Ravens Pass Rush Could Have Potential Wildcard

There's a lot of early buzz surrounding Baltimore Ravens second-round rookie outside linebacker Mike Green at the onset of training camp, and for good reason. He is an explosive young pass rusher who many viewed as a top 15 talent but fell out of the first round entirely for off-field reasons.

The idea of him hitting the ground running and making his presence felt in his first season is exciting, but there is another former second-rounder at the same position who is flying under the radar and could have even more of an impact in 2025.

Fourth-year pro David Ojabo was a lock to go in the first 20 picks of the 2022 NFL Draft coming out of Michigan before a torn Achilles tendon caused him to slide to the second. The Ravens ultimately stopped his fall with the hopes that he'd prove to be a potential steal down the road.

Unfortunately for both sides, that has yet to come to fruition as injuries caused him to miss 31 games in his first two seasons, and he wasn't able to consistently crack the defensive rotation or active game day roster at times last year. The Ravens haven't waited around for him to put it together over that span, having selected one edge rusher in the top four rounds of each of the past three years. In 2023, they took Tavius Robinson in the fourth, followed by Adisa Isaac in the third last year and Green this past spring.

"He has gone through a lot of injuries and stuff like that, and obviously, we're a competitive team, so we're always bringing in guys or have guys that are trying to accomplish something," outside linebacker Odafe Oweh said. "That's tough when you're rehabbing from an injury.

Ojabo is one of several Ravens heading into a contract year, and he also isn't a lock to make the team given all the proven and younger, more recently-drafted depth at the position on the current roster. Thus far in training camp and even dating back to the offseason program, he has looked good in practice. Oweh has faith that he can still realize his full potential.

"I feel like he is doing a good job getting back to his prime self and he's looked really good out there," Oweh said. "He just has to continue to compete, continue to believe in himself and know that we all believe in him, the coaching staff believes in him, and if he does that, he'll be right there with us."

The two of them go way back to their days playing high school football together at Blair Academy in New Jersey. When healthy in the pros, Ojabo has flashed explosively disruptive playmaking ability off the edge with two sacks in his first five games from 2022-2023, but it took him 13 games to match that total in 2024. Meanwhile, Oweh and veteran Pro Bowler Kyle Van Noy each recorded double figures.