Ravens Should Bring Back Former Pro Bowl OLB

There's no denying that the most glaring need on the Baltimore Ravens roster ahead of the regular season trade deadline is on the edge of their defense.

Following the broken foot suffered by third-year pro Tavius Robinson a week after they traded away former first-round pick Odafe Oweh and with 2024 third-rounder Adisa Isaac still on injured reserve with an elbow injury, they desperately need reinforcements at outside linebacker.

As it currently stands, they only have three healthy players at the position on the 53-man roster with Pro Bowl veteran Kyle Van Noy, second-round rookie Mike Green and fourth-year pro David Ojabo. They have just one sack, 6 quarterback hits and 8 pressures between them in 14 combined game appearances. So not only are they thin, but they are underperforming as well.

The only other edge defenders readily at their disposal on the team are a pair of former undrafted free agents on the practice squad in third-year pro Malik Hamm and rookie Kaimon Rucker. Head coach John Harbaugh recently told reporters that both youngsters could factor into their plans moving forward.

"Those guys are doing a nice job on the practice squad," Harbaugh said Monday. "That's going to be an important factor for us on defense is filling those reps up, because Tavius is a really physical edge player, a real hard-playing guy, and we're going to need that to be no drop off, those reps that are taken."

Harbaugh also said they could move some players from other positions around, such as having inside linebacker Trenton Simpson and All Pro safety Kyle Hamilton up on the edge in certain situations. Both players possess versatile skillsets and have been impactful when deployed in such diverse roles.

At 1-5 heading into a must-win matchup against the Chicago Bears in Week 8, they're doing their due diligence on some available free agent edge defenders, working out ninth-year veteran Carl Lawson and fourth-year pro Jesse Luketa this week.

Given their surprisingly poor record and aspirations to still be a playoff team, the prudent move when it comes to exploring potential trade options would be avoiding parting with future draft capital in the top three rounds, as they could have a trio of high picks in each if their downward spiral continues. This realistic and forward-thinking approach might take them out of the range to acquire some of the notable edge defenders rumored to be available on the trade block, such as Kayvon Thibodeaux of the New York Giants, as well as Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips of the Miami Dolphins.

However, if general manager Eric DeCosta looks a little further down the Dolphins' depth chart on the edge, he'd find a familiar face and possible answer to his own team's shortage at the position with Matt Judon. The 10th-year veteran was originally drafted by the Ravens in the fifth round back in 2016 out of Grand Valley State and blossomed into a four-time Pro Bowler, the first two of which came during his time in Baltimore.