Terrell Suggs was the best defensive player in the NFL last year.
Do the fans believe that he was also the best overall player in the league?
We'll find out Wednesday night at the ESPY awards, as Suggs was nominated for Best NFL Player. He's up against Saints quarterback Drew Brees, Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski.
No defensive player has ever won the award and Suggs knows that the odds are stacked against him.
"It's kind of hard considering all of those guys either throw or catch touchdowns and that I'm the only defensive player," Suggs said during a recent appearance on ESPN’s NFL Live. "I'm kind of hoping they cancel each other out."
In addition to being offensive players, Suggs also believes that his fellow nominees have another advantage over him.
"All of those guys look a lot better than me, but that's cool," he joked.
No Ravens player or the team overall has ever won an ESPY in the 20 years of the awards show.
The closest the Ravens came to winning an ESPY was in 2010 when the movie The Blindside about Michael Oher's life won Best Sports Film.
The likelihood appears slim that Suggs will be able to take down last season's Most Valuable Player (Brees) or last year's ESPYs winner for Best NFL Player (Aaron Rodgers), but Suggs isn't ruling himself out yet.
"So you're telling me there's a chance," Suggs said, referencing the famous line from the movie Dumb and Dumber. "That's all I need. It only takes a single grain of sand to move the world."
The Ravens outside linebacker is coming off a season where he registered 14 sacks, 70 tackles, seven forced fumbles and two interceptions. Since being nominated last month, Suggs has been jockeying for votes on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/untouchablejay4/status/222364877191249920 this on Monday: "I NEED Y'ALL HELP. LAST CHANCE TO VOTE FOR NFL player of the year! Time for defense to win an ESPY!!"
You can help him out by voting for him on ESPN’s website. Voting closes Wednesday at 8:59 p.m., and the awards show begins at 9:00.
