The Baltimore Ravens lost three edge defenders during the 2021 offseason in Matthew Judon, Yannick Ngakoue, and Jihad Ward. While the team did re-sign Tyus Bowser and Pernell McPhee, as well as draft Odafe Oweh and Daelin Hayes, the edge position is somewhat of a question mark heading into the season.
When ranking his top 32 edge defenders entering the 2021 season, Ben Linsey of Pro Football Focus didn’t put any Baltimore players on the list, omitting names like Bowser and Oweh. However, both Ngakoue and Judon were present. Ngakoue was ranked at No. 24, while Judon came in at No. 31. Linsey’s description of Ngakoue’s ranking is as follows.
“Ngakoue should give some new life to the pass rush under first-year defensive coordinator Gus Bradley. He has recorded at least 42 pressures in each of his first five NFL seasons, with pass-rushing grades of 74.5 or higher in each of the past four years. Ngakoue just hasn’t quite gotten back to the dominance he flashed in 2017 as a pass-rusher, nor has he graded above 60.0 in any season against the run.”
Linsey also went into detail about what made him place Judon at No. 31.
“The addition of Judon was just one piece of the puzzle to a revamped front seven in New England this offseason — a transformation that was overshadowed by some of the big moves on offense. Judon is coming off four seasons of steady contribution in Baltimore, grading between 66.0 and 69.2 on at least 600 defensive snaps in every season since 2017.”
While no Ravens edge defenders made Linsey’s list, that doesn’t mean that the team doesn’t have talent at the position. They could even add more, as it’s thought that Baltimore could sign veteran pass rusher Justin Houston. Even though the Ravens will be relying on some unproven players, their talent could shine through and surprise some people in 2021.