got blown off the line.

Here, Canty is once again playing RDT. He takes on a double team at the point of attack, refuses to be moved backward, throws the guard down, and stuffs the run. This is an impressive show of leverage and strength.

EDIT: GIF removed per NFL

So This Canty Guy Sounds Amazing So Far…

But are there any knocks on Canty? Sure. He destroyed his knee in his senior year at Virginia, tearing the ACL, MCL, and PCL. He missed the first six games of last season after undergoing offseason knee surgery. He is 30 and was a situational player for the Giants last year (he took 300 snaps… compare that to Ngata’s 1,071).

Canty is also not a factor on every play. He sometimes disappears (to the point of being largely absent) and no teams will have to gameplan strictly around him.

But we’ve seen more positives than negatives. Once he returned healthy last year, his snap count increased. Based on the way he was used against the Ravens in week 16, we believe he can be more than a situational player. In fact, he was a starter for all four years in Dallas.

Bottom Line

Canty is a nice addition for the Ravens. He is an immediate improvement to a D-line that struggled at times last year.

And the Ravens didn’t overpay, either–ProFootballFocus valued his 2012 performance at $2.9M, and he only played 300 snaps.

The Ravens are paying him just $8M over three years, meaning if he performs at a similar level for three seasons (and we get more than 300 snaps a year out of him, which is likely), then signing Canty will have been a great bargain.

Hey everyone–we are Chris Worthington (@BSLChrisW) and Dan Bryden (@BSL_Bryden), two good friends and past college roommates as well as avid Ravens fans. We have been using the new All-22 Coaches film to try to get a closer look at the Ravens this year. We hope you enjoy it, and we STRONGLY encourage you to leave comments or questions in the forum–one of our primary goals when we decided to start writing was to foster conversation.