Roquan Smith Predicts Trenton Simpson Breaking Out in Contract Year With Ravens

One player on the Baltimore Ravens roster who simultaneously has the most at stake and to gain in 2026 is inside linebacker Trenton Simpson.

The 2023 third-round pick is heading into the fourth and final year of his rookie deal with an opportunity to compete for the starting WILL/weakside spot next to four-time Pro Bowl veteran Roquan Smith.

As a rookie, he primarily played on special teams and saw minimal action on defense as a reserve behind former first-rounder Patrick Queen, who broke out in a big way that year with Pro Bowl and Second Team All Pro honors on the top-ranked defense in the league.

Over the past two years, he won the starting job coming out of training camp, only to get benched at some point during the regular season. It took 13 weeks before he got the hook in 2024. Last year, his two-man rotation lasted just two weeks before he was relegated to being a backup until injuries thrust him back into action for different stretches.

With a new regime under head coach Jesse Minter and having had more opportunities to run with the first team defense during the offseason program while second-year pro Teddye Buchanan has been rehabbing from injury, Simpson is making the most of this latest opportunity to carve out a prominent role for himself.

"No one has more expectations of themselves than Trent," Smith said. "The way the guy's been working. This is the best I've seen him since I've been around."

Another key factor working in Simpson's favor is the fact that, for the first time in his career, he has had the same position coach in back-to-back seasons with Tyler Santucci. While that may not seem like a big deal on the surface from the outside looking in, there are several nuances to that relationship that are vital to a young player's development.

"The material and the terminology, the same person is teaching it to him," Smith said. "I think that plays a big part, especially when you're a young player transitioning into a new position. Truth be told, when he first came here, that was really his first time playing inside linebacker."

Coming out of college, Simpson starred in a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none role at Clemson, where the Tigers' coaching staff had him lining up all over the defensive alignment from off-ball linebacker to edge and even some snaps at nickel and safety.

When Simpson got to the pros with the Ravens, it was his first time focusing on learning one position entirely, and at the NFL level, off-ball linebacker often has one of the steeper learning curves of all positions on either side of the ball because of how cerebral it is. As was the case with his predecessor Queen, it can sometimes take until the final year of a linebacker's rookie deal for it all to start clicking on all cylinders.

"This game don't wait for anyone and he's well aware of that," Smith said. "I know he's preparing and he has the right mindset. He's not making the mistakes that he's made in the past. And even if he [does] make a mistake, which we all do as human beings, he's not making those same mistakes twice. I'm very excited for where he's going to go."

In addition to 2026 being a make-or-break year for Simpson as a young pro, Smith also believes that it's a "contract year" for the Ravens defense as a whole, with several players like himself needing to bounce back in a big way from a disappointing 2025 campaign if they want to continue calling Baltimore home.

"You just gotta think about it like that and go from there," Smith said. "I'm very excited for him."

Buchanan continues to trend toward returning sooner rather than later

Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (0) makes a catch against Baltimore Ravens linebacker Teddye Buchanan (40). — Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (0) makes a catch against Baltimore Ravens linebacker Teddye Buchanan (40) during the first half at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While Simpson's chief competition for the starting role next to Smith has been watching practices from the sideline all spring and early summer, that might not be the case for much longer. Even though Buchanan suffered a torn ACL that cut his promising rookie season short in mid-December less than half a year ago, he could be back on the practice field long before the Ravens' regular season opener.

“I’ve been seeing him rehab and I’ve been seeing him do amazing things and just his mental approach and physically, you would never know he had a knee issue or whatever like that because when you just look at him,” Smith said.

Two weeks ago, during the second session of Organized Team Activities, Minter told reporters that Buchanan is "really far ahead of schedule" in his recovery. The 2025 fourth-rounder is attacking the process like a seasoned veteran, which has impressed his All Pro mentor.

“Teddye is mature well beyond his years,” Smith said. “What happened to him, he can’t control that, but what he can control is his response and how he’s been preparing."

Smith knows that Buchanan has the right frame of mind to return to the field sooner rather than later and can see that he is chomping at the bit to get there after a solid rookie season in which he recorded the third-most tackles on the team with 93, including five for a loss, two quarterback hits, half a sack, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.

“It’s a build to that and not getting ahead of himself,” Smith said. “I know the [athletic director] and training staff are doing a great job with him as well. And I know personally just him as a person, he’s very excited and when he gets his opportunity, he’s going to take full advantage of it."

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