David Ojabo missed Friday night’s preseason loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, as coach John Harbaugh said the pass rusher has still not been medically cleared to play.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that he hasn’t missed any practice at training camp thus far. One would assume that his return isn’t far away, but then again, you just can’t make assumptions about Ojabo’s health status.
Harbaugh said David Ojabo still hasn’t been cleared to play in games by doctors. He had ACL surgery roughly 8-9 months ago.
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) August 10, 2024
The Ravens took a major flier on the pass-rushing specialist when they selected him in the second round of the 2022 draft, despite his suffering an Achilles tear at Michigan’s Pro Day.
Baltimore knew that his rookie season would ultimately be a redshirt, but he was healthy enough to appear in the final two games that season.
More injury calamity struck in 2023 when he suffered an injury in week three that was later revealed to be a torn ACL. There was hope that he might be able to return at some point last season, but he never did.
There was talk that he would be fully healthy again this spring, but then Ojabo wasn’t ready for minicamp and missed out.
With this kind of track record, it’s easy to be skeptical of any stated timetable for his return. However, Ojabo is a massively talented player, and his NFL story has yet to be written.
Hopefully, after two years of luck against him, he’ll finally see fortune in his favor. When healthy, he has all the potential to be a significant contributor to the team.