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The Baltimore Ravens kept their outside linebacker group the same from last year, despite seeing some struggles there. But entering the 2020 season, there’s hope young players like Jaylon Ferguson will step up and improve the unit as the Ravens eye up a run at Super Bowl LV.
Ferguson got off to a rough start last season. He wasn’t even active on gamedays until Week 3 and it took until Week 6 for Ferguson to get more than 50% of the defensive snaps. But once he got into the lineup, there was a pretty steady improvement on the field. Defensive coordinator Don Martindale saw Ferguson progress over the final 10 games of the 2019 season thanks to getting in better shape throughout the year.
“He made tremendous strides last year,” Martindale said. “The biggest part — if you remember me telling you, it was about halfway through the year when he finally got in — what he felt was the best shape that he’s been in.”
Ferguson had only one quarterback hit and no sacks until Week 11 despite playing on 261 defensive snaps. In the final six games of the regular season (238 defensive snaps), Ferguson had another seven quarterback hits, three tackles for a loss, and 1.5 sacks. While not stellar production, it shows a sharp increase and plenty of flashes of what could be.
Though the pads don’t come on until Monday, Martindale believes Ferguson has improved upon that condition as he enters his second season.
“His body has changed,” Martindale continued. “He’s a year older. All those second-year and third-year players start to get that old man dad strength – you know what I’m talking about there. They’ve had a year away from college football and they can really train and just focus on themselves and not the combine — not going to this visit, that visit, this visit, that visit and just focus on themselves, and he’s done that.”
The Ravens are hoping Ferguson can step up his production and become a legitimate terror for opposing offenses this season because they desperately need him to be.
Baltimore ranked 21st in sacks while blitzing the most in the league by a wide margin (54.9% compared to 43.4% for the second-ranked Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Outside of Matthew Judon, the Ravens’ three other outside linebackers, including Ferguson, accounted for just 10.5 sacks and 25 quarterback hits combined. While Baltimore is hoping the additions of Calais Campbell and Derek Wolfe (13.5 sacks and 37 quarterback hits combined last year) will help the group out, the Ravens are ultimately relying on Tyus Bowser and Ferguson to improve their play.
With Martindale’s aggressive schemes and the additions of Campbell and Wolfe, Baltimore is on the cusp of something great upfront. When added to the Ravens’ secondary, this is a defense that’s capable of great things if they get another fearsome pass rusher. Ferguson is starting out on the right foot this year and might just be the answer.
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