Pro Football Focus will be providing analysis for every major signing and trade during the 2015 free-agency period, accounting primarily for the quality of player and his fit with his new team, and focusing less on the financial terms of the deal.
Here are trade grades for the reported deal in which the Baltimore Ravens send Haloti Ngata and a seventh-round pick to the Detroit Lions in exchange for a fourth- and fifth-round pick.
Link to grade articles on every major deal
Lions get: DL Haloti Ngata, 2015 seventh-round pick
Ravens get: 2015 fourth- and fifth-round picks
Detroit Lions: B-minus
The Lions, needing to reload their defensive line after losing Ndamukong Suh and being no closer to bringing back Nick Fairley, decided to do so with a trade for Haloti Ngata from the Baltimore Ravens.
The Lions received Ngata and a seventh-round pick from the Ravens in exchange for a fourth- and fifth-round pick (all 2015 draft picks), giving them a massive interior presence and a player who has in the past been one of the league's most dominant forces inside. However, Ngata isn't quite the player he once was.
The 2014 version of Ngata was still a reasonable run defender, grading plus-8.9 (which ranked 11th) and his pass rushing wasn't far behind despite the lowly end result of two sacks. He tallied 18 total pressures from 327 pass-rushing snaps but had numerous other plays in which he quickly beat his man but the ball was out quickly. The issue is that Ngata's combined plus-18.4 grade was only good enough for ninth at the 3-4 end position and was less than half of what the best players at the position posted (ignoring J.J. Watt, whose score was on another level).
At 31 years old, the odds are that Ngata's best days have passed. However, the Lions have sent only a pair of mid-round picks to acquire him, and likely fancy their chances of bolstering the unit behind him before his play declines to the point that it becomes a problem. Ngata will likely remain a solid run defender for the team and still has the physical tools to be a threat rushing the passer in this Lions scheme, which calls for their interior linemen to attack a little more than the Ravens' scheme.
Ultimately this is a solid move for Detroit with limited risk, but it's not a long-term solution for the position.
Baltimore Ravens: C
Baltimore got rid of one of their stalwarts on the defensive side of the ball, jettisoning Ngata and his $16 million cap number along with a seventh-round pick for just a pair of mid-round draft picks (Detroit's fourth- and fifth-rounders).
Ngata has been a fantastic player for the Ravens, but the team has in the past proved the ability to plug bodies in to replace losses without many problems.
This year looks likely to be no different, with Timmy Jernigan grading very positively in his 312 snaps in 2014 and Brandon Williams looking like a very strong run defender. The Ravens will use those draft picks to good effect, retooling their roster. And though the loss of Ngata will be felt, they should survive relatively unscathed overall.
However, there is only so much on the positive side you can say about a move that is ultimately just a salary dump, and the best that can be said for the Ravens here is that they rid themselves of a burdensome contract and got picks back in the process.