The Baltimore Ravens have focused much of the offseason fixing their defense, yet the pass-rushing department is still a big question mark. The Ravens don’t have an elite pass rusher on their roster, and at this point in the offseason, the roster is what it’s going to be for the most part.
The Ravens are counting on a big second-year jump from Odafe Oweh. That’s quite possible, as Oweh is still growing into his position in the NFL. In theory, he could be the double-digit sack artist the team needs. That’s still a lot of projection for a player with just 5 sacks on his resume.
Oweh is one of the most exciting players the Ravens have had in a while. The one big knock on him coming out of Penn State was that he needed to learn how to finish. Oweh had no sacks in his final season with the Nittany Lions. While he exceeded expectations, especially early on in his rookie season, he still has work to do.
The Ravens drafted David Ojabo in the second round, a pick that should pan out but Ojabo won’t be ready to play in September. The Ravens didn’t sign or draft any other edge rushers this offseason. Bringing back Justin Houston remains an option. It would be a good move. Without Houston, the Ravens are left with Oweh, Tyus Bowser, Jaylon Ferguson, and Daelin Hayes on the edges of their defensive front.
I’ll allow some hype on a healthy Daelin Hayes. I liked him a lot coming out of Notre Dame in the 2021 NFL Draft. We’re still talking about a fifth-round pick that is more sturdy and strong than he is explosive and quick. Hayes has the chance to be good but you can’t bank on big numbers coming from him in the box score.
Tyus Bowser is a better all-around linebacker than he is a pass rusher. The good news is that Bowser is coming off a career-high 7 sacks. The light seems to be on and Bowser is one of the hardest workers on the roster. It takes outside linebackers three to four seasons to develop into the players they will be for the peak of their careers. Bowser could be reaching the prime years of his career. The question is how high can his production get?
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The defensive line made very little impact in the 2021 season. Calais Campbell was their best player and thankfully for the Ravens, he’s coming back. Travis Jones could be a nice addition to the defensive line and Justin Madubuike enters a very important third season. There’s some reason for optimism though it’s not like the defensive line has been completely retooled. With Derek Wolfe’s return looking more and more uncertain, there is still some concern about this unit. The Ravens also brought back a familiar face, Brent Urban.
One of the reasons that Don Martindale isn’t the defensive coordinator anymore is that the pass rush wasn’t enough. Martindale relied on his creativity to get pressure on the quarterbacks. Good quarterbacks often saw that for what it was, phantom pressure. Mike Macdonald is charged with getting more pressure on quarterbacks. Real pressure, viable game-changing pressure.
The Ravens have boosted their secondary this offseason and should they stay healthy, the team field an elite group of defensive backs. The Ravens should feel confident at the linebacker position. Patrick Queen figured out a lot in his second NFL season, while Josh Bynes was a stabilizing agent for the defense. And that again brings us back to the pass rush. In theory and on paper having a great secondary should help.
It has worked wonders for the Ravens in the past. The 2019 team had a secondary that made their front seven functional. Vintage Ravens teams had Ed Reed back in the secondary and for years, the threat of a ballhawk helped the entire defense and got quarterbacks to work themselves into a panic or a bad spot. The 2006 Ravens were dominant defensively and a large part of that was a secondary with Reed, Chris McAlister, Samari Rolle, and Dawan Landry.
Still, the 2006 defense had Terrell Suggs, Adalius Thomas, Bart Scott, Haloti Ngata, and Trevor Pryce. The best pass-rushing defense the Ravens was the byproduct of a fully weaponized front seven. The 2022 squad doesn’t have proven quarterback crushers. Should the Ravens have a great run defense? You bet. Should the Ravens have a dangerous secondary to throw against? You better believe it. Is there enough pass rush? To be determined!
Having a great secondary increases the chance of coverage sacks where the opposing quarterback holds the ball too long. The secondary helps the front seven, yet the front seven has to hold up its end of the bargain. Without players winning one on one matchups up front the work of the defensive backs only goes so far. The Ravens’ lack of difference makers that go after the quarterback could become a weak link.
The dream scenario for Baltimore is that Oweh and Bowser both get to double-digit sacks. When Ojabo returns (let’s say in late October) he could get three to five sacks optimistically speaking. Calais Campbell can’t be counted on for double-digit sacks anymore, but you have to hope he can offer you four or five quarterback takedowns. Let’s say Travis Jones has three sacks as a rookie and Madubuike matches him. Without blitzing factoring in, that’s 36 sacks from your defensive front in a best-case scenario.
That right there gets them about what they had last year as a team total. The 2021 Ravens had 34 sacks. Last year Bowser, Oweh, and Houston accounted for 16.5 sacks and the rest came from 12 different players all chipping in one or two, mostly on a blitz. If you told me blitzing and a few extra coverage sacks get the Ravens to 42 sacks, I’d buy that. With a strong secondary that could be enough.
The Ravens have a lot of the pieces synonymous with a Super Bowl contender. If they find themselves in the playoffs against Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, having enough pass rush is essential. The one thing that could hold the Ravens back is pass rush that performs vanishing acts. The pass rush has shown up in spurts during recent years, yet Baltimore couldn’t always count on it.
Without question, pressuring the quarterback is the biggest concern the Ravens have going into the 2022 season.
