The Ravens and Terrell Suggs avoided a grievance by reaching a creative compromise.

The sides reached an agreement on a one-year franchise tag tender worth close to $8.5 million, which will pay him under a new position -- hybrid defensive end/linebacker.

It is believed that the NFL Players Association and the NFL Management Council are finalizing details to sign off on the settlement.

"His job is to rush the quarterback, and I thought it was unfair that he had to live under the linebacker franchise tag," said Gary Wichard, Suggs' agent. "So, Ozzie (Newsome, Ravens general manager) and I said, 'Let us resolve this as opposed to the attorneys.' I tip my hat off to Ozzie for creating a new franchise tag."

The Ravens used the franchise tag on Suggs on Feb. 19, keeping him off the free-agent market with a one-year tender worth $8.065 million (the average of the five highest-paid linebackers in the NFL).

But Suggs filed a grievance on March 5, saying he should receive the one-year tag of $8.879 million for defensive ends because more than half of the snaps he played came as a pass-rushing end. But the Ravens argue that Suggs plays linebacker in the team's base defense and has always been listed as a linebacker on the Pro Bowl ballot.

Keeping Suggs is considered the biggest move by the Ravens this offseason.

Suggs, 25, would have become one of the youngest players in NFL history to reach free agency, but the Ravens weren't going to let him hit the open market. With linebacker Ray Lewis and cornerback Chris McAlister getting older, the Ravens see Suggs as one of their future cornerstones on defense.

A first-round pick by the Ravens in 2003, Suggs has become one of the NFL's top pass rushers.

He is third on the Ravens' all-time list with 45 sacks, trailing Peter Boulware (70) and Michael McCrary (51). And since 2003, Suggs has recorded the sixth-most sacks in the league.

Last season, Suggs finished with a career-low five sacks but had a career-high 95 tackles.

Plus, Suggs fits the team's defensive profile. He's loud and bold. He has the swagger that has long defined the Ravens defense.

"You look at Suggs, Haloti Ngata and Ed Reed, those are the three pieces that the defense will be built around as we move forward," Newsome said.

This is the first time the Ravens have used the tag since 2004, when they franchised McAlister.

The next step is to see if the Ravens can sign Suggs to an extension, keeping him with the team beyond this season.

"He is one of our best players, and our success with re-signing our best players is very good," Newsome said earlier this year. "We've done this with players like Jonathan Ogden, Ray Lewis, Todd Heap, Ed Reed and Chris McAlister -- and that was after we franchised Chris."

Asked if Suggs is open to an extension with the Ravens, Wichard said, "Absolutely."

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