Courtney Upshaw to Falcons: Latest Contract Details, Comments and Reaction

After experiencing four successful seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, Courtney Upshaw is moving on to a new challenge. The veteran linebacker agreed to terms Friday with the Atlanta Falcons on an undisclosed deal, the team announced.

Upshaw is one of the more interesting linebackers on this year's free-agent market in terms of seeing how teams would value his skill set.

Most edge defenders—even those who line up on the strong side—are expected to contribute to the pass rush. That was never the case for Upshaw, who has just five sacks in 64 career regular-season games. He's also never had more than 60 combined tackles in a single season.

As NFL Media's Ian Rapoport explained to Ryan Mink of BaltimoreRavens.com, that serves to make evaluating Upshaw difficult: "It's really tough to figure out [Upshaw] because he's never going to have the stats. But he's a very good football player. You can see what he does at the point of attack, how physical he is, setting the edge. He's not going to be in all the highlights, but he's been very valuable to the Ravens."

Though Pro Football Focus graded Upshaw as the 84th-best player at his position in 2015, his 83.7 run-defense grade was tied for 15th-highest.

Will Selva of NFL Network noted how the Ravens cleared the way to potentially re-sign Upshaw if they found the price right:

General manager Ozzie Newsome remained somewhat uncertain, though, in February about whether the team would be able to retain its starting linebacker.

"If we can bring back our full team from last year, we would," he said, per Mink. "But we just don't know. History will say we'll get some signed and some will go to other clubs. When that happens, I wish them well."

Staying with the Ravens seemingly made the most sense for Upshaw since Baltimore knows exactly how to use him and also cover for his defensive deficiencies.

Either he didn't feel the team's offer was good enough, or he relished the chance to start over in a new setting. Whatever the reason, it's a risk for both parties involved.

Upshaw won't radically transform Atlanta's defense unless he flashes the pass-rushing skills that have been so far absent in his NFL career. Still, he brings a wealth of experience in both the regular season and postseason, and his presence will provide depth at linebacker.

With most of the marquee free-agent linebackers already off the board, Atlanta was smart to target Upshaw as a more cost-effective addition to the squad.