The Baltimore Ravens got so close to the Super Bowl and will look to improve themselves this offseason to make another run in 2020. But before we get to free agency and the draft, the Ravens will need to handle their own pending free agents.
We continue our look at Baltimore’s pending free agents with a preview of inside linebacker Patrick Onwuasor. Make sure to check out our other Ravens free-agent previews for 2020.
Patrick Onwuasor – 2019 review:
Onwuasor started 25 of the 32 games the Ravens played in 2017 and 2018. But despite being on the field for the first few snaps, he only played on 59% and 42% snaps of the total defensive snaps. It appeared that Baltimore was confident he could become an every-down replacement for C.J. Mosley when the 2019 season began.
Onwuasor started the first five games and played at least 90% of the snaps in each contest. But his role diminished after struggles in communication and production. With Baltimore signing L.J. Fort and Josh Bynes prior to Week 5, Onwuasor went on to start one more game all season and never played on more than 53% of the snaps.
This decrease in playing time led to his production dipping. In 2018, Onwuasor registered 5.5 sacks and eight tackles for loss, along with two forced fumbles. In 2019, he managed 3.0 sacks, five tackles for loss and one forced fumble.
Onwuasor was not exactly an asset to the Ravens when it came to pass defense last year. He was targeted on 7.2% of his defensive snaps, seeing 34 targets throughout the year. He allowed 30 of these (88.2%) to be converted into 424 yards, including 283 of these yards coming after the catch.